Originally posted by Alizarine It's hard to tell exactly how large that gap is unless it's viewed on charts and stuff. Comparing the K-30 to the K-r makes the K-30 closer to the K-5 right? as that was what he was asking; "how much better than the K-r"
Graphs are available at DXOMark if you substitute the K-01 for the K-30. There is no reason to expect the K-30 to be different than the K-01. From anything I've seen, they have the same sensor and same 12-bit raw processing engine.
Mostly when people talk about dynamic range, they quote the maximum available DR:
K-01/K-30; 12.9 Ev @ ISO 100
K-r; 12.4 Ev @ ISO 100
K-5; 14.1 Ev @ ISO 80
The graph shows the K-01 gradually gains ground up to ISO 1600, where it is half a stop lower than the K-5 (9.88 vs. 10.35 Ev). At ISO 3200 and beyond, where Pentax adds non-defeatable noise reduction, the K-01 and K-5 DR are equal, but the K-5 has a slightly higher signal-to-noise ratio.
DxOMark - Compare cameras side by side