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08-08-2013, 01:43 PM   #1
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Pentax K30 and dynamic range

Hi again,

I am about to buy the camera (it will be as soon as I get paid). Just one more question.

K30's sensor is known for its great dynamic range and low ISO noise.

But, since a big part of the photos I will take will be landscapes a good dynamic range and post processing is essential to maintain detail in shadows, etc. But I am a bit worried about one thing. 12 bit raw.

Is it enough improve the dynamic range of the pictures (not HDR, just recover information from shadows). Has anyone had any limitations regarding this issue?



Thanks in advance

08-08-2013, 02:30 PM   #2
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QuoteOriginally posted by JohnnyXD Quote
Hi again,

I am about to buy the camera (it will be as soon as I get paid). Just one more question.

K30's sensor is known for its great dynamic range and low ISO noise.

But, since a big part of the photos I will take will be landscapes a good dynamic range and post processing is essential to maintain detail in shadows, etc. But I am a bit worried about one thing. 12 bit raw.

Is it enough improve the dynamic range of the pictures (not HDR, just recover information from shadows). Has anyone had any limitations regarding this issue?



Thanks in advance
I can recover all kinds of detail from shadows in the K-30. Can the K-5 do better? Probably so but you're still getting an extremely versatile sensor on the K-30.
08-08-2013, 03:29 PM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by JohnnyXD Quote
Hi again,

I am about to buy the camera (it will be as soon as I get paid). Just one more question.

K30's sensor is known for its great dynamic range and low ISO noise.

But, since a big part of the photos I will take will be landscapes a good dynamic range and post processing is essential to maintain detail in shadows, etc. But I am a bit worried about one thing. 12 bit raw.

Is it enough improve the dynamic range of the pictures (not HDR, just recover information from shadows). Has anyone had any limitations regarding this issue?



Thanks in advance
The K-30 will be fine for landscapes, if you want 14-bit raw you can either look at the K-5 / K-5 II or the D5100/D5200, all of which are similarly priced.

Adam
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08-08-2013, 04:02 PM   #4
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I'm constantly amazed by how much detail I can get from shadows with my K-30. It will not disappoint you.

08-08-2013, 04:11 PM   #5
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I agree with loco The detail is great on my landscape shots, and it's combined with a nice, bright viewfinder, and a good detailed live view if you need it - I think you will be pleased with the results.
08-08-2013, 05:57 PM   #6
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Here's an example. I was taking a shot of a small pond with the sun in the frame. When the sun is in the picture, it is very common for the highlight detail to get completely lost. It is much easier to recover shadow detail, so I shot the image underexposed using the exposure compensation setting. This helped to keep the sky more or less in the correct exposure. The image looked like:





After a few tweaks in Lightrom (or any RAW image converter, including the one that comes with the camera), the image looked like:




Yes I know it's upside down. That's on purpose, probably because I'm crazy. This does show you the kind of shadow recovery that's pretty easy to get with the K-30!

Last edited by Kozlok; 08-08-2013 at 06:03 PM.
08-09-2013, 01:58 AM   #7
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Raw converters do make a difference. ACR 8.1 in CS6 does a much better job than Silkypix Developer Studio Pro 5 once you start shadow recovery of 4 stops and the like, Silkypix tends to blow out highlights if you push shadows. There's also an extra stop of recovery possible at the highlight end with ACR.


Last edited by SteveB; 08-09-2013 at 08:58 AM.
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