In the July issue of a Japanese magazine called "Digital Photo," there are 20 pages or so of pictures by production model k-7(presumably with the "appropriate" firmware) taken with various lens ie DA* 16-50, DA*50-135, DA*55, DA 15 ltd, and DA 35 ltd. Not only that there were pics by K-7, there were comparison pics side by side with pics taken by K20D.

This was the magazine that also published pics taken by pre-production model of the up-coming 645D.

I am sorry that I cannot post their pics here, but here is the link :

?????????????? creative people:photo

The reason I am posting it here is that a certain blogger who no longer participates in this forum has been ranting on his own blog that the IQ of k-7 do no appear to be impressive, perhaps worse than that of K20D. After looking at some of those pics, I hate to admit it, but to a certain extent, I had to agree with that assessment.

So far, all the pictures that have been available were on the internet, not on print(as far as I know). So I thought that I would share with you what my impressions are.

When I look at the pics by k-7 and k20D side by side, I do notice that in terms of the sharpness, one can imagine that K20D is at least as sharp if not more. However, I think I know why. When you pay attention to the gradation details in the shadow and the contrast, I think that K-7 has more room for fine tuning, and I think this gives more leeway in terms of artistic expression to photographers. You can actually see this even in the area where it is over-exposed. It gives pictures more depth, and photographer more control. K-7 pics look to me much more natural than that taken by K20D. It just that K-7 pics make the K20D pics look really harsh, more blunt, not so refined. I can certainly see that the sensor has evolved from K20D. It is a different camera with different philosophy. I am not sure who worked on the sensor, but they clearly had a direction in mind. To me this is an entirely new sensor.

A bit of doubt had crept into my mind, but my worries are over. I will be purchasing k-7 for sure. I like what I see. This is a good enough upgrade from k20 that it is certainly worth putting down $1,300.

[ftpaddict]

A bit of doubt had crept into my mind, but my worries are over. I will be purchasing k-7 for sure. I like what I see. This is a good enough upgrade from k20 that it is certainly worth putting down $1,300.

Come winter, you'll be able to get it for around $1000.

[Jazzyboy]

I can't see where these pictures are and I absolutely don't understand japanese.
Could you (Nubi or anybody else) give a more direct link to theses pictures ? Thanks.

[jeffkrol]

I can't see where these pictures are and I absolutely don't understand japanese.
Could you (Nubi or anybody else) give a more direct link to theses pictures ? Thanks.

Try these. Not sure if it's the same site but pleny of eye candy....
Page15 - Photoble Uploader

[jeffkrol]

So far, all the pictures that have been available were on the internet, not on print(as far as I know). So I thought that I would share with you what my impressions are.

When I look at the pics by k-7 and k20D side by side, I do notice that in terms of the sharpness, one can imagine that K20D is at least as sharp if not more.

Sharpening for print is a completely different animal then web photos... Differences are not unexpected. If anything the k7 could have a tweaked AA filter slightly softening them more than the k20. AA filter strength is always a tradeoff between moire/artifacts and visual sharpness.... NOTHING to stress about. Detail is one thing, edge sharpness is another.
http://www.creativepro.com/article/out-gamut-almost-everything-you-wanted-kn...ere-afraid-ask
It's a sad but undeniable fact of life: Whether you scan, shoot, or capture, the process of digitizing images introduces softness, and to get great-looking results, you'll need to sharpen the great majority of digital images.

[Jazzyboy]

I had already seen these one (that guy who left the forum, the one that Nubi was talking about, he has provided this link on his blog)... and sincerely these pics scared me. I certainly don't want to be the next ricehigh but am I the only one to be scared by what these pictures show pecularly at 800 iso ? I must be missing something or a piece of explanation...

[Dr_who]

I've bene quite happy with the videos and pictures I've seen posted in this forum. The rollerblading one is good, and certianly well wiithin any use I'd ever use it for. If I wanted more I'd get a actual video recorder that can also do some photos and not vice versa. The ISO 1600 and 3200 look pretty good. I rarly go over 400/800 but its nice to know that in a pinch I could use those higher ISO's.

