[amateurguy101]

Hey guys, I have just recently purchased the bundle listed below and it should arrive at my house by Tuesday. My purchase was based off the reviews I found on multiple sites and the price difference between the X-5 and my other options. I will be taking mostly portraits and full body shots of people/models in indoor and outdoor settings. Anyone have any thoughts on to what I should expect?

Amazon.com: Pentax X-5 Megazoom 16.0 MP Digital Camera (Silver) with 16GB Card + Batteries/Charger + Case + 2 Tripods + Accessory Kit: PENTAX: Camera & Photo

Thanks guys

[dc1500]

X5 is a good all-in-one PS camera, and I have one. Have you try the K01 yet? K01 gets way better photo than X5, and the price is not far away from X5.

But the K-01 isn't a Bridge camera? It's not going to get "way better" photos of a bird 25 metres away is it?

[Anton Magus]

Hey guys, I have just recently purchased the bundle listed below and it should arrive at my house by Tuesday. My purchase was based off the reviews I found on multiple sites and the price difference between the X-5 and my other options. I will be taking mostly portraits and full body shots of people/models in indoor and outdoor settings. Anyone have any thoughts on to what I should expect?

First, the small sensor and lens combination means that you will find it somewhere between difficult and impossible to get a well-focused subject and an out of focus background. On the other hand photographs of groups of people with all of them in clear focus is easy.
Second, with low lighting and dark subjects - people dressed in black for example - your images will be a lot noisier than from a DSLR camera with a bigger sensor. And the noise gets worse as you increase the ISO setting.
Third, the lens is not bad for a point & shoot camera, but don't even imagine that it is going to be anywhere as sharp as a good quality prime lens for a DSLR.
Fourth, the flash on the X-5 is not nearly good enough for anything but snapshots and some fill-in flash on side or back lit subjects.
Fifth, take some of the money you saved on the camera and buy some good post processing software including noise reduction programs.

In short, the X-5 is a pretty small, pretty light, pretty easy to carry around camera that can handle most shots you are likely to encounter and produce a fair to reasonable image quality when viewed scaled down on a PC screen. Viewed at 100% you are likely to detect some faults like image noise, chromatic aberration (purple fringes on the edges of highly contrasted subjects), lack of pin-sharp focus across the entire image but those should only bother you if you are really looking for professional results. For an album full of holiday pics to bring back memories it is just fine. Just how good a photographer you are, your technical knowledge and ability to "see" and compose images correctly will determine whether your results are great, good or mediocre.

I have taken some really knock-out shots simply because I happened to be in the right place at the right time with the camera. Every one of them was better than I would have had with a top quality DSLR and a bunch of lenses in a bag back home. Have a look at the monthly point & shoot contests on this forum and you will see some really good images. The X-5 will match up to those standards. Then look at the Pentax Exclusive Gallery and you will see the difference. The point is its a very nice camera for less than $250 compared with a K-5 II and a selection of lenses which is way expensive compared to your camera.

Take some time to learn it, get onto P, Av and Tv modes just as soon as you can and enjoy the fun of taking pics with it. Its fun!

[NSX167]

But the K-01 isn't a Bridge camera? It's not going to get "way better" photos of a bird 25 metres away is it?

It's easy to beat up X5. K01 + pentax 60mm-250mm f4 = way better.

[Anton Magus]

It's easy to beat up X5. K01 + pentax 60mm-250mm f4 = way better.

Seeing that the X-5 sells for around $240 or less, complete, while the K-01 body only (now discontinued) sells for $299 PLUS the lens you recommend, Pentax 60-250mm f4 is $1996.95, making a total of $2295.05, it would hardly be a fair comparison. Arguably a Pentax K30 with 18-55mm AL and 55-300mm AL Lens Kit currently selling for $ 996.95 would be better still.
Then again a Cessna is probably better than a Toyota, a dog is likely better than a buffalo and an avocado is way better than an orange. Kind of depends on what you want.

Does it not dawn on you that there are many people out there who are not particularly interested in photography as a career, or even as a serious hobby? They just want a camera to take on holiday or to family gatherings and be able to snap whatever without changing lenses or fiddling with settings, and for that they are willing to pay in the $200 to $250 price range. That's the market the X-5 is aimed at. Do you get it? Its hardly rocket science.

[mrNewt]

X-5 is a nice little camera for whoever doesn't want complicated things. IQ wise is not bad either and gives you a pretty nice range as well.

NSX167 ... no reason to be rude ...

[dc1500]

Anton is right. I find this the most frustrating thing on forums. All questions about buying something should stipulate the maximum budget available otherwise the discussion becomes tetchy and meaningless. You wouldn't go on a car forum and just say I want a car that can do 70mph would you? The X-5 costs £149 on Amazon UK so presumably we are talking maybe +/- £50 at best.

[Blue]

This thread has ran its course since it is several months old and the OP has likely made a decision at this point.