[humbr]

I'm curious- did you *personally* own a K5 that had problems?

Yes he did, Then moved to a Leica M8 which guess what, has lots of issues. So now he is moving to an M9.....

Re the Pinto, Ford made the intentional decision to not prime the car before painting, my wagon rusted out in less than 3 years (other than that is was a good station wagon for its size and price). That is very different to the issues that Pentax is having with the K5 IMHO. They did not chose to go cheap. Instead in the case of sensor the supplier screwed up. The lens release button is a design flaw.

I have pushed about 3000 photos from my K5 so far, it is a pleasure to see the results. It is everything I was looking for in an upgrade from my K100D, which after 20000+ clicks is still going strong in my wife's hands.

[konraDarnok]

After the K7 I bought two K5s and have to say it is a huge step up. However I categorically disagree with your comments on the K7 at low ISO (it is superb - it's at high ISOs - above 800 - it really struggles), I have gorgeous long exposure shots from it and used the DA*300 on it for birding with excellent results from the SR. It has it's weaknesses ... but those you mention are not accurate in the slightest.

So you're calling me a liar? Look, the K-7 takes a loooong time to process a 20 min bulb exposure. Longer than the exposure itself. The K10D with it's CCD didn't have this problem. At ISO 100, the K10D beats it hands down. And SR does nothing if the picture is blurred from shutter/mirror induced blur. Don't tell me it's not accurate, I own these things, and in the case of the K-7, I've had it serviced. It's functioning to "factory specifications."

[RioRico]

So you're calling me a liar? Look, the K-7 takes a loooong time to process a 20 min bulb exposure. Longer than the exposure itself.

I've a K20D, not a K10D, and its DFS (dark frame subtraction) takes as long as the exposure. A 20min bulb shot takes another 20min of DFS processing. I think the K10D has DFS as an option, not a default. I don't know if the K7 lets you override that default. Check the manual under NOISE REDUCTION.

[Basset]

Not sure where Fontan gets that big chip on his shoulder but I think it is time to add him to my ignore file.

The K-5 is a solid, well-made camera. I have been a proud owner of an early run unit and I have had no problems whatsoever with it. It is sealed against the weather, performs like a champ in the cold Canadian winters and produces stellar images.

Jack

Didn't know we had an ignore option. Thanks for the tip.

[Fontan]

Yes he did, Then moved to a Leica M8 which guess what, has lots of issues. So now he is moving to an M9.....

Re the Pinto, Ford made the intentional decision to not prime the car before painting, my wagon rusted out in less than 3 years (other than that is was a good station wagon for its size and price). That is very different to the issues that Pentax is having with the K5 IMHO. They did not chose to go cheap. Instead in the case of sensor the supplier screwed up. The lens release button is a design flaw.

I have pushed about 3000 photos from my K5 so far, it is a pleasure to see the results. It is everything I was looking for in an upgrade from my K100D, which after 20000+ clicks is still going strong in my wife's hands.

So that you know my M8 works great. No issues. I am going to M9 because I am done with a rat race with smallish sensors. Not because I have issues with M8. In fact I may keep it.

[selar]

After nearly a year of dithering, and trying to plug the high iso gap with a Kx, I finally took the plunge a couple of weeks ago, and bought a K5. Okay, it really is true, this is definitely the best dslr to come from Pentax by a long margin. There are so many things that feel right about it, from the shutter noise, to the fast AF, high iso performance, ergonomics, continous shooting etc. Within a couple of weeks I have made up my mind to sell all my other Pentax slrs, its that good. Oh, and yes, the best feature is the shutter sound! Loving it!

[Frogfish]

So you're calling me a liar? Look, the K-7 takes a loooong time to process a 20 min bulb exposure. Longer than the exposure itself. The K10D with it's CCD didn't have this problem. At ISO 100, the K10D beats it hands down. And SR does nothing if the picture is blurred from shutter/mirror induced blur. Don't tell me it's not accurate, I own these things, and in the case of the K-7, I've had it serviced. It's functioning to "factory specifications."

If it's not working for you that doesn't mean I am calling you a liar. More than likely in any of these instances it comes down to user error or not knowing how to circumvent the 'issues' you are having (as as Rio pointed out DFS is exactly the same amount of time as the exposure - you can switch it off or there is another technique I've heard of, that I'm not familiar with, whereby you take a sample black frame and introduce this later instead of using the DFS, a great time saver).

SR - I am telling you what you say is inaccurate, you are not the only one who owned a K7. You have a problem, I don't. So something is amiss and it may be your camera or user error.

[konraDarnok]

If it's not working for you that doesn't mean I am calling you a liar. More than likely in any of these instances it comes down to user error or not knowing how to circumvent the 'issues' you are having (as as Rio pointed out DFS is exactly the same amount of time as the exposure - you can switch it off or there is another technique I've heard of, that I'm not familiar with, whereby you take a sample black frame and introduce this later instead of using the DFS, a great time saver).

SR - I am telling you what you say is inaccurate, you are not the only one who owned a K7. You have a problem, I don't. So something is amiss and it may be your camera or user error.

There is no 'circumvention.' The K-7 does not allow for DFS to be switched off in blub mode. And the issue with shutter blur is documented.

[Frogfish]

There is no 'circumvention.' The K-7 does not allow for DFS to be switched off in blub mode. And the issue with shutter blur is documented.

Then I think you had better take that up with the Pentax forums such as this one, the non-aligned forums such as DPR, Steve's etc. and the 'pro' testing sites such as PhotoZone, DxO etc. who have all shown the K7 SR to be worth 2-3 stops. Obviously they didn't take your view into consideration.

[Wheatfield]

There is no 'circumvention.' The K-7 does not allow for DFS to be switched off in blub mode. And the issue with shutter blur is documented.

The Samsung sensor never did perform up to what was hoped for it at long exposure durations, hence the inability to turn off DFS. It isn't unusual for cameras to have a range of speeds where shutter harmonics or mirror slap play havoc with sharpness. Small, light cameras seem more prone than others. I was never bothered by it on the K7, but have noticed from time to time that the K5 has some issues.