[jgredline]

I hope for Pentax's sake it does live up to the specs. The K7 was supposed to be the "Canon killer" looking at the specs, but in reality fell short of the competition in many key factors, like focus speed, high ISO, and dynamic range. It beat the competition in build quality but that is a small factor when choosing a camera system, If it doesn't meet expectations they could lose a lot of Pentaxians who have been waiting to replace their K10 or K20.

Specs mean nothing if Pentax can't make good on them. Having an ISO of 25,600 isn't any good if it isn't a usable number. If ISO1600 is as good as you can use without too much PP, then a setting of 25600 is moot. Just saying that while the k7 has iso6400, I know past ISO2000 it's not worth my time to even bother because the quality goes down so quickly. A crop frame camera will never be able to match a full frame like the d700, the 7d, is faster, but loses in low light (it's fairly clean, but the pics are mushy). There is always some give and take at any price point.


The "leaked" specs are nice to see and hopefully it will be a good product for some Pentaxians to move up to. I'm still waiting for the full frame announcement though..........

I could not agree more!....I did end up building a second system (Nikon D700 and D300S) after the huge disappointment of the K-7..... ''if'' the K-5 lives up to it's specs I will consider one when it drops in price to below 1k, but no longer will I pay full retail like I did for the K110D, K10D, K20D and K-7 ...Now I will wait and see if it is worth the money.

[Pål Jensen]

I encounter it every weekend over winter when I'm taking photos of rugby players. No way can the K-7 on AFC keep up with them. I still get lots of good shots though.

I know people experience this repeatedly but maintain this is not due to the speed of the AF system.

[jezza323]

cant wait to see the high iso test shots

i think i will be due for an upgrade in 2011, this will hopefully tick all the boxes

[tbirdas]

A couple of questions about the K-x successor:
Any guess on the AF points in the viewfinder?
If the suggested price is $875 what will be the actual street price?
What will the price of K-x be when the K-r is announced?

[uchinakuri]

just to give everyone a little comparison, in Japan, here are the prices of the cameras that people have been talking about in this thread. Prices are taken from a major retailer of electronic goods:

canon 7d body = 127,500 yen
nikon d300s body = 159,800 yen
nikon d700 body = 238,000 yen

[Pål Jensen]

cant wait to see the high iso test shots

i think i will be due for an upgrade in 2011, this will hopefully tick all the boxes

I expect a 2-3 stop improvement over the K-7. This will for me be more than adequate but I'm sure someone at some point in the future will claim that a camera that cannot give clean shoots at 1 million ISO is useless...

[Pål Jensen]

just to give everyone a little comparison, in Japan, here are the prices of the cameras that people have been talking about in this thread. Prices are taken from a major retailer of electronic goods:

canon 7d body = 127,500 yen
nikon d300s body = 159,800 yen
nikon d700 body = 238,000 yen

139,000 yen seems about right then for the K-5. I'm sure that the prices for the 7D, the D300 and the D700 were higher the day they were released...

[dtra]

Ooh, I think it will surely be time to upgrade the trusty K200d around xmas if the reviews are good
I wonder if the K-r will be weather-sealed at all? If not, I'll probably spend the extra on the K-5 , all as long as the reviews are good.

[Steelski]

I will quote myself as it seems I was about smack on the money with some things.

If you are only guessing then I hope its only a guess.
The reason I think that the K-5 is more than a rearmed K-7 is because of the name.
I agree on a few things, but not all.
K-5
Weather Resistant Magnesium Alloy On Stainless Steel Chassis Similar to K7
16 Megapixel APS-C BSI CMOS Sensor
ISO 200-12800, Expandable to 100-25600
1/8000 Shutter Speed, X-Sync=1/180s
about 7 FPS
77- Segment Multi-Pattern Metering System
645D SAFOX-IX+ AF System - 11-Point, 9 Cross type Its actually a APS-C AF module in the 645D link and pic at bottom
1080P 30/29.97/24fps/23.976 / 720P 60fps/50fps
Improved LiveView with faster autofocus and Face detection + AF during video
Glass Prism Viewfinder with 100% Image Coverage, 1.0X Magnification I am not sure about the 1.0 Mag that would be great,
SR II
Dual prime II processors
Dual SDXC
12/14bit RAW + selectable
Reinforced glass 910,000 dot display
I hope I am wrong about the sync speed as I miss having 1/250th without HSS.

