Pentax K-7, can you go wrong?

emtor · 06-24-2022, 08:34 PM

I currently use a Pentax K-5iiS with a rather high shutter count (72.000).
Some day this shutter will meet the same fate as my old K-5 which died one sad day.
So, I needed a back-up camera and have been looking around for second hand alternatives and the K-7 seemed like a reasonable choice.
An AA-filterless sensor would of course be nice but it seems like the added sharpness is marginal at best compared to the old K-5.
I could have gotten my hands on a cheap and much newer K-S1 but it lacks the ability to control the shutter by a cabled intervalometer and has no connection for an external power supply so that one went out the door.
My choice ended up being a reasonably priced K-7 with a shutter count of only 1200 which is nice when shooting bracketed HDR timelapse videos.
The shutter will probably not kick the bucket for some time to come.
So, what do you guys think? -Is the K-7 a good choice while drooling over a K-1?

jimr-pdx · 06-24-2022, 08:54 PM

Essentially the same body, a few less pixels and definitely more noise as ISO goes up. Its sensor is Samsung not Sony, but below iso1600 it's an excellent camera. With modern processing I expect you could push it a bit higher, but some people are very sensitive to noise while others shrug and play on..

I'm finding the 20Mpx K-s2 to be good in all respects but the solenoid, so my lenses have adapted to M-mode imaging. I miss the K-7/5/3 styling and buttons, but I'm doing fine for results.

rpjallan · 06-24-2022, 09:43 PM

I have moved on to a second hand K-3ii but I still have my K-7. I keep thinking about selling it but I still haven’t gotten around to it. It is one of my favourite cameras I have ever owned. I have taken some great photos with it.

I was experimenting with some timelapse videos also & thinking about using the K-7 for this. I don’t know anything about HDR ones though. I will have to look into that…

emtor · 06-24-2022, 11:00 PM

The K-7 will mostly be used for HDR time-lapse photography at 100 ISO so noise at higher ISO is not a concern.
HDR timelapse eats shutter actuations for lunch so the very low shuttercount in this K-7 is an important feature.
One thing that the K-5 and K-7 does not have is the abilty to shoot brackets in the same time as intervals so I bought a Neewer intervalometer from Amazon . . . problem solved. The camera takes care of bracketing while the intervalometer takes care of the intervals.
This will be my fourth Pentax camera.

-I have previously owned the K-20D, K-5 and my current cameras are K-5iiS and then the K-7,-all very good cameras.

**StiffLegged** · 06-25-2022, 12:20 AM - **1 Like**

As already said, at near-base ISO100 the K-7 is not going to be startlingly different in results to your K-5iis. I use one and find the usual shortcomings are behind the eyepiece, not the sensor.

When I don’t get in the way, it’s captured some gems for me.

rpjallan · 06-25-2022, 12:40 AM

Originally posted by emtor

I have previously owned the K-20D, K-5 and my current cameras are K-5iiS and then the K-7,-all very good cameras.

The K-7 was my 8th Pentax. All previous ones other than the *istD were film cameras of course.

I would like to try some more timelapse. I have had a Neewer intervalometer for some time but not really used it a lot. Do you have any links to guides for HDR timelapse?

I find the biggest challenge is finding an interesting subject!

Here is a link to my YouTube channel where you can view a couple of my better ones:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXyxCHitj4D5g_jhCc0oyOQ

emtor · 06-25-2022, 01:36 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by rpjallan

The K-7 was my 8th Pentax. All previous ones other than the *istD were film cameras of course.

I would like to try some more timelapse. I have had a Neewer intervalometer for some time but not really used it a lot. Do you have any links to guides for HDR timelapse?

I find the biggest challenge is finding an interesting subject!

Here is a link to my YouTube channel where you can view a couple of my better ones:
Richard Allan - YouTube

Nice video from Brighton . . .

HDR timelapse is nothing special.
Let the camera do the HDR bracketing and the intervalometer do the intervals. The intervalometer will then give one shutter actuation at the pre set interval and this makes the camera shoot the preset bracketing shots. Just make sure the intervals are longer than the combined exposure times plus the time required for writing the files on to the card plus a bit more for good measure.

One thing I did was very useful: -Make timelaps videos of an alarm clock that has seconds, minute and hour hands,-one video for each hand.
When each video renders each hand's movement smoothly take a note of the interval times needed to achieve this.
The seconds hand interval is nice for fast moving clouds,-the minute hand interval for very slow moving clouds and the hour hand interval suits instances where things change even more slowly.
This will reduce the choppy appearance of a time laps video.
Also, manual mode and manual focus is a must. If a autofocus lens is used you could switch to manual focus after autofocusing.

