[David T]

I bought the K-5 three weeks ago. My first run with the camera was at a cruise night auto show. The photos were great on color but the detail was somewhat soft. I was shooting in RAW DNG using aperture mode with three lenses (DA 50-135, DA 14-45, F 35-70 f3.5 to f4.5). They all had a similar effect. After several more shots and focus adjustments, I find that +5 is the general rule using the Tim Jackson focus chart and flat out taking same photos, changing focus adjustments, and writing it down. Shooting a fairly large wedding last Saturday with the K-5, I was using the tested focus settings, but I found that sometimes the photos were right on, sometimes back focus, and sometimes front focus. Non flash photos were taken mostly in aperture priority and flash photos were taken in manual mode. I realize that there are variances in different settings but I haven't had quite that amount of change with the K20D nor the K-r which I use for back up, etc. Any thoughts here? Editing the pictures solves the issues but my goal with the K5 was to do less editing. Is this my camera's problem where I may want a warranty repair or exchange?

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Last edited by David T; 06-19-2017 at 11:05 AM.

[enoeske]

Looks like its using the small embedded jpeg blown up to screen size. Make sure your raw developer is up to date. Try shooting in full size, full quality jpeg and post one straight from the camera, no editing.

[David T]

Okay here it is. The Lab shot in 4 star quality from early testing. I am using a DAL 55-300 lens at f5.6, 1/125, and ISO 3200 (it was getting dark). The car was edited only to convert from DNG to JPEG. I reduced the file size for easier uploading.

[enoeske]

Okay here it is. The Lab shot in 4 star quality from early testing. I am using a DAL 55-300 lens at f5.6, 1/125, and ISO 3200 (it was getting dark). The car was edited only to convert from DNG to JPEG. I reduced the file size for easier uploading.

I don't see the same rescaling artifacts like in the first image, so that says your camera is probably fine, and its the raw developers that is causing that.

However, you're gonna have to do a better controlled test. This one has several things going on. The lens was wide open at f/5.6 so you will get a little softness there. Then there is camera shake from the 1/125th shutter speed. Noise reduction softening from using ISO 3200. And a moving subject that may have been moving in and out of your focus point. Not ideal to test focus issues.

[rfortson]

The first shot is just bad (from a lack of sharpness standpoint). The second shot seems okay for the conditions you shot it in.

I agree, that you should first make sure your camera will take a sharp shot, then look for the conditions where it doesn't take a sharp shot.

I have had a few rare shots where nothing was in focus, but only a couple out of the few thousand I've shot. It seems like the AF can on rare occasions be fooled into thinking something is in focus. I haven't really pursued it as it's such a rare occurrence for me. Usually, the AF is spot on, regardless of the subject.

[David T]

I am beginning to think that the low end jpeg in raw is not as sharp as the K20. When I enhanced the auto show pictures and saved them as tiff files the pictures were definitely vastly improved in both color and detail. Here is another jpeg premium shot taken this evening. The photo is taken with the DA 50-135 at 135mm, f6.3, 1/50, and ISO at 160. The white on the pedals is the color and not sun reflection as this was taken at dusk. I know your eyebrows are raising at the 1/50 but it was a stable shot. I have three days left to decide to request an exchange, but I really don't want to do that if its me more than the camera that needs to adjust.

By the way, the dog is standing perfectly still scoping out a bird in a tree. I just noticed that the floral picture I just posted is sideways, but not sure what to do about that in downloading to the forum.