[eurostar]

Makes me really wonder what a D400 will be spec'd at given it would be superior to the D7100....

Look at the buffer of the 7100 and you'll see it's not a camera suitable for wildlife and sport photographers.

[Ayoh]

It may not be competitive in sheer number of focus points and associated AF tracking benefits. However, I expect it to be very competitive in low-light sensitivity and accuracy.

The k5II is a significant improvement in AF performance in low light sensitivity and accuracy against the k5. Sensitivity is at -3EV for 9 cross points and a f/2.8 AF baseline is available for the centre point in addition to an effective low-light assist light for total darkness (the assist light algorithm has been revised and now uses very brief and less subject-distracting pulses). The competition:

- is reportedly slow in low light AF with no AF assist light (Canon 5d Mark III) or,
- only achieves -3EV for centre point (Canon 6D)), or
- is sensitivity limited to -2EV (at centre point?) and precision limited by a f5.6 AF system baseline (Nikon 3500). (there are a number of documented test reports of poor AF accuracy of the d800/d4 with f/1.4 lenses on digilloyd.com.)

Having practically evaluated the k5II against some of the competition myself I was quite shocked to find how well the new AF system works. The k5 in comparison thoroughly deserves it's reputation for poor AF speed and accuracy.

I think Pentax engineers definitely deserves credit for the job they did with the k5II as in some ways it is class-leading. The only current lag is in tracking, which is not really relevant for people not interested in sports photography. Personally I would rather they emphasise low light sensitivity in future designs with larger and fewer AF points, rather than target niche sports photography demands and increase AF point count.

Additionally, when Adam compared the k5II to the Canon 7D and concluded that the 7D features a superior AF systems he must have surely not used both cameras indoors. If he had he would find that the 7D (despite its good tracking performance in daylight) has poor low light sensitivity.

Wrt K-3 speculation, I wonder if the K-3 would compete with D7100 or rather the D5200.

Obviously, the D7100 is prepared for the battle with its removal of Bayer-AA filter. But how about Pentax to fight with that rather capable 51 point Multi-CAM 3500DX AF module?

Will be interesting times

[Class A]

Having practically evaluated the k5II against some of the competition myself I was quite shocked to find how well the new AF system works.

Thanks for this perspective.

It reaffirms my opinion that -- should the K-3 turn out to not offer significant advantages -- acquiring a K-5 II will tide me over to the FF model very comfortably.

The only point where I may disagree with you is on the AF area size. Smaller sizes are not only good for sports photography but also in terms of making sure that you are focusing on the intended detail in the scene. Large areas are good for sensitivity but you are always more in doubt as to what detail made the AF system converge on a particular focus setting.

[Alizarine]

I can't believe the only difference between the K-5 II and the K-3 is a new sensor with 4 Mpx more. There must be something else.

hmm, SAFOX X+? PRIME III? What else can be upgraded...

[ogl]

Look at the buffer of the 7100 and you'll see it's not a camera suitable for wildlife and sport photographers.

But the buffer of D7000 clears 3-4 times quicker than K-5.

As for JPEG buffer is good.

[Anvh]

But the buffer of D7000 clears 3-4 times quicker than K-5.

Might that not be because it's 3 to 4 times smaller?

[mecrox]

It may not be competitive in sheer number of focus points and associated AF tracking benefits. However, I expect it to be very competitive in low-light sensitivity and accuracy.

[snip]

I think Pentax engineers definitely deserves credit for the job they did with the k5II as in some ways it is class-leading. The only current lag is in tracking, which is not really relevant for people not interested in sports photography. Personally I would rather they emphasise low light sensitivity in future designs with larger and fewer AF points, rather than target niche sports photography demands and increase AF point count.

"Niche sports photography demands" most often in practice means people photographing their kids, pets, etc, so I don't think Pentax can afford to leave it very far down the list of priorities. Good AF tracking has become a fairly standard expectation for a certain class of camera and so, like the megapixel wars, companies probably have to play along or suffer. Which is not unreasonable if a camera costs north of $800-1000. The market would likely punish Pentax if Pentax put up something with only a handful of points against the D7100's 51 or the D5200's 39, etc, etc. We may all know that for many kinds of still photography lots of points are quite unnecessary, but that's not how the big bad world of marketing works I suppose. As for the rest - the improvements in the K5II and its low-light performance - good point and I am sure you are right.

[Caat]

hmm, SAFOX X+? PRIME III? What else can be upgraded...

Not so much upgrades but additions could be:

GPS
WiFi
Bluetooth
an optional battery with inductive charging capability
a larger viewfinder or
a larger hybrid OVF/EVF viewfinder
fully manual video
uncrippled K-mount

The list goes on. Whether any of these are economical or not is another matter!

[ogl]

Might that not be because it's 3 to 4 times smaller?

After 23 RAW of K-5II - you should wait from 30 till 40 seconds (depends on SD card) and can't shoot at all.

D7000 could shoot with speed 1.5 fps and clears the buffer for 9-10 seconds.

[Anvh]

can't shoot at all? Thats first time hearing that.
With the K5 you can continue to shoot even if the buffer is full but it drops the FPS to about 0.8

And if the camera has cleared the buffer slightly you can continue to shoot at full FPS again till it's full again.

[Anvh]

hmm, SAFOX X+? PRIME III? What else can be upgraded...

2 SD cards and there is a lot that can be done on the video side.

[Anvh]

Not so much upgrades but additions could be:

GPS
WiFi
Bluetooth
an optional battery with inductive charging capability

You would be giving up magnesium body for these things.
Inductive charging is not great either since there is quite a lot of lost, it's quicker and more efficient to just put the battery in a charger in the end.

[Kunzite]

can't shoot at all? Thats first time hearing that.
With the K5 you can continue to shoot even if the buffer is full but it drops the FPS to about 0.8

And if the camera has cleared the buffer slightly you can continue to shoot at full FPS again till it's full again.

Maybe he's trying to chimp after every burst? Anyway, that's fighting the equipment - not using it

[thibs]

can't shoot at all? Thats first time hearing that.
With the K5 you can continue to shoot even if the buffer is full but it drops the FPS to about 0.8

And if the camera has cleared the buffer slightly you can continue to shoot at full FPS again till it's full again.

Agreed. Same here.
Ogl, you must have a very special K5

[Caat]

You would be giving up magnesium body for these things.
Inductive charging is not great either since there is quite a lot of lost, it's quicker and more efficient to just put the battery in a charger in the end.

Not necessarily. The current K5-II has a plastic battery door and the top LCD panel would allow radio signals through; depending upon where the aerials are placed in the body the mag alloy doesn't have to attenuate the signal entirely. Built in WiFi is still an area that's strangely lacking in most DSLRs/ILCs given that WiFi in most portable devices is ubiquitous - the possibilities for wireless tethering and data transfer would be quite interesting. But I guess there are development costs associated with creating applications to make use of it. An iOS/Android app for remote control of a camera and remote display of the live view feed could be very useful for some niche areas.

Inductive charging if built into an optional type of battery would allow you to charge multiple batteries at once using one pad. I'm not saying it's perfect but it's interesting!