[UnknownVT]

I think "Unacceptable" is quite an emotive word.

I shoot ISO5000 quite regularly on my K-x and find it quite acceptable -
BUT for someone who shoots ISO100 or 200 regularly my results would be noisy and unacceptable - it's all relative.

So I can see why people are upset by PopPhoto describing ISO3200 on the K-5 as "unacceptable"
- BUT it's only the emotional word "unacceptable"

Please take a look at their test panel of the Nikon D7000 it does not fare that much better.

Here's a scan of their actual words - it seems pretty fair to me:

[Scottie137]

^^^^^Beat me to it^^^^^^^

I agree. Complete and utter rubbish test.

Noise is perfectly acceptable upto 6400 IMO


I've even had acceptable results over that for some shots

The article does state these are out of the camera noise levels and that Pentax's engineers have been extremely judicious in their in camera noise reduction algorithms. They went on to state that noise cleaned up very well with even moderate PP noise reduction. The thing I found odd was their lack of commitment to their final conclusion, stating something like, "Pentax seems to have a champ on their hands." I thought this was a review, either they do or don't....

The vast majority of the article also compared it directly against the E5...saying it was in different price categories than the 7D, D300, 60D or D7

[Jodokast96]

er, um, ISO 3200 unacceptable? I think they are testing with the wrong camera.
Or have their tests been skewed for high-ISO-capable cameras? What compete trash!

I'll defend them a bit here, as they do actually explain that in the article. Since they use the default settings, and Pentax takes a light hand to NR, they do say that tweaking the settings makes a huge difference.

Beat to it I see.

[lpfonseca]

The "blazing" AF doesn't seem to be that much faster from it's predecessor

Well, the K-5 is as fast at EV 0 as K-7 at EV 2.

At EV 2, the K-5 takes 0.87s that compares to 1.18 for K-7, 0.59 for Canon 60D and 0,76 for Nikon D7000.

With lower light Pentax starts to lose a lot o f time but down to EV 2 it compares well. It is the slowest but not by much. A good improvement by Pentax.

Have fun,
Luis

[luke0622]

not really sure how they test the AF out or which lenses they did use, but I do work with D7000 and 60D at work a lot, just with the kit lens, their AF isn't all that fast comparing to the K-5. The K-5 and D7000's AF speed are really similar, but the D7000 slows down a lot when I have the Nikon 55-300mm VR on there, 60D on the other hand is the worst when I compare them together indoor.

Sometimes the magazines seem to be a little bias against Pentax, and they might've got paid by Canon and Nikon people............

[LowVoltage]

I read this article yesterday, and overall it reported what I expected and even hoped to hear, although those high ISO ratings were, let's say, worded poorly.

My main gripe, however, with the article was the lack of any test photos. I didn't expect a seven page exclusive, but they went on and on about how great the camera was to use in the cold and snow. Would it have killed them to bless us with a measly image demonstrating this?!

[UnknownVT]

I read this article yesterday, and overall it reported what I expected and even hoped to hear, although those high ISO ratings were, let's say, worded poorly.

My main gripe, however, with the article was the lack of any test photos. I didn't expect a seven page exclusive, but they went on and on about how great the camera was to use in the cold and snow. Would it have killed them to bless us with a measly image demonstrating this?!

Ah, but they did, and some rather good/telling ones too:

The link has been in the thread:
Pentax K5 on PopPhoto
posted Jan/21/2011

Sample Images: Pentax K-5 PopPhoto.com

EDIT to ADD -
from the PopPhoto.com gallery of the basketball game -
it would seem that the photographer didn't have much problem with the K-5 AF speed:
take for example pic 3 - ISO2000, f/4, 1/200 this would put the LV at about ~7 -
and from the PopPhoto results at LV=6 and brighter the Pentax K-5 was faster than either the CaNikon 60D or D7000
pic 4 and pic 6 were both at ISO2000, f/4, 1/500 that's LV of about ~8+

However the most telling shot for me was pic 7 - look more carefully
what is really in focus is the basket rim -
my take/guess is the photographer focused on the rim, waiting for the shot
and tripped the shutter when he predicted/saw it.

---

Last edited by UnknownVT; 02-13-2011 at 11:47 AM.

[LowVoltage]

Ah, but they did, and some rather good/telling ones too:

I should clarify, I read the paper-printed news stand magazine article, not the online version.

The magazine article went into great detail about snow and ice and chilly weather and how the K-5 didn't flinch. They also compared it to the Olympus E-5 as a competitor because of the weather sealing.

Again, apart from the graphs and the introductory image of the camera body there were no photos of the winter wonderland they described.

[UnknownVT]

I should clarify, I read the paper-printed news stand magazine article, not the online version.

The magazine article went into great detail about snow and ice and chilly weather and how the K-5 didn't flinch. They also compared it to the Olympus E-5 as a competitor because of the weather sealing.

Again, apart from the graphs and the introductory image of the camera body there were no photos of the winter wonderland they described.

You are not wrong - I take and see your point -
about describing results without showing them

But I think I much prefer full sized images posted via the web
than any magazine halftone printed samples at about 150 lpi -
especially the samples they did post -
I found those very useful and as I said telling.

[Eagle_Friends]

Popphoto is pretty weird. In their previous issue, they also rated the D7000 an Unacceptable rating at ISO 3200, but gives the 60D a high rate at 3200. Only at 6400 does Canon's 60D become unacceptable. I wonder if there are camera politics working behind the scene.

[john5100]

The K10 isn't lower than the K5. Pop Photography changed their rating system about the time the KX was release.

[UnknownVT]

FWIW - PopPhoto.com have now posted their review on the web:

Lab Test: Pentax K-5