[Mr. The Guy]

Come winter, you'll be able to get it for around $1000.

So, for 6 months, you'll be using an old camera, while some of us will be using the latest toy. Over 6 months, that about $1/day. Worth every penny at triple the price. Also, if inflation kicks in (highly likely), or demand is high (which I doubt because of the economy), it may well cost more in the future.

Waiting, to save money, is a false economy.

[Sailor]

I can't see where these pictures are and I absolutely don't understand japanese.
Could you (Nubi or anybody else) give a more direct link to theses pictures ? Thanks.

Same here - I can't, for the life of me, find the comparative images.

Jer

[FotoPete]

Alright settled down guys haha. Lets not get too far ahead of ourselves. Remember its still that 14.6MP sensor co-developed with Samsung (albiet with 4 channel readout + whatever else is new)

What we saw with the K20D images was pretty much no NR. So if its the same sensor in the K-7 (for all intensive purposes), isnt the IQ gonna be not much different, more efficient NR? maybe?

I again apologize for the confusion. There are no links to the pics. I made a thread because these are the first pics taken by k-7 on prints, and this is what I consider to be the output format of choice, the gold standard. If you live in the big city where there are Japanese book store you can buy these magazines pretty readily. The IQ looks just fine. In fact, they look awesome. I went ahead and bought DA 15 limited yesterday after looking at these pics!!

[Sailor]

I again apologize for the confusion. There are no links to the pics. I made a thread because these are the first pics taken by k-7 on prints, and this is what I consider to be the output format of choice, the gold standard. If you live in the big city where there are Japanese book store you can buy these magazines pretty readily. The IQ looks just fine. In fact, they look awesome. I went ahead and bought DA 15 limited yesterday after looking at these pics!!

Ahhhh. Now I get it. Thanks, Nubi.

Jer

[cwood]

I had already seen these one (that guy who left the forum, the one that Nubi was talking about, he has provided this link on his blog)... and sincerely these pics scared me. I certainly don't want to be the next ricehigh but am I the only one to be scared by what these pictures show pecularly at 800 iso ? I must be missing something or a piece of explanation...

I would not make any judgments based on the rantings of a pixel peeping blogger. In the few "hours" that the production camera has been in circulation I have seen several "acceptable" images although I haven't seen many "nice photographs" which has more to do with the fact that many of the people rushing to snap an image and then stare at the resulting data on their computer monitor are not actually very good photographers. A great example was one picture that had people around here concerned because of the poor image quality at ISO 1600... until they realized that it was shot at F22. Give it a month if you're really scared. There will be lots of pictures to look at by then

[Pentaxor]

I had already seen these one (that guy who left the forum, the one that Nubi was talking about, he has provided this link on his blog)... and sincerely these pics scared me. I certainly don't want to be the next ricehigh but am I the only one to be scared by what these pictures show pecularly at 800 iso ? I must be missing something or a piece of explanation...

dont drink too much coffee mate. before you get to scared, consider all the factors that contribute to the image. exposure, shutter speed, narrow opening of the lens and the NR function if it's set to high, normal, low, or off.

unless there is a complete evaluation and in depth analysis of those results, we shouldn't jump into conclusions just yet. I'm still confident about the K-7. most especially the results that came from frank, falconeye and others. and this production K-7 came from a different source where we could not give justification that the production K-7 has ISO problems.

I'd rather wait for frank's and the others samples. atleast they could make the necessary and fair comparisons between the pre-production K-7's and the production ones.

aside from that, I'm giving the K-7 a chance to try it out for myself and learn it's full capability of handling noises. I'm sure that nobody could learn all the camera's tricks in just a day. just be patient. otherwise just try the camera yourselves or jump overboard already.

[Jazzyboy]

dont drink too much coffee mate.
[...] just be patient. otherwise just try the camera yourselves or jump overboard already.

I don't dink coffee and the reason why I was scared is that I have no intention to jump overboard.
What I meant is that I needed to see better pictures to get a bit reassured. But I don't panic though (or yet...). That's not my kind.