Unfortunately I lost all my pics and vids in a hard drive crash,-only a couple of pics survived thanks to uploading them to Facebook.

Here's one of them:
This was shot at night (midnight sun) in the northernmost part of Norway.
This is not HDR, but one exposure of the sky and one of the foreground.
Later the two were combined in Photoshop using layers and masks so HDR isn't always needed.

https://postimg.cc/cvpTkMnC

hcc · 06-25-2022, 01:38 AM - **1 Like**

The K-7 is still a nice camera at low ISO, paired with a good fast prime lens IMO. It is now my 3rd body and I will still love the colour and rendering of the K-7 at low ISO (up to 400 ISO, but better at 100 ISO), especially with my FA31 mm Ltd f1.8, FA77 Ltd f1.8 and Voigtlander Nokton 58mm f1.4.
I love the body of the K-7. And the OF.

My K-3iii and K-3 are better overall, but at low ISO the K-7 holds its ground IMHO.
Hope that the comment may help.

emtor · 06-25-2022, 02:23 AM

Originally posted by hcc

The K-7 is still a nice camera at low ISO, paired with a good fast prime lens IMO. It is now my 3rd body and I will still love the colour and rendering of the K-7 at low ISO (up to 400 ISO, but better at 100 ISO), especially with my FA31 mm Ltd f1.8, FA77 Ltd f1.8 and Voigtlander Nokton 58mm f1.4.
I love the body of the K-7. And the OF.

My K-3iii and K-3 are better overall, but at low ISO the K-7 holds its ground IMHO.
Hope that the comment may help.

Yes thanks, your comment is helping.
I do have the Pentax 50mm/f1.7 prime lens.
I almost never use my Pentax kit lens, theTamron zoom and the Vivitar wide angle lens.
Also I shoot in manual mode only and use the autofocus to get a focus indication.
The only thing I miss is the Katz Eye split screen on my previous K-20D, but focus indication works OK.

**hjortron** · 06-25-2022, 03:12 AM

K7? Simply a great camera except for low light scenes.

14.6 MPix vs. 16 MPix doesn't probably make a huge difference.
AA filter presence! Some like the extra sharpness added with AA filter removal in later models. But the filter absence can make some structures look "cheaply over-sharpened" with sharp lenses - like in mobile phone shots.
Higher ISO noise but better colours (probably thanks to thicker CFA) - that's just an opinion but definitely not only my opinion.

Warning: I had to adjust my K7 auto focusing in debug mode (had to temporarily switch to it using a free tool another member shared) and after that the output is tack sharp.

emtor · 06-25-2022, 05:29 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by hjortron

K7? Simply a great camera except for low light scenes.

14.6 MPix vs. 16 MPix doesn't probably make a huge difference.
AA filter presence! Some like the extra sharpness added with AA filter removal in later models. But the filter absence can make some structures look "cheaply over-sharpened" with sharp lenses - like in mobile phone shots.
Higher ISO noise but better colours (probably thanks to thicker CFA) - that's just an opinion but definitely not only my opinion.

Warning: I had to adjust my K7 auto focusing in debug mode (had to temporarily switch to it using a free tool another member shared) and after that the output is tack sharp.

hjortron? -Svensk?
Hälsningar från en norrbagge boende i Norrbotten.

There's a bit of extra sharpness in my K-5iiS, but the difference from my previous K-5 isn't noticeable unless I'm pixle peeping.

I bought the K-7 from Kameratori in Tampere, Finland.

https://kamerastore.fi/

Check it out,-loads of second hand camera stuff.

**StiffLegged** · 06-25-2022, 09:20 AM

Originally posted by hjortron

… I had to adjust my K7 auto focusing in debug mode (had to temporarily switch to it using a free tool another member shared) and after that the output is tack sharp.

I also adjusted AF but from the camera’s own menu. What is this debug mode that needs a third-party tool??

bobore · 06-25-2022, 12:19 PM

Why not just purchase another K5-IIs? It’s my new favorite, and in the last year & a half I’ve purchased four of them, with shutter counts under 1000, 6000, & 8000 - all in minty condition. Good high ISO, bulletproof, and one of the best used Pentax values on the market, imho.

**hjortron** · 06-25-2022, 12:56 PM

Originally posted by emtor

hjortron? -Svensk?
Hälsningar från en norrbagge boende i Norrbotten.

