Originally posted by adpo from my experience, i find the k-5's AF in low light to be something like this:
if i were to us Av mode, center focus point, auto iso and spot metering on my DA*55, then an area that is metering to greater than iso 6400 might hesitate for half a second before locking focus, at which point you get a fairly grainy image anyhow.
as for noise control, i don't really notice noise until around 1600+ after which it starts developing a grainy sort of noise
Thanks, I don't thin I'd be going so hight necessarily, I' be probably around ISO1600-4000 most of the time
Originally posted by Brooke Meyer Nice examples, rather convincing. Thanks!
Originally posted by crewl1 At Xmas I had a chance to do a quick comparison of a cousins Nikon D300s to my K5
He had a 17-55 2.8 lens on and I had the Tamron 28-75 2.8
Overall impression was that the Nikon would AF slightly faster and lock right away, whereas the K-5 would AF and do a quick fine tune before locking.
The picture quality was similar but the Nikon showed a tiny bit of grain earlier than the K-5.
The biggest difference I felt was the size of the Nikon + lens dwarfed the K-5, it almost seemed like it should have a full frame sensor in it.
The control button and menu was way different.
I did not feel like I was missing anything with my K-5 and appreciated the compact size/weight personally. Others may prefer a beefier body.
I don't mind beefy cameras. With K-7 and therefore with K-5 I always have grip. Without it the body is touch on the small side. Not too small but enough to feel slight discomfort. Even gripped K-7 doesn't feel as nice as gripped K10D did despite having better hand grip.
That little fine tuning is exactly what I'm afraid of. When taking pictures of baby it can be the difference between getting the shot or not.
Originally posted by darrenleow I'm playing with a Nikon D300 I have access to and compared to my Pentax K-5, I don't really like it from an ergonomics standpoint. Some main points
1) Lens changes are awkward due to the button placement. Pentax has the best lens change imo. Nikon's system works with small primes but not so much with big zooms.
2) Changing ISO and WB are a two-handed affairs, lacks the WB preview that I'm so used to on Pentax
3) As beefy as the camera is, the hand grip feels too narrow to me
4) Paired with the 14-24/2.8 or 70-200/2.8, the camera is so heavy
5) Shutter is super fast with really short mirror blackout time but it's really loud too
6) AF tracking with the 51pt system blows the K-5 out of the water. No contest here
7) Indoors, AF-S is speedy and decisive. K-5 is similar (a bit of back and forth but I learned to live with it quite happily) but I've had trouble with front focus on mine in the past (K-5 away for repair now)
8) D300 sensor feels like it's around K10D level
9) Mushy rubber buttons, dislike
1 - matter of getting used to it IMO. Besides with my long fingers I don't think I would have problem reaching the lens release button wherever they'd put it. But I do have to agree that lens changes on K mount are very comfortable indeed.
2 - not too big throwback regarding the changes, the lack of WB setting is bit disappointing though
3 - that comes as a surprise. I handled D90 and D7000 and didn't find them exactly comfortable
4 - Not the lenses I'd be using most probably. As i said, I'd start out with Sgma 24/1.8 and AF-S50/1.4G
5 - loud shutter may be an issue but then I don't think it's worse than my wife's K-x or my old K10D
6 - one of the main improvements I'm after
7 - as I posted above, that little bit of back and forth might be decisive for shot. My son is still relatively still but even now I keep missing shots with K-7
8 - fine by me. I always liked K10 sensor. And far preferred it to K-7!! And since noise is closer to K-x I don't think I'd have problems living with it
9 - now that might be an issue
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Thanks for input to all of you..