[i_trax]

Well I have to agree that the K-7 isn't up for modern challenge, but I always feld that my K-7 was far more superior to the K-x (no matter what all others think and say).

With the K-7:

wow! excellent image
I had and used KX for ~ 2 years predominantly with Sigma 17-70 2.8-4.5 Macro ( love that lens) and occasionally big plasticky Canon's DSLR's at work and I was very happy. I am just an amateur with a day job.
One day there was K7 on this forum going at good price and located in AU, was on its way to me the next day and....
the moment I touched it, the completely different class of camera, just glued to ma hand by itself, perfect ergonomics , well balanced ,so many extra controls and all in the right places, perfect body design! The smile on my face just wouldn't go away....but the battery.
KX did not get much use after that, although I still have it always in my car with Sigma 17-70 ( another one ) and spare set of Lithium AA's ( can take 800+ shots) as a very reliable back-up,
Yes, the battery is the only my complain about K7 ( why not AA???) , nether the less it is joy to use.
Then came the Q , which complicated everything badly, what to keep and what to sell?
Had to go to Europe for 6 weeks, Family matter, took just the Q, took over 3000 photos, , never really missed KX or K7 but I did miss Sigma's 17-70 and 10-20 and the battery....you need at least 4 for day photo-walk.
All those Pentax cameras are extremely capable of taking enjoyable pictures but you have to learn first how to fine tune them to your requirements.
They all are like musical instruments, they need to be fine tuned and learn by the users how to take the full advantage of their capabilities.
Last night there was a K5 with Sigma 17-70 ( there would be my third one - great lens, anyone wants to buy one?) on AU eBay , good price and still under AU warranty ,it's on its way to me, I hope , never purchased anything that expensive on eBay before.
Progress/upgrades ...never ending dilema for photographers like me and some of you....

[Wheatfield]

So I'm a big film shooter and a while back i grabbed a Kx for my first digital and i loved it. But eventually i felt the need to step my game up a little bit and i really wanted a slightly bigger camera ( huge hands). So i got my hands on a K5 at a camera store and i LOVED how it felt in my hands. I loved the controls, the battery grip, it was all what i was looking for that my Kx didn't have. Now i looked across the specs between the K7 and the K5 and i couldn't really justify the extra $300 for a camera that appeared to be nearly comparable to the K5 in every way. Or at least in every way that i cared about. So i lurked Ebay and found a mint K7 body with a battery grip and i snatched that up for $500.

And i have been constantly disappointed since.
I LOVE the camera itself but eveything else . . is dick.
the sensor is nothing but noise, even at ISO 100 its noisier than my Kx was at 400. At 400 the K7 feels like its at 1600-3200.
The sunny 16 rule is about 3 stops under exposed on the sensor. Even the auto modes on the K7 are almost black all the time. And if i open up to grab some shadow detail ALL my highlights blow the **** out pretty much always. its like BOOM Highlight head shot, PICTURE MEGA KILL!!

Has anyone else experienced this? or is it just me? All my firware is up to date and im using the same manual lenses that i did with my Kx.
Is there some magic setting in this camera? a button to turn off the suck option?

From what you are describing, it's just you. I actually prefer the look of the K7 files over the K5 files in a lot of respects. The K7 starts to fall apart at ISO 800 or over, and a little judicious use of noise reduction never hurts, but what you are describing sounds like you are having trouble getting a decent exposure.

[ducdao]

I have a K-7 and I think it rocks. Granted at high ISO it's not as good as the K-X, K-R and K-5 but it's not that bad provided you shoot RAW and use a good noise reduction tool such as LR3+.

See few of my recent shots with K-7 at high ISO here

[arnie0674]

And i have been constantly disappointed since.
I LOVE the camera itself but eveything else . . is dick.
the sensor is nothing but noise, even at ISO 100 its noisier than my Kx was at 400. At 400 the K7 feels like its at 1600-3200.
The sunny 16 rule is about 3 stops under exposed on the sensor. Even the auto modes on the K7 are almost black all the time. And if i open up to grab some shadow detail ALL my highlights blow the **** out pretty much always. its like BOOM Highlight head shot, PICTURE MEGA KILL!!