Just my name here. Clicking my avatar "Central point of Europe" reveals more. But I spent many months on long distance treks in various parts of Sweden (south to north, west to east) during last 15 years. Several times also in Norway and once in Finland. Swedish/Norwegian landscape is beautiful, my favourite area is around Rogen and Feragen lakes.
And I do like cloudberries (hjortron)!
Thanks for the link.

Originally posted by StiffLegged

I also adjusted AF but from the camera’s own menu. What is this debug mode that needs a third-party tool??

User's AF fine adjustment -10 ... + 10 may not be enough. My K7 with 20+k shutter count was already +10 and needed more. In debug mode activated by the program you get another menu page with settings and front/back focus adjustable in a much wider range. After fine tuning it for several days and with various lenses I left it on a value which was working best and turned debug mode off. User's AF fine adjustment is now 0, ready for possible fine tuning if needed.

emtor · 06-25-2022, 01:12 PM

Originally posted by bobore

Why not just purchase another K5-IIs? It’s my new favorite, and in the last year & a half I’ve purchased four of them, with shutter counts under 1000, 6000, & 8000 - all in minty condition. Good high ISO, bulletproof, and one of the best used Pentax values on the market, imho.

I'm located in Sweden.
None to be found in Sweden, Finland, Denmark or Norway neither on ebay nor on other second hand sites nor in shops.
The rest of the European Union? -No K5iiS on ebay.
We have gotten spoiled here in the EU, no taxes, no custom fees, no paperwork and fast shipping.
Buying items from outside the EU has become less attractive.

United Kingdom? -Found one item but it takes forever to get it shipped and high tax.
US? Haven't checked but taxes are high.

Japan is the only place where these cameras are widely available.
I need the camera ASAP for time laps work and I would rather not put my k5iis with it's high shutter count through that risk.
Therefore I went for the cheap K-7 from -Finland.

06-24-2022, 08:34 PM	#1
emtor Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Northern Norway Posts: 60	Pentax K-7, can you go wrong? I currently use a Pentax K-5iiS with a rather high shutter count (72.000). Some day this shutter will meet the same fate as my old K-5 which died one sad day. So, I needed a back-up camera and have been looking around for second hand alternatives and the K-7 seemed like a reasonable choice. An AA-filterless sensor would of course be nice but it seems like the added sharpness is marginal at best compared to the old K-5. I could have gotten my hands on a cheap and much newer K-S1 but it lacks the ability to control the shutter by a cabled intervalometer and has no connection for an external power supply so that one went out the door. My choice ended up being a reasonably priced K-7 with a shutter count of only 1200 which is nice when shooting bracketed HDR timelapse videos. The shutter will probably not kick the bucket for some time to come. So, what do you guys think? -Is the K-7 a good choice while drooling over a K-1?

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06-24-2022, 08:54 PM	#2
jimr-pdx Pentaxian Join Date: May 2010 Location: now 1 hour north of PDX Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,897	Essentially the same body, a few less pixels and definitely more noise as ISO goes up. Its sensor is Samsung not Sony, but below iso1600 it's an excellent camera. With modern processing I expect you could push it a bit higher, but some people are very sensitive to noise while others shrug and play on.. I'm finding the 20Mpx K-s2 to be good in all respects but the solenoid, so my lenses have adapted to M-mode imaging. I miss the K-7/5/3 styling and buttons, but I'm doing fine for results.

06-24-2022, 09:43 PM	#3
rpjallan Pentaxian Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Photos: Albums Posts: 999	I have moved on to a second hand K-3ii but I still have my K-7. I keep thinking about selling it but I still haven’t gotten around to it. It is one of my favourite cameras I have ever owned. I have taken some great photos with it. I was experimenting with some timelapse videos also & thinking about using the K-7 for this. I don’t know anything about HDR ones though. I will have to look into that…

06-24-2022, 11:00 PM	#4
emtor Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Northern Norway Posts: 60 Original Poster	The K-7 will mostly be used for HDR time-lapse photography at 100 ISO so noise at higher ISO is not a concern. HDR timelapse eats shutter actuations for lunch so the very low shuttercount in this K-7 is an important feature. One thing that the K-5 and K-7 does not have is the abilty to shoot brackets in the same time as intervals so I bought a Neewer intervalometer from Amazon . . . problem solved. The camera takes care of bracketing while the intervalometer takes care of the intervals. This will be my fourth Pentax camera. -I have previously owned the K-20D, K-5 and my current cameras are K-5iiS and then the K-7,-all very good cameras.

