[Big G]

Pro and semi-pro are pretty meaningless terms.

[Karl Stevens]

From his blog and posts on Facebook, it's my impression that the person (yes, it's one guy) who runs Snapsort is a Nikon fanboy.

If you notice the K5's score of "95", it's only because of technical details. One of the main metrics is "popularity" - with a weight of 50, he considers it just as important as dynamic range and colour depth. He told me that "popularity" is based on the number of people searching for that camera from the main page.

So, if anyone here wants to increase the K5's rating on that site, periodically do searches for it on his site.

[timh]

Snapsort is stupid.

[JohnBee]

Snapsort.com, in comparisons, shows the Pentax K-5 to be better than both Canon's and Nikon's Flagship / Top of the Pro cameras.. WOW.. and at half the cost. Why isn't Pentax more popular? Geesh!

I think such positions are highly person dependent actually.
And so I'm not sure its even possible to cast an objective statement such as the K-5 is just better than... (insert whatever here) type of thing.

To me the K-5 meets or exceeds a D700(for example) due to its size, shutter sound, DR and versatility with my existing lenses. Which isn't to say the K-5 is "better" than the D700 as a camera. It simply means, its a better fit for my needs.

Is it perfect?
No, it is far from perfect.

Am I happy with it?
Yes, I am very happy with it.

But that's just me

[WerTicus]

5dmk2 isnt their flagship aps-c camera its their entry level full frame... flagship would be 7d.

and yeah the K-5 is the best Aps-c camera you can get right now...

[UnknownVT]

Simple answer is NO - since CaNikons have full-frame dSLRs

But for APS-C sensor dSLRs
I would agree with most of the opinions -

and yeah the K-5 is the best Aps-c camera you can get right now...

[Big G]

It may be the best for you, but as I've said over and over and over again, it's the overall system that makes a particular camera "best" for someone's use and needs.

With regards to dynamic range in the APS-C segment, that crown goes to the K-5, D7000 and soon-to-be release D5100 (give or take a fraction of a stop). If DR was the most important function, then one of these cameras would be best. However, if Joe Average is into wildlife and sports photography requiring very long lenses (say, 300mm to 500mm and possible TC use), then a solution from Canon or Nikon would be "the best".

[geekette]

It may be the best for you, but as I've said over and over and over again, it's the overall system that makes a particular camera "best" for someone's use and needs.

Thanks for your help.

[wlachan]

Just run them all in a washing machine for a full cycle and see which one came out the most intact (and still clicking hopefully). Just make sure you don't mistaken which are the actual C/N flagships cos some have tough time working that out.

[jlaubza]

Someone told me Pentax is REALLY popular in Japan compared to USA. I wonder what percentage of sales they get in Japan versus Nikon and Canon. I wonder how Pentax fares in other countries besides US and Japan.

Here in S. Africa, you struggle to find Pentax - sure, it is in the main shops but second hand lenses are non-existent and the dealers like elsewhere punt Ca... and Ni... first.

Like others, I bought Pentax due to memories of the Spotmatic - in retrospect, I can understand why Nikon is the best selling brand.

Nikon has the best market exposure for a quality brand but they keep their prices high. Canon has variable quality in my experience and if I changed brands, it would be for Nikon, which does the best Af, exposure metering and Flash system of these three brands.

All Pentax has to do now is sort out their flash system and FF problem on the K5, keep the sensor and firmware, jazz up their video recording, increase the lens range and hey presto, the best APS-C DSLR system on the market regardless of price.

One is not sure which market they are aiming at - clearly not the real pro market - perhaps they should.

[Eruditass]

Snapsort tries to combine a lot of information and give them numbers and rankings. Camera systems are so complicated with many pluses and minuses that it can be quite a bit misleading, especially if what you'd actually value does not fall in line with the weights that snapsort gives, which weights DxO scores rather heavily.

For example, one category they weighted higher than you'd think is popularity. I gave them feedback on this and they stated it helped the site give "the right answers." If that doesn't tell you there is something wrong, I don't know what to tell you.

[RyanW]

Don't like that website comparisons anyway.

It's only good for the first glance and for comparing technical details. But they don't tell the real life performance of a camera.

Exactly. I can remember shopping computer monitors. I looked at all the specs and found a cheapy with better specs for $100 less than the name brand. Off to the big box discount stores to do some comparisons. At all three the cheap monitor looked like absolute crap and no amount of tweaking the settings could fix it to look as good as the more expensive name brand.

Snapsort is useful for me in comparing camera dimensions and weight and that is about the end of it's usefulness.

[Ash]

There are too many comparisons and gear tests.
What's better for one person is not for another.
The best camera is the one you use to create your best work.
To me AF is the K-5's only significant deficiency.

[pinholecam]

I don't understand why Snapsort is rather popular (esp. in my local forum). Its no more than a brochure compilation site.

[dylansalt]

5dmk2 isnt their flagship aps-c camera its their entry level full frame... flagship would be 7d.

and yeah the K-5 is the best Aps-c camera you can get right now...

for Pentax and it has nothing else in it's range

Nikon D7000

same sensor - tick
better and infallible flash in any situation and better than K5 - tick
better auto-focus in lowlight without af assist light - tick
better range of really good incredibly sharp consumer zoom lenses - tick
really good metering and focusing with old lenses - tick
tons of old lenses to choose from - tick
3D focus tracking - tick
new Full frame lenses that work seamless with Crop and full frame - tick
vr in tele lenses is nicer and easier to use than in body stabilisation
active d lighting works seamlessly to great effect

Is it Nikon's best dslr - no

You can choose D700, D3s or D3x depending on the size of your wallet.