Originally posted by creampuff I personally think the K-5 is a huge jump over the K-7. The AF and LV is obvious, as is the high ISO performance. But even at the lowest ISO, the K-5's dynamic range and ability to resolve fine detail is definitely there. Well some of you may feel the difference is negligible, but to me the difference is pretty clear and obvious.
If some of you want to use review sites to make a determination that the K-5's images aren't that much better well that's your option. Personally I take what they say with a pinch of salt because they are not infallible and have got it wrong before. Much like buying a car, the choice of engine and internal improvements in it can make a huge difference.
However my conclusion after more than a month of actual use is that the K-5 is still a lot better than the K-7, the same conclusion that my friend Frank and I came to when we first got our cameras here in Singapore. During that time we had two Pentax user outings and demo cameras for people to try firsthand. Practically every K-7 user who has demoed the K-5 wants to dump, erm... upgrade their cameras for the K-5. We also got shooters using other brands who never considered Pentax before to buy the K-5, which should say something about the K-5...
K-5 is absolutely much better than the K-7, no doubt about that. I think the K-5 could be the best APS-C camera out there....but, what we are trying to do here is to quantify the improvements ands see if it would makes a difference to each user.
Me for instance would love it if the iso 6400 would match the iso 1600 of the K-7...is it wrong to ask this quation?
7.2 fps second is an improvemnet, but for one who may never push that lever to Af-C, is that an improvement that matters.
So, I hope it is ok to discuss individual improvements and see whether it makes sense to upgrade?...I don't think anyone is saying the K-5 is not an improvement.
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I frankly would like to hear from someone who had gone from the K-7 to the K-5 on exactly how it improved there photography
Here is what I wrote about how the K-7 improved my photography over the K10D....I would love to hear a similar thing going from the K-7 to K-5.
I've had the opportunity to take the K-7 out for a quick session. This is not usually my style of shooting, but was enough to form an opinion on the camera. I(I may miss a lot, and I will update it as I think of features to mention)
Things that I couldn't use with the K10D but wanted to, now I can with the K-7
Green/Evaluative metering: I always used spot metering in the K10D as the green metering was random.
AF-C: In the K10D it gets in the way, and it was better to use AF-S for action. In the K-7 it is very usable. Not perfect, but much much improved. More than enough for me.
AWB under tungsten: Obviously the K10D screws this up royally, but no big deal, as I have a custom setting. With the K-7 AWB is almose perfect.
TAv Mode: I never used this before, but now it is usable because of the higher usable iso. But, the full story is not all peachy here, as I will explain later.
LV manual lens focus: in live view, I can magnify and focus and get very accurate metering with manual lenses. Time consuming process, but for static objects and with more experience this will be very welcome.
AF Fine-Tune: Absolutely incredible. I Love it, love it, love it...K20D had this.
Built-in Flash: I think the exposure and usability of the built-in flash is a huge improvement. Works very well.
Movie mode: Haven't used much, but it's there.
Much Improved over the K10D
AF: 95% of the time it is very good and locks focus much faster in good conditions and in poor lighting. But I would say 5% of the time, in poor condition it hunts and refuses to lock focus even with moderate contrast. The green light should fire in these instances, but it doesn't.
P-TTL: Seems to expose much much better.
LCD: It is nice to have the higher resolution and larger screen.
Button layout: I love it...extremely intuitive and much much better IMO.
Viewfinder: A DSLR by definition should have a 100% viewfinder. I thought it wouldn't matter, but I like the idea of getting the composition spot on from the get go, so I like this.
Low light accurate focus: The focus is much more accurate in low light.
ISO Performance: Is much improved over the K10D in most instances, especially in retaining detail, contrast and overall rendering. Color and noise is not that great. Some colors bleed in high iso, and lot of noise in the pixel level. So, very useful in most instances, not so good for massive cropping &/or large prints.
Some improvements over the k10D
ISO performance: Pixel level noise is only a stop or more better. BUT, like I said above, it is much better in rendering in all other ways in high iso, that iso is usable for almost 2 stops more than the K10D (400 vs 1250/1600)
Size and shape: It was awkward in the beginning, and then I got to like it very much. Balances well even with the Sigma 100-300. I Like the new size.
Better with the K10D
Focus selector switch: The lever that chooses AF-C, AF-S, MF is flimsy and will break off
Lack of SR lever
I am fine with the SD card slot, and the battery slot. Some may not like this. I don't use bracketing so don't miss that button either.
Conclusion: In features and usability there is no doubt that the k-7 is leaps and bounds ahead of the K10D. My next statement is probably going to upset a lot, and I really need to spend more time with the camera. But, my early opinion is such that, for my style of shooting, I think IQ wise the K-7 is better in 50% (as in a 9 for the K-7 and a 8 for the K10D) of the time, even for about 30% ( 9 for both cameras) of the time and 20% of the images I would rather have my k10D ( 9 for the K10-D and 8 for the K-7) . I will update this later as I get to know the camera. (I really can't give you more detail on this oinion, it is just the feeling I get as I critically look at the images). (UPDATE: Having used the K-7 for a while, shooting in RAW and using LR2.4 and CS2 and noiseware, the final IQ wise the K-7 is better almost always...so, IQ wise i like the K-7 almost 100% of the time)