[newmikey]

Coming from a K-5 IIs and jumped to a K-70 yesterday after looking at (and drooling over) the KP. I feel absolutely zero need to write any full reviews as others have done so way better than I could ever hope to do but I still thought it'd be useful to jot down my first impressions.

Reasons to choose the K-70 over the KP for me (and I emphasize for me only) were:
.. similar if not identical performance at lower iso (as I'm first and foremost a landscape and architecture type, resolution at low iso does count)
.. a one stop advantage of the KP over the K-70 at very high iso ratings (less than 0.5% of my shots)
.. a whopping €500 difference in price so I could have purchased almost two K-70's for the price of one KP
.. slight preference to the deep grip of the K-70 over the largest KP grip (extremely subjective, I fully accept that)
.. the LCD screen. From a shooting perspective I could work with either but for business travel, being able to flip the screen so it faces the camera back when the camera is in my laptop backpack is a huge advantage

First notes (and really only have been shooting for less than 24 hours) are:
+ resolution and clarity are awesome and I do see a small advantage to the 50% more pixels over the K-5 IIs
+ the customization shooting menu screen on the LCD - almost makes me forget the loss of the LCD on the topdeck and some of the physical controls on the K-5 IIs
+ the flip 'n twist LCD is a dream to use - shooting way up vertically or at knee-level has never been so easy
+ focus peaking - I still have to get used to getting the most out of this but it really works quite well at first sight
+ battery holds up less than my K-5 IIs but way more than I had anticipated - a spare is on the way
- AF selector on body feels a bit plasticky
- have to throw all of my RF remote timers away and replace with CS310-compatible stuff
- exposure accuracy seems unimproved versus the K-5 IIs but no biggie as I shoot raw

A few initial samples shot this morning in the old city center of the Dutch town of Alkmaar. All PEF raw files converted with Darktable, pp with Digikam (levels, curves and some cropping). I only took the Sigma 85mm/f1.4 on my walk so all shots were taken with this lens.

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Last edited by newmikey; 04-22-2017 at 05:42 AM.

[Larrymc]

Nice shots Mikey,


Looks like you are getting a great start with your new K70! BTW, were these shot in RAW and what did you use to edit them? I just saw DiGiCam in your EXIF info but that program doesn't say it supports Pentax......just wondering?

[ramseybuckeye]

Congrats and thanks for the mini review!

[newmikey]

Nice shots Mikey,


Looks like you are getting a great start with your new K70! BTW, were these shot in RAW and what did you use to edit them? I just saw DiGiCam in your EXIF info but that program doesn't say it supports Pentax......just wondering?

Digikam is based on LibRaw so it does support Pentax raw (both PEF as well as DNG) but I use it more as a DAM tool and for post-processing. I used Darktable to convert the raws. I'm still doing a comparison between a RawTherapee conversion and Darktable but it seems DT just suits me slightly better. IQ-wise they are quite equal. It'll be only when I start trying some pixelshift images that I'll need RT as DT doesn't handle those yet.

[Leumas]

Nice choice!

I love my K70 for all the reasons you've listed, and more!

[saladin]

Nice review. How do you find the Af compared to the k5ii? I'm still running the original k5 and considering jumping to k70/k3.

[newmikey]

Nice review. How do you find the Af compared to the k5ii? I'm still running the original k5 and considering jumping to k70/k3.

I'd say its way ahead of the K-5 and about on-par with the K-5 IIs except for liveview which is better than the K-5 IIs.

In the meantime I've tried a bit of pixel-shift raws - there certainly are differences but these are so slight for my shooting that I cannot see myself using PS regularly. RT5.1 does a great job on the motion-detection though - thoroughly impressed!

[lea828]

I'm looking to upgrade from my K-r and have been thinking about the K70 or the K-5iis. The specs of the K70 are tempting to me but I came across a K-5 IIs that is running a bit cheaper (~$200, good condition with shutter counts under 10K). I've been wanting to pick up a 30/35mm prime as well so the K-5 IIs option may allow me to do that sooner, but there's no rush on that part.

If you were upgrading from a K-r, do ya think it may be worth it to still go for the K-5IIs with the option of picking up a K70?

[newmikey]

If you were upgrading from a K-r, do ya think it may be worth it to still go for the K-5IIs with the option of picking up a K70?

Honestly I cannot assess whether a $200 price difference is a dealbreaker for you but I'd skip the K-5 IIs now and go straight for the K-70