I had a friend come over last night so I could test out this new camera properly. I think I'll keep it.

100 ISO, 1/100 @ f5 on FA* 85 f1.4 - no sharpening was applied, only a bit of color correction and a slight adjustment to exposure and shadow (very slight).



100% crop...



The only downside I have run across so far is that this camera might require me to do more retouching since it picks up more detail than us typically wanted in a portrait. Oh, and those aren't hot pixels, Dawn was wearing a bit of glitter. I lit her with a silver umbrella, which gives more specular highlights than a white one, so that I could push the camera. Not only was I impressed with overall image quality, but the shadow areas are very nice. Better than my K10 in the shadows.

[Stratman]

Wow, even the crop is sharp as a tack !! Nice work !!

[mtnbearhug]

Dave,

That crop is very impressive.. It would be intersting to crop the crop and see what clarity it still has.. ????

That k20 does take some GREAT pics..

Thanks for sharin.. Kim

[roentarre]

Wow, the skin texture are sooooooooo sharp and clear!!! I am really amazed. Almost having the resolution of a macro lens.

I should put mine to some shots as well. I had not used it more than enough :P

[bymy141]

Impressive crop indeed!
Wonder what the photo looked liked when she would have had a da Vinci smile.

- Bert

[Jonson PL]

Thanks, extremely impressive. I like how you can see the umbrella in the crop

[Ash]

That camera's almost dangerous!
So much detail from a portrait shot!

[hamidlmt]

Incredibly sharp!

[dantuyhoa]

Wow ! You're master , Dave , no doubt !

[wtlwdwgn]

Super portrait and crop. With the K20D one would want a soft focus lens for portraits, not that your model needs it.

[Snowcat]

Oh My God! That's not lots of details, that's tremendous levels of details! I love it! I do not know when I'll have my K20, perhaps like half a year later, but I'll have it I am sure!

[davemdsn]

Update....

I had a 11x14 print made from this shot today at the local camera shop. It's too sharp for portraits. I'm not just saying that lightly. The only sharpening applied to this from the DNG file was the default edge sharpening in Aperture, which is very, very mild. I will need to make a preset for this camera that removes even that tiny amount of sharpening when doing these tight head shots. Not complaining, too sharp is not a bad problem to have in the world of problems since it is easy to fix. Maybe just using a lens that's not quite as sharp as my FA* 85.