After a long 3 years run with a K-x (please see
Kx in Use (
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Last Page) )
I succumbed and bought a K-5 (original) over a K-30 which I had been aiming for - because the K-5 price had dropped substantially and was really only about $85 more than the low street price of the K-30.
I know the K-5 can be considered old news - but because of the encouragement over on the K-x thread when I announce that it was one of the last post there due to my acquisition of the K-5.
Thursday night (Jan/3) was my first use of the K-5 in earnest
at the regular jazz club where the conditions are so dark in places it was literally below both the metering and AF limits of the K-x.
So did my new K-5 fare better?
Yes, and a BIG NO.
Yes in that the K-5 felt faster and more confident in focusing - and was so much more refined and quieter in use - even when it hunted in focusing - it sounded quieter - don't ask me why -
because when the K-x hunts - I am acutely and embarrassingly aware of it, since the room is usually very quiet.
The AF assist light was a double edge sword - it can be annoying to see it when I was pretty sure I picked a spot which I knew the K-x probably could have focused on -
but it was also a life saver when it was too dark to focus on anything
I'll leave some suspense over the NO until later - with examples.
Thursday Jan/3 was exceptional even when I regard the gig to be exceptional in the first place - unbeknownst to me there was a jazz conference in town and literally an embarrassing abundance of players came to sit in -
I thought my head was going to explode - a new K-5 (still with the two humblest kit zooms) was both a joy to have, as well as causing some stress because it was still new and I had not figured out all of its characteristics/behavior or idiosyncrasies -
and it was one of those that caused me to say a NO to it being all better than the K-x.....
Anyway proof of the pudding, as they say:
So why the big NO?
Well it comes down to the fact the venue is so dark in places, it is below both the metering and AF limits of almost any camera.
I found from usage the K-x actually seems to be able to focus and meter quite a bit below the spec'd limit -
I actually did a test to see where the lowest metering limits were on the K-x -
please see Post
#132 (linked in the K-x thread).
Well without having done any similar testing on the K-5 -
I use it at the dark venue fully expecting the K-5 to perform as well, if not better than the K-x -
focusing it most certainly did - and I was very pleased -
but metering and exposure it did not -
well I'd better qualify that -
Original resized only EXIF attached:
Metering segment LVs:
Original resized only EXIF attached:
Metering segments LV:
Both these shots are pretty dark - so why did the EXIF show the K-5 took these at 1/15 and 1/13 @f/3.5, ISO5000?
when on the K-x it probably would have been 1/5 to 1/4?
The K-x appeared to be able to meter and expose down to 1/4 sec -
whereas the K-5 once it reaches the spec'd metering limit it sets that exposure - in this case 1/13 sec for -1/3 compensation or 1/15 -2/3 compensation.
This may seem overly complex - basically @ ISO5000 f/3.5 and 0 compensation the exposure would have been 1/8 sec - which is still not quite as good as the K-x's 1/4 sec - a whole stop difference.
One can forgive this kind of behavior, since I am pushing the limits/boundaries on both cameras - but the K-x's out of limit behavior is much better than the K-5.
But there are too many other advantages to the K-5 for me to revert back to the K-x - I have already figured out how to mitigate this out of limits behavior on the K-5.
As I noted the slowest shutter speed/lowest meter limit actually reacts to the exposure compensation - I now know to dial in +1 to +2/3 stop compensation when I see the shutter speed 1/13 at my usual -1/3 comp - that would result in a better out of limits exposure..........
(note: I have done the metering with lens cap on, and can confirm that the slowest shutter speed on the K-5 @ISO5000, f/3.5 is 1/8 sec for 0 comp, or 1/13 for -1/3 comp)
I want to thank all the people who encouraged me in the K-x thread to start a similar K-5 thread - I hope what I found out was useful to others.
Last edited by UnknownVT; 01-05-2013 at 12:13 AM.