06-25-2022, 12:20 AM - 1 Like	#5
StiffLegged Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2018 Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,620	As already said, at near-base ISO100 the K-7 is not going to be startlingly different in results to your K-5iis. I use one and find the usual shortcomings are behind the eyepiece, not the sensor. When I don’t get in the way, it’s captured some gems for me.

06-25-2022, 12:40 AM	#6
rpjallan Pentaxian Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Adelaide, South Australia Photos: Albums Posts: 999	Originally posted by emtor I have previously owned the K-20D, K-5 and my current cameras are K-5iiS and then the K-7,-all very good cameras. The K-7 was my 8th Pentax. All previous ones other than the *istD were film cameras of course. I would like to try some more timelapse. I have had a Neewer intervalometer for some time but not really used it a lot. Do you have any links to guides for HDR timelapse? I find the biggest challenge is finding an interesting subject! Here is a link to my YouTube channel where you can view a couple of my better ones: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXyxCHitj4D5g_jhCc0oyOQ

06-25-2022, 01:36 AM - 1 Like	#7
emtor Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Northern Norway Posts: 60 Original Poster	Originally posted by rpjallan The K-7 was my 8th Pentax. All previous ones other than the *istD were film cameras of course. I would like to try some more timelapse. I have had a Neewer intervalometer for some time but not really used it a lot. Do you have any links to guides for HDR timelapse? I find the biggest challenge is finding an interesting subject! Here is a link to my YouTube channel where you can view a couple of my better ones: Richard Allan - YouTube Nice video from Brighton . . . HDR timelapse is nothing special. Let the camera do the HDR bracketing and the intervalometer do the intervals. The intervalometer will then give one shutter actuation at the pre set interval and this makes the camera shoot the preset bracketing shots. Just make sure the intervals are longer than the combined exposure times plus the time required for writing the files on to the card plus a bit more for good measure. One thing I did was very useful: -Make timelaps videos of an alarm clock that has seconds, minute and hour hands,-one video for each hand. When each video renders each hand's movement smoothly take a note of the interval times needed to achieve this. The seconds hand interval is nice for fast moving clouds,-the minute hand interval for very slow moving clouds and the hour hand interval suits instances where things change even more slowly. This will reduce the choppy appearance of a time laps video. Also, manual mode and manual focus is a must. If a autofocus lens is used you could switch to manual focus after autofocusing. Unfortunately I lost all my pics and vids in a hard drive crash,-only a couple of pics survived thanks to uploading them to Facebook. Here's one of them: This was shot at night (midnight sun) in the northernmost part of Norway. This is not HDR, but one exposure of the sky and one of the foreground. Later the two were combined in Photoshop using layers and masks so HDR isn't always needed. https://postimg.cc/cvpTkMnC

06-25-2022, 01:38 AM - 1 Like	#8
hcc Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 4,002	The K-7 is still a nice camera at low ISO, paired with a good fast prime lens IMO. It is now my 3rd body and I will still love the colour and rendering of the K-7 at low ISO (up to 400 ISO, but better at 100 ISO), especially with my FA31 mm Ltd f1.8, FA77 Ltd f1.8 and Voigtlander Nokton 58mm f1.4. I love the body of the K-7. And the OF. My K-3iii and K-3 are better overall, but at low ISO the K-7 holds its ground IMHO. Hope that the comment may help.

06-25-2022, 02:23 AM	#9
emtor Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Northern Norway Posts: 60 Original Poster	Originally posted by hcc The K-7 is still a nice camera at low ISO, paired with a good fast prime lens IMO. It is now my 3rd body and I will still love the colour and rendering of the K-7 at low ISO (up to 400 ISO, but better at 100 ISO), especially with my FA31 mm Ltd f1.8, FA77 Ltd f1.8 and Voigtlander Nokton 58mm f1.4. I love the body of the K-7. And the OF. My K-3iii and K-3 are better overall, but at low ISO the K-7 holds its ground IMHO. Hope that the comment may help. Yes thanks, your comment is helping. I do have the Pentax 50mm/f1.7 prime lens. I almost never use my Pentax kit lens, theTamron zoom and the Vivitar wide angle lens. Also I shoot in manual mode only and use the autofocus to get a focus indication. The only thing I miss is the Katz Eye split screen on my previous K-20D, but focus indication works OK.

