While traveling on the "Rim of the World" in 2018, I stopped at 2 distinct vista points located one near the other (about 4 kilometers between them) and took 2 pictures of San Bernardino, California. The Pentax K1 picture (the upper one) was taken with the FA* 28-70 mm f/2.8 lens @ f/9 (I may have been using a C.P.L. but I don't remember) at the easternmost vista point while the K3 picture (the lower one) was taken with the FA 35 mm f/2 lens @ f/10 at the westernmost vista point. The K1 shows more life-like colors, very high sharpness and a very detailed canvas while the K3 shows a different, more bluish rendering also with great sharpness but with less apparent details (I underexposed 1 stop to try to cut through the hazy smog over the valley). Unless you compare both cameras on a similar scene, you could never even guess they could produce such different images.

[Parallax]

I think the K1 is in a league of its own.

It may very well be.
"Image quality" isn't about color OR sharpness, OR noise, OR contrast, OR dynamic range, OR...............................
It's about how color AND sharpness, AND noise, AND contrast, AND dynamic range, AND............ work together.
It's possible, IMO, to photograph a particular scene with a dozen different camera/lens combinations and have the "best" image be one that doesn't excel in some, or possibly even any individual category. It's how they relate to each and all of the others that counts.

Before knowing what my K1 could deliver, I liked the results obtained with my K3 very much. Not that the K3 is bad but I think the K1 is in a league of its own.

I feel that exact same way regarding my K20D and my K-5 IIs.

On a side note-
I was stationed in Southern California for a couple of years just a few miles from where you took those pictures.
You happened to be there on what is an extraordinarily clear day. (by So. Cal. standards, that is. )

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Last edited by Parallax; 05-03-2020 at 03:13 PM.

[RICHARD L.]

L.A. and the Valley are the only places in North America where you can check what you will breathe before you inhale ... lol! Thanks for your kind comments !

Regards