[Wheatfield]

It seems however that some k-5's have QC problems (nothing special for Pentax, happens to Lia too) and - more annoying - serious flash output issues (from what you can read on this and other fora). That is rather unacceptable for a camera that expensive. But who knows if it affects all K-5s. So my question to K-5 owners: are you really satisfied with the the out-of-the-box performance of the camera?

Pentax has had problems with flash control since they started doing it in camera. That the K5 still has some bugs in the ttl flash control area is no surprise to me at all.
It doesn't affect my life, I don't let the camera try to control the light output and haven't since I dumped Nikon 25 years ago.
As far as out of the box performance goes, yes, I'm quite happy. The camera is more responsive than the K7 was, and it was a huge leap over the K20. The ability to shoot at very high ISO with good results has opened a few creative doors for me that I appreciate.

[JamieP]

I'm very happy with my purchase. I took my kids today to an indoor playhouse with terrible flourescent lighting. I was able to shoot at ISO 6400 and get usable shots without motion blur. With my K10, I wouldn't have bothered trying...

[pinholecam]

Do you really know why you bought Pentax K-5 ?, Typical upgrader are main reason why they have a new Pentax K-5 while P&S shooter that got a new K-5 some just wondering why is this things don't do this & that. If you really believes K-5 can show you what you expect it to do, then yes, I'm really satisfied having K-5. Always happy upgrading new technology built into new dslr, this is never ending.
...buaobao

If does seem to me that many ppl who complain about any new camera seem to be the less experienced ones (at least on my local forum). They sort of expect the camera to 'auto everything' and whine when it does not do something as they expect it.
The more experienced guys just give a shrug and compensate per required.
Over here, the newbies buying a D7K, expecting too much and knowing too little has almost brought the local service center and happy D7K launch to grief. (ie. hot pixels, hanging system, AF problems, etc)



The K5 is outstanding to say the least. Very fast AF and very good low light performance, coupled with the usability and features that was already on K7. I just covered a company bowling session in which I had many great shots at high ISO (800 to 3200) and seriously trashed the o/p from a D90 another colleague was using even with him shooting RAW and me JPEG. AF fine adjust remembers up to 20 lenses, so I'm certainly not complaining. In fact I need to thank Pentax for this, as I have old OOP FA lenses that need some fine adjust here and there and would not have got servicing for them anyway.
Flash is the only weakness, but that is only for PTTL, and I prefer shooting manual flash for total control anyway.
Some other minor quibble over how setting always seem to go to f8 when I change lenses, but I do believe its due to my lack of understanding on this part.

[mdw43]

I went from the K20D to the K5 and have no regrets. The change in the menus and controls from the 20D was a bit confusing initially but took about a week to get used to. Big pluses for me were:

1. Much quieter and virtually vibration free. Everything I shot with the 20D on a tripod I used the 3 second self timer to avoid slight blur. Haven't had to do that with the K5.

2. Wonderful review screen/live view that is totally useable outdoors in sunlight.

3. Excellent image quality and improved dynamic range.

4. SR seems to be improved or at least I am getting more consistent results at 1/15 or 1/8.

5. Clean images at ISO 1600 and very usable images at 3200.

6. No problems with flash either BI or shoe mount (540FGZ).

7. Feels very good in my hands and I always thought the 10D/20D was near perfect.

8. Love the built in level as most of my photography is with wide-angles on a tripod.

9. AF is much quicker and virtually no searching with all lenses, SDM or screw drive.

10. Viewfinder readout and Viewfined improved.

I loved my K20D and K10D before but the K5 is a much more refined camera.

All I had to do was check and calibrate my lenses. Most required little or no adjustment. My old F501.7 focuses dead on at 18inches at 1.7. It doesn't get any better than that.

Good luck with your decision.

[m8o]

Soligor,

yes!

[ve2vfd]

I loved my K20D and K10D before but the K5 is a much more refined camera.

AMEN!

My K20d was a great camera, but I feel the K5d just goes that extra mile.

Pat

[Class A]

now,i stay better with my k-7 and wayt for the k-3

Are you serious?

I thought you sell these things and should be able to get a good one eventually.

[30v iPentax]

K-5 on hyvä kamera, niinkuin oli K20D. K-5 on vain enemmän mahdollisuuksia. Tämä on minun digikameroista paras, mutta ei mikään voita 35mm filmikameroita, paitsi 6x7 kamerat.

[rbucz]

K-5 to znakomity aparat, bardzo mi się podoba. Ale dlaczego są w nim te problemy z PTTL? W K1-, a nawet K-100 było dużo lepiej...

[nulla]

Flash is terrible at present... waiting patiently for this to be fixed

Otherwise fantastic

[Erik]

I haven't read the thread, so am only replying to the OP: yes, I am immensely satisfied so far. The high ISO output is great, but the low ISO output is amazing in the DR and detail departments. Solid-feeling body, logical controls, great features. There is one (frequently discussed) downside and it is lack of manual video control. Other than that, this is the perfect camera for me.

I never use flash so I don't know or care about that bit.

[ddhlee]

So far... I'm very bleh on it. I've upgraded from a K20 and picked it up for quieter shutter and noise cleaning, but after a field test I'm still not sure if it was right for me or not since I also use a NEX-5, which I have so far found to be very useful with my work.

To be fair though, unlike the K-5, the K20 and NEX-5 I also tweaked repeatedly before I felt really satisfied with them. I also am afraid to set the ISO to higher levels (3200 is my comfort zone for both cameras) and using a slower "fast" zoom on this camera compared to the K20 which is now a dedicated special flash camera and the NEX-5 which has a fast piece of glass tacked to it.

I think I'm going to need another week or two of tweaking the settings before I can say whether I feel like getting it was worthwhile or not, but I will say that the features that carried over from the K-7 and the dynamic range boost for postprod are keeping me impressed with the body thus far.

[Eric Seavey]

I am happy now.... I was at the edge of returning the camera due to the flash overexposure issues, but I think I found an easy solution that has been working since the adjustment. Next Friday I am going to shoot a dance in dark ambient lighting with bounce flash and high ISO. I will update on that....

[bobmaxja]

I am also happy with myK-5. Regarding flash , I was with a pro with Canon and use is flash manual all the time, he dont trust the TLL of Canon??

[Vil]

3 weeks in with a 1000 or so photos and I'm 100% satisfied.