Has anyone else experienced this? or is it just me? All my firware is up to date and im using the same manual lenses that i did with my Kx.
Is there some magic setting in this camera? a button to turn off the suck option?

I think you have a defective camera. I have the K7 and while there is a tiny bit of noise at ISO 100, i have no problems with exposures.

So i lurked Ebay and found a mint K7 body with a battery grip and i snatched that up for $500.

This might be why.

[paulh]

I believe this is the thread someone referenced earlier here: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/106600-k-7-high-iso-success.html

[eddie1960]

I believe this is the thread someone referenced earlier here: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/106600-k-7-high-iso-success.html

that is the thread that got me to settle on the K7 when I bought it

I think the K7 is seriously under-rated sometimes, Sure the K5 is a game changer on iso, but pretty much every other thing it offers is in the K7 at half the price

[jezza323]

Wow @ all the people whinging about the K-7 iso performance. Go pick up an old K200D and see how you go! Doesn't even go over ISO 1600, and its pretty bad with noise in general. Just a limitation to work within IMO. If you want to go beyond that, clearly you should have waiting a bit longer and grabbed the K-5

[jt_cph_dk]

Hi all, Here are some test shots in neutral light that shows, that the High ISO noise problems with the K7 can be worked out. It´s all about how you set it up. Regards

JPG straight from the K7 shot at 3200 ISO

3200 ISO 100% Crop

[Chaos_Realm]

I believe this is the thread someone referenced earlier here: https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/106600-k-7-high-iso-success.html

Yeh that was the one I was after. Cheers. I hadn't subscribed so it was being a little elusive!

[alstauffer]

Wow @ all the people whinging about the K-7 iso performance. Go pick up an old K200D and see how you go! Doesn't even go over ISO 1600, and its pretty bad with noise in general. Just a limitation to work within IMO. If you want to go beyond that, clearly you should have waiting a bit longer and grabbed the K-5

My problem isn't with the K-7's performance itself, it's the K-7's performance with respect to the K-x's performance, which was a much cheaper camera, and my dilemma of having to choose ergonomics or image quality.

I moved to the K-x from a (not micro) 4/3 DSLR, so the high ISO performance sort of blew me away when I first got it.

[jt_cph_dk]

Here is another one shot at 1600 ISO



ISO 1600 100% Crop

[paulh]

Here is another one shot at 1600 ISO

ISO 1600 100% Crop

These are impressive for OOC jpegs. Mind sharing your camera settings?

[runslikeapenguin]

Ok so before this discussion can go further i want to dispell any notions that

"Original Poster doesn't know how to use a camera"

I can meter and focus just fine and i always shoot in full manual.

Pretty much all of the following were shot with the Kx with manual screwmount and manual K mount lenses.






















And then i take my time with my K7, focus, check the zone focus, check my DOF with the preview bracket chimp a few times and once i get home . . . sigh. (this is after being raped with light room)





I think there is something legitimately wrong with my K7, or just the camera itself. Maybe it just doesn't like manual lenses like the Kx did.
I'm thinking of buying a Sigma 30mm 1.4 and giving that a whirl. Maybe i need to let the camera do its thing instead of me forcing it to shoot like i shoot film.

[Wheatfield]

My problem isn't with the K-7's performance itself, it's the K-7's performance with respect to the K-x's performance, which was a much cheaper camera, and my dilemma of having to choose ergonomics or image quality.

I moved to the K-x from a (not micro) 4/3 DSLR, so the high ISO performance sort of blew me away when I first got it.

With digital cameras, you can't look at cheaper vs. more expensive WRT image quality. You need to look at what generation of camera it is instead. The K-x is a later generation camera than the K7, and got a later generation sensor. We are still at the stage in the technology where newer sensors will tend to outperform older ones.
The K7 has better build and ergonomics, and overall better performance.

[jogiba]

If you already have the K-7 then the K-01 makes a great companion if you want features not found on the K-5 like full manual control of HD video in 1080p30,24 and 720p60 along with focus peaking. The K-01 @100 iso looks better than the K-5 @ 80 iso IMHO.

K-01 @100 iso vs K-5 @ 80 iso