[Spodeworld]

I was just wondering for those who have had a chance to compare the K20 vs K10 how the noise profile compares. I notice noise creeping in at about ISO 800 for the K20D. Wondering how much different the K10D is.

Thanks.

[Ole]

I find the K10D to have less noise (but also less resolution) and a nicer noise pattern. When sharpening K20D images with blue sky I often had to mask out the blue sky or else the noise in the sky would turn ugly. Never had to do that with the K10D.

[JohnBee]

I find the K10D to have less noise (but also less resolution) and a nicer noise pattern. When sharpening K20D images with blue sky I often had to mask out the blue sky or else the noise in the sky would turn ugly. Never had to do that with the K10D.

Isn't the K10D a CMOS sensor?

[Anvh]

The K10D uses CCD, very clean photos with ISO100 and ISO200 maybe even cleaner then the K5 but at ISO400 you start to see some noise but of no concern and with ISO800 the noise is indeed there.
If i need to say something i believe the tipping point is at ISO400 so above that the K20D is better for sure.

[Spodeworld]

OK...so noise starts to become visible at ISO 400. With the K20D I don't really see that, so it seems like a very limiting factor (unless you are always in great light).

[ducdao]

I'm assuming we're comparaing RAW to RAW not JPG to JPG right?

[jjdgti]

The K10D uses CCD, very clean photos with ISO100 and ISO200 maybe even cleaner then the K5 but at ISO400 you start to see some noise but of no concern and with ISO800 the noise is indeed there.
If i need to say something i believe the tipping point is at ISO400 so above that the K20D is better for sure.

I had the K10D and now a K20D and i agree with the above statement.

[Odinz]

I have both the K10 and K20 and I agree with Anvh, 400 is my limit on the K10, and for the most part I stay at 100/200. The K20 I will use at 400 with the occasional 800. They do have different senors CCD on the K10 and CMOS on the K20.

[Anvh]

OK...so noise starts to become visible at ISO 400. With the K20D I don't really see that, so it seems like a very limiting factor (unless you are always in great light).

Great light is a big word.
This one is at ISO800 with the K10D



I now use the K5 for this and use ISO1600 and get even less noise but the K10D images are surely useable.
And like i said I think the K10D might be better then the K5 at ISO100 so it has his strengths and i hardly use the K10D or K5 above ISO400 anyway.

Also the noise of the K10D is very different then that of the K20D, i find it less of a problem most of the time.
So yes you can see some noise at ISO400 but the noise looks good, natural almost at that level.

[Anvh]

I'm assuming we're comparaing RAW to RAW not JPG to JPG right?

I was at least

[Anvh]

I have both the K10 and K20 and I agree with Anvh, 400 is my limit on the K10, and for the most part I stay at 100/200. The K20 I will use at 400 with the occasional 800. They do have different senors CCD on the K10 and CMOS on the K20.

You can use ISO800 with the K10D but just slightly over expose and bring the exposure down in PP, never make the image brighter.

[ihasa]

With the K7 (same sensor as K20) I can ride the ISO all the way to 1250 and feel fairly happy with the results. There's noise, but very film grain-like so not very destructive of print quality. With the K200D I had previously (same sensor as the K10!) I don't think there was much difference in terms of that grain-like noise but what I do remember is the mottled yellow/blue colouration and banding that gave high ISO images a 'sickly' look, for want of a better word! I don't get that at all on the K7 - the grain just gets progressively coarser. I prefer that approach. The amount of 'grain' is fine for me at <ISO1250 - certainly compares very well with low ISO negative film such as Ektar!

I use LR3 for post processing - from RAW.

[Spodeworld]

so...the color noise is more pronounced....not really a good thing. I remember some of the reviews saying that the K20D was a bit more susceptible to color noise than the other cameras in its class.

[Ash]

I found slightly less than one stop of improvement in terms of noise in the K20D to the K10D for short shutter speeds. The K10D was excellent at handling long exposure whereas the K20D was paltry at it.