I have always owned Pentax SLRs, so can’t really compare my K7 with anything else except my Sony Cybershot compact camera (which produces excellent results almost effortlessly). I’ve owned my K7 for about 2 years and have used it a lot. K7 feels wonderful to use. Very well organised & constructed. Once set up, you don’t need to refer to menus often. Fits very comfortably in the hand.
I agree with comments I’ve read about its tendency to underexpose, though operated on full automatic ‘green’ mode this seems somewhat less of an issue – but that rather defeats the object of having an SLR! I’ve now switched to using the K7 mainly in aperture priority mode, with spot metering & using AE Lock to take a light reading before shooting. This is produces much better results, but is effectively using it manually, which reduces the speed at which you can work.
The pop-up flash takes some getting used to. Unless used carefully it consistently over exposes. However, it does have its own exposure compensation facility and when operated with spot metering is capable of producing excellent results.
I’ve seen criticisms of the K7’s ability to produce good shots in low light conditions. But I feel it is remarkable, and the pixilation that occurs at ISO6400 is acceptable, given the limits to which the K7 is being pushed. The ‘High ISO Noise Reduction’ facility seems to work really well. I’ve used the high ISOs extensively to photograph ballet by stage lighting, sometimes in very low light conditions against matt black backgrounds, producing some very effective shots.
The 18-55mm kit lens is a bit disappointing – but given the low price one really shouldn’t be too demanding! Apart from the rather low quality, my main beef with this lens is that after 2 years of regular use the lens hood no longer stays firmly clipped in place and occasionally falls off. I am about to try to replace it with a more robust screw-in model. When I have the money I’ll move up to a higher quality lens. I should add that I also have various other K-mount lenses that I use with this body, including Sigma (film) 20-200mm & 100-300mm. The kit lens performs reasonably well provided you use the smaller apertures and faster ISOs. The recent acquisition of Sigma 10-25mm (digital) wide angle lens has greatly added to my enjoyment of using this camera.
Nevertheless, I am left still with a slight feeling of disappointment – this camera is capable of producing excellent results, but under average conditions it takes quite a lot of hard work to do so compared with my much simpler Sony Cybershot, especially when the results are displayed digitally.
Last edited by Milooshea; 10-22-2012 at 02:34 AM.
Reason: Spotted typo!