[Docrwm]

Haha. I understand. Let me know as you get into it. I have some amazon gift cards burning a hole in my pocket and I am thinking I may want that two camera setup for most of my weddings this year. I am thinking I could go tele on the k5 and wide on the iis to avoid the moire issue.

I get that weddings, of all things, are likely to pull for moire with satin and other fabric issues, but there have been some reports here by folks that have had the IIs longer and they have generally been "What moire?" in tone.

[scratchpaddy]

this may well be the best camera purchase I have ever made. Brilliant is the best word I can think of right now to describe it. Absolutely brilliant.

I felt the exact same way when I got mine in January, but I was upgrading from the K-r. The top LCD, electronic level, 16mp sensor, and magnesium body were all new to me. I was just blown away by how much better the pictures were, and how much easier it was to get them. I'm not saying that the K-r is a bad camera, but the K-5 IIs is in a class of its own.

there have been some reports here by folks that have had the IIs longer and they have generally been "What moire?" in tone.

I'm part of that club. After five months, I have yet to see anything alarming. I've never shot weddings, but I have shot lots of dogs. You'd think fur would have some potential for causing problems, but no. Not that I've seen.

If Pentax would ditch the Bayer array, too, I'd be in heaven, but I don't think that will ever happen. Sigma's the only one playing that game yet.

[Digitalis]

I get that weddings, of all things, are likely to pull for moire with satin and other fabric issues, but there have been some reports here by folks that have had the IIs longer and they have generally been "What moire?" in tone.

There are fabrics that are more prone to producing it than others, but even for experienced photographers like me there are a few surprises:




The only camera that is really immune to moire is the Sigma Foveon cameras, the Leica Monochrom and the Phase one achromatic+

[johnmflores]

Thanks for sharing. I'm not in the market (yet) but it's good to hear that there is a step up from my K-5...

[scratchpaddy]

Also, there are unconfirmed reports from Brazil saying that even the filtered K-30 can be struck with massive amounts of moiré.

[Digitalis]

Also, there are unconfirmed reports from Brazil saying that even the filtered K-30 can be struck with massive amounts of moiré.

Just because a camera has a AA filter doesn't mean it is immune to Moire. I have images taken with my Canon and Nikon DSLRs which tend to have rather heavy handed Bayer AA filters where moire makes an appearance.

[Netsoft]

It's hard to believe.

Maybe a photo or two for comparison sake would be suffice.

[Allison]

There are fabrics that are more prone to producing it than others,

this picture is exactly why I am thinking that I would use the k5 for my portraits and the close-ups, but that the iis would be fine for the wider stuff. I haven't really seen much moire in pictures that are full body. Plus there is a lot more to weddings than portraits.

[scratchpaddy]

Just because a camera has a AA filter doesn't mean it is immune to Moire.

Exactly. My point is that this problem is neither common nor exclusive to the K-5 IIs. What you get when you take the AA filter away is a slightly increased risk of a very uncommon occurrence. For a professional, even a small increase in risk may be a deal-breaker. For everyone else, I see absolutely zero reason to choose the II over the IIs.

[Allison]

Exactly. My point is that this problem is neither common nor exclusive to the K-5 IIs. What you get when you take the AA filter away is a slightly increased risk of a very uncommon occurrence. For a professional, even a small increase in risk may be a deal-breaker. For everyone else, I see absolutely zero reason to choose the II over the IIs.

IMHO a professional gets to know their gear exceptionally well. Sure there is a learning curve, but they would know the camera and how it behaves well enought to know when they are at risk. In those situations, they would switch to another body. Most professionals have a back up at minimum.

Of course, I am just trying to justify purchasing a IIs when I have a k5 and not waiting for whatever the next camera would be

[kenafein]

One of the things I hated about my K-5(maybe the only thing) was AF-C with objects moving toward me(even relatively slowly). I'd be interested to hear how that works with the K5iis.

[stormtech]

Yes. It really is - so far. I am downloading v1.04 of the firmware as I type this. But with 1.00 that it came with the images of my daughters artwork are just incredible. I've been corresponding with Stan (Stormtech) who got his last week and I think he's seeing the same thing.

Yes - I see a big difference in not only sharpness, but overall clarity. I hesitated for a long time upgrading since the consensus I read was that it wasn't enough of an upgrade from the K-5 to justify the expense. Everyone has different likes to what they want to accomplish with their final image. I don't know why, but sharpness and clarity are paramount for me. Maybe it's because as I am getting older my eyes are getting more tired - I don't know.

When I received my IIs last week, I set aside most of a day to make a side by side comparison of my K-5 and the IIs. I had already decided that if the IIs wasn't much of a difference, I was going to return it. I went into this with a totally open mind. Also, being the body and controls are all the same, there was really no "new camera smell" to get over. I was serious about the image output only. Like Doc says about his test of his drawing, I have a couple test subjects out and around my property that I have been using for years - I know what I am looking for when looking at an image. And yes, I pixel peep every one of my images to full size.

The difference is real - very real. This is exactly what I wanted. I know I've already said it, but it is all about the sharpness and clarity. Now I have mostly what I consider high end glass - did my initial testing with my FA*300 4.5 and DA* 60-250. Did the images blow my K-5 out of the water? Certainly not. But the difference is well worth the cost in my opinion. I don't know if the same difference would be realized with lower end glass, but I can add this. My worst lens as far as IQ is my Sigma 50-500 (Bigma). I'm not saying it is a bad lens at all, but one that does need to be stopped down some plus for me has to be tripod mounted. I had the Bigma dialed in on my K-5 where f8 was giving me very good images under the right conditions. f9 was only a fraction better so I settled on f8 to maintain the highest shutter speed I could. When I dialed in the Bigma with the IIs, I actually needed to be at f9 to get the best out of it. What I am saying is the IIs is that sharp that it might be a little unforgiving with lesser quality glass. Not a bad thing at all. To add to this, I just received a DAL 55-300 for my wife to use - at f8 it is fantastic.

I almost feel guilty as I was so excited about the images out of my new IIS I rambled on to Doc and Amy (pearsaab) about it and shared some of my initial images. Doc and Amy both ordered one in the next couple days. It looks like Doc loves his - I hope Amy gets the same results also.

I know these couple images will mean nothing since I don't have any direct comparison images to share, but these are a couple I sent those guys the first day. Like Doc said - almost makes your eyes bleed, or what I like to say is they make the little hairs on the back of your neck stand up......these shots were literally "off the hip" with the DA* 60-250.

[Sandy Hancock]

I suspect anyone who doesn't think the K-5 IIs is not a significant upgrade, has not used one.
My K-5 has been relegated to times when I really need two bodies.

[Papa Lazarou]

Just upgraded from K-5 to K-5 IIS last week. The difference is obvious - far more confident focussing, no micro AF lens adjustments required, infinitely better low light AF, serious clarity and resolution.
I took these using the K-5 IIS and DA15 Ltd on Monday.



































Loving this camera!

[Chris Mak]

Nice to see these reactions, I got my K5IIs three months ago, and quickly sold my K5 after getting it.
Lots of debates about how the upgrade isn't worth it, but the truth is, that after getting the K5IIs, I don't have any desire any longer to upgrade my dslr. It's a perfect refinement of the succesful body/sensor combination that the K5 already was. SR seems to work better, AF works better, clarity and detail are very good, noise at iso400/800 is very well controlled, and apart from that, it seems there are just no issues with the K5IIs, it works flawlessly, which makes using it all the more enjoying.
I'm now even considering getting a second one when the price drops a bit further..

Chris