Guys, I thought I might do a quick first impressions of the K-5 post, from a user coming from the K200D. I've had the K-5 for 2 weeks now and have taken about 500 shots.
K-5 first impressions
- Nicely built body, noticeably more solid and heavier than the K200D
- The extra controls compared to K200D are great
- Learning curve coming from K200D (and I assume other older Pentax DLSRs) is noticeable but fairly minor. The menu layouts are logical.
K-5 impressions after 2 weeks intermittent use
- K-5 focuses extremely fast and accurate (compared to K200D) - excellent!
- Metering is reliable and seems to be improved slightly compared to K200D
- Yes, the low noise performance is very, very impressive. Even from 400-1600ISO from my gut feeling
- Extended DR especially at ISO80 is more noticeable than I would have thought! Seemed very handy for sunset shots
- I for one love the colour profile of the 16MP sensor
- Sharpness seems great as you would expect. The resolution boost from 10MP appears to deliver a large amount more detail.
- The difference in cropping room is quite noticeable!
- Amazingly quiet shutter/mirror
- Liveview is quite handy for critical focus on static objects with MF lenses
- 7fps is really fast, probably even too fast IMO!
I think part of it is general familiarisation with the camera, but IMO the K-5 does seem to demand better technique to get critically sharp shots compared to the 10MP K200D. Please keep in mind that I am still learning this when I show you my examples
1. After sunset at ISO80
2. Rough BIF with 60-250 lens, cropped significantly*
3. Again, cropped significantly*
Full size cropped image available*
here *Note that it's ISO800, shot in RAW with no NR adjustments done in PP (I think, 98% sure!)
4. Mess around shot with DA35 f/2.8 limited