Safos IX+ http://www.sheya.net/upimg/allimg/100316/152P96023-37.jpg

I expect maybe some of the things like SDXC support not to be there, but who knows.
Anyway, I think if it is as good as the Canikon equivalents at high Iso and dynamic range then we are talking a very serious step for Pentax. I am not impressed by simply the name Sony though. I think way too much emphasis is placed of some sensor aspects. I much prefer the Samsung Cmos sensors to the Sony Cmos one for color reproduction. We will have to see.

[jezza323]

i would expect the actual price when it goes on sale to be a little less

maybe i can purchase it in 2011 when i make a visit to NYC

[Fototim]

Yes I have. With a Z-1p; on film that is.
I have also shot bumblebees in flight with the MZ-S. The difficulty, sometime bordering on the impossible, is to keep the focus point at the correct spot. Both puffins and bumblebees are incredibly difficult but it is a question of technique.

I was expecting this answer. So you my friend, are easier to predict than the birds

I know this. I'm working on it. That's why I tried three times this summer. And thats why I will go back next summer.

But why should it be harder to be a Pentax shooter, than a Canikon shooter? They are able to group AF-spots, and their cameras keep up the frame rate when they are following a target.

[ewalk]

We don't know for sure yet if the K-5 has a 16MP

I can just see it now - the K-5 has the 14MP sensor from the NEX series and everyone on these forums starts to complain.

I'll believe it when I see it.

[Pål Jensen]

But why should it be harder to be a Pentax shooter, than a Canikon shooter? .

It isn't. In the Canon (and Nikon) forums there are plenty of post of AF "failure" similar to what you find on Pentax forums. Likewise there are plenty of images shot with Pentax cameras of sports and wildlife.

There were some interesting post on Dpreview lately on that topic. Some provided samples as proof of Pentax lousy AF and Marc Sabatella rightly pointed out that every image was proof of user error.
I have yet to see a single proof of failed AF that wasn't due to user error or simply faulty equipment.

[janneman]

I also started getting up earlier in the morning so I could be out in position when the good light hit." He snorted and said, "I don't get out of bed before 10am! And I HATE using tripods! But I still don't understand why your pictures better color than mine."

There are more thigs in life than getting up early, use a tripod and shoot great pictures.

$1650 K-5 is $110 more than 7D, $150 more than D300s

I have yet to see first announced prices to be real in the end

. It beat the competition in build quality but that is a small factor when choosing a camera system,

Major reason to me .

16 MP sounds brilliant. But if the sensor is still the same size are we not just squeezing more pixels onto it which does not necessarily mean a sharper picture. Did I read a discussion somewhere about more pixels=more noise? I think one of the later Canikons has been criticised for this.

Not just there, high pixeldensity = more noise is the generally accepted truth in digiland. Not that I am so sure, I think there is still room for developent...

nd Marc Sabatella rightly pointed out that every image was proof of user error.
I have yet to see a single proof of failed AF that wasn't due to user error or simply faulty equipment.

I think that may be due more to the fact that most people do not want to waste storage with keeping OOF pictures...
Hwever where is the fine line between " the limitations of the equipment"( sounds much better as faulty implies equipent failure) and "user error'?
I mean there are certain limitations in AF speed. Don't you think it is entirely possible that someone sees a certain action, wants to take a picture but more or less knows that the picture as to be taken now,as the moment will be gone in a mpoment, een if AF has not yet locked on... If you you take the image at that point you may have the picture you want, even if it is somewhat out of focus. Now, is that "user error" as you did not wait for AF to lock on or is it "limitations of the equipment used" as AF could not work in such a short time????

Ofcourse with a flying bumblebee and even a puffin you have a bit more of an idea how they wil move than with rugbyplayers...

[Pål Jensen]

Hwever where is the fine line between " the limitations of the equipment"( sounds much better as faulty implies equipent failure) and "user error'?
I mean there are certain limitations in AF speed. Don't you think it is entirely possible that someone sees a certain action, wants to take a picture but more or less knows that the picture as to be taken now,as the moment will be gone in a mpoment, een if AF has not yet locked on... If you you take the image at that point you may have the picture you want, even if it is somewhat out of focus. Now, is that "user error" as you did not wait for AF to lock on or is it "limitations of the equipment used" as AF could not work in such a short time????

Ofcourse with a flying bumblebee and even a puffin you have a bit more of an idea how they wil move than with rugbyplayers...

But thats the limitation of the AF system as such. No AF system, not even a Canon , can predict random movement. That is the definition off random; it cannot be predicted!
AF is not a feature that automatically get what the photographer want in focus just by pointing the camera in the general direction of the subject. This is like blaiming the camera for being faulty because the photographer didn't get enough DOF in program mode.