06-25-2022, 03:12 AM	#10
hjortron Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2019 Location: The very centre of Europe Posts: 908	K7? Simply a great camera except for low light scenes. 14.6 MPix vs. 16 MPix doesn't probably make a huge difference. AA filter presence! Some like the extra sharpness added with AA filter removal in later models. But the filter absence can make some structures look "cheaply over-sharpened" with sharp lenses - like in mobile phone shots. Higher ISO noise but better colours (probably thanks to thicker CFA) - that's just an opinion but definitely not only my opinion. Warning: I had to adjust my K7 auto focusing in debug mode (had to temporarily switch to it using a free tool another member shared) and after that the output is tack sharp.

06-25-2022, 05:29 AM - 1 Like	#11
emtor Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Northern Norway Posts: 60 Original Poster	Originally posted by hjortron K7? Simply a great camera except for low light scenes. 14.6 MPix vs. 16 MPix doesn't probably make a huge difference. AA filter presence! Some like the extra sharpness added with AA filter removal in later models. But the filter absence can make some structures look "cheaply over-sharpened" with sharp lenses - like in mobile phone shots. Higher ISO noise but better colours (probably thanks to thicker CFA) - that's just an opinion but definitely not only my opinion. Warning: I had to adjust my K7 auto focusing in debug mode (had to temporarily switch to it using a free tool another member shared) and after that the output is tack sharp. hjortron? -Svensk? Hälsningar från en norrbagge boende i Norrbotten. There's a bit of extra sharpness in my K-5iiS, but the difference from my previous K-5 isn't noticeable unless I'm pixle peeping. I bought the K-7 from Kameratori in Tampere, Finland. https://kamerastore.fi/ Check it out,-loads of second hand camera stuff.

06-25-2022, 09:20 AM	#12
StiffLegged Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2018 Photos: Gallery Posts: 4,620	Originally posted by hjortron … I had to adjust my K7 auto focusing in debug mode (had to temporarily switch to it using a free tool another member shared) and after that the output is tack sharp. I also adjusted AF but from the camera’s own menu. What is this debug mode that needs a third-party tool??

06-25-2022, 12:19 PM	#13
bobore Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: North Oregon Coast Posts: 162	Why not just purchase another K5-IIs? It’s my new favorite, and in the last year & a half I’ve purchased four of them, with shutter counts under 1000, 6000, & 8000 - all in minty condition. Good high ISO, bulletproof, and one of the best used Pentax values on the market, imho.

06-25-2022, 12:56 PM	#14
hjortron Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Oct 2019 Location: The very centre of Europe Posts: 908	Originally posted by emtor hjortron? -Svensk? Hälsningar från en norrbagge boende i Norrbotten. Just my name here. Clicking my avatar "Central point of Europe" reveals more. But I spent many months on long distance treks in various parts of Sweden (south to north, west to east) during last 15 years. Several times also in Norway and once in Finland. Swedish/Norwegian landscape is beautiful, my favourite area is around Rogen and Feragen lakes. And I do like cloudberries (hjortron)! Thanks for the link. Originally posted by StiffLegged I also adjusted AF but from the camera’s own menu. What is this debug mode that needs a third-party tool?? User's AF fine adjustment -10 ... + 10 may not be enough. My K7 with 20+k shutter count was already +10 and needed more. In debug mode activated by the program you get another menu page with settings and front/back focus adjustable in a much wider range. After fine tuning it for several days and with various lenses I left it on a value which was working best and turned debug mode off. User's AF fine adjustment is now 0, ready for possible fine tuning if needed.

06-25-2022, 01:12 PM	#15
emtor Forum Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Northern Norway Posts: 60 Original Poster	Originally posted by bobore Why not just purchase another K5-IIs? It’s my new favorite, and in the last year & a half I’ve purchased four of them, with shutter counts under 1000, 6000, & 8000 - all in minty condition. Good high ISO, bulletproof, and one of the best used Pentax values on the market, imho. I'm located in Sweden. None to be found in Sweden, Finland, Denmark or Norway neither on ebay nor on other second hand sites nor in shops. The rest of the European Union? -No K5iiS on ebay. We have gotten spoiled here in the EU, no taxes, no custom fees, no paperwork and fast shipping. Buying items from outside the EU has become less attractive. United Kingdom? -Found one item but it takes forever to get it shipped and high tax. US? Haven't checked but taxes are high. Japan is the only place where these cameras are widely available. I need the camera ASAP for time laps work and I would rather not put my k5iis with it's high shutter count through that risk. Therefore I went for the cheap K-7 from -Finland.