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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-21-2010, 11:12 PM
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Dan, that pretty much sums things up.
Or put another way, the K-5 has better DR @ ISO800 than the K-7/K20D @ ISO100.
As a K20D owner, I'm very much looking forward to this upgrade. The K20D can deliver wonderful results when you get everything right, but it's quite unforgiving of exposure mistakes (blown highlights or noisy shadows/midtones). The K-5 will allow more latitude in exposure.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
12-01-2010, 07:59 PM
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Yes, that's an amazing pano, m8o! I saw it before and didn't comment because I was so in awe I didn't know what to say!
A few questions, if I may:
Was this shot through a window or outside?
What software did you use to do the stitching?
And finally, what lens?
By the way, the only flaw" (for lack of a better term) I can see is some motion blur from the flag near the bottom. But it's not offensive and doesn't take away from the shot (I didn't notice it the first time).
Actually I'm feeling really inspired now after seeing this.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
12-01-2010, 07:48 PM
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The Pentax equivalent would be the magnificent A*135/1.8, which sadly is out of production. It lacks AF, making it not quite as practical for candid photography, but in all other respects it's a stunner.
The SMC-K 135/2.5 is a good lens, though it does suffer from lateral CA at wide apertures. And again, lacking AF.
I have no experience with the F/FA135 so I won't comment on that.
If you're ok with a slightly shorter length, I have seen the FA100/3.5 macro (Cosina design) for pretty cheap, though I'm not sure how it performs.
I've also seen some excellent portraits taken with the DFA100WR macro, and you gain the versatility of it being a true macro lens.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
11-29-2010, 02:20 AM
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Thanks, this is what I've been waiting for!
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-29-2010, 02:13 AM
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Thanks for sharing the results of your test.
Just wondering - did you check that the focus was the same with and without filter attached?
I've noticed a softening when using my Sigma 70-200/2.8 EX with an old Hoya HMC UV filter, and my informal tests indicate that the lens is actually slightly back focusing with the filter. Hence the apparent softness.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-29-2010, 02:05 AM
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I don't think you can accurately compare MTF results from one site to another.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-29-2010, 02:05 AM
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Were the reviews of the Tamron you read for Pentax mount? If not, then you can't make any conclusions on the AF speed as the Tamron in non-Pentax mounts uses an in-lens AF motor. From what I've read, the Tamron in Pentax mount has decent AF speed (and it should get even better when mounted on a K-5). That said, the new Sigma could be a knockout in this department.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
11-15-2010, 10:13 PM
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From what I've read, the Sony EXMOR HD APS-C sensor in the K-5 uses all pixels in video mode, and uses binning to achieve the 1080P output, whereas older sensors just read every third column. Presumably, the 14MP Samsung sensor did it the latter way (which would explain the 1536 x 1024 video resolution of the K-7). In otherwords, video performance of the K-5 in low-light should be much improved over the K-7.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-14-2010, 11:02 PM
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I would like to see how the A*135 performs when paired with the F-AF 1.7x. I think the results would make me "retire" my FA*200.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-14-2010, 11:01 PM
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Interesting, that's the first time I've heard this comment made vs. the A*85.
The A*85 has been shown to outperform the Canon 85L MkII wide-open, so that gives you an idea of the level of performance we are dealing with here.
I think the A* line represents the epitome of Pentax lens engineering. Sure there are some other greats in the FA* series, but from my understanding the engineers were given free reign when designing the A* series. For the later F* and FA* series they had to work with more limited budgets.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-14-2010, 08:22 PM
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As Douglas said, the main appeal of this less is how sharp it is, even wide open (and it gets better as you stop down). I've also found that colours have a lot of "pop" - these attributes make using it wide-open a joy. You just have to watch out for some PF. Here's an example shot at f1.8 in poor flourescent lighting (no PP):
A 100%, unsharpened crop of the above:
This is by far the sharpest lens I've owned/used.
See my little mini-review post from a while back for more examples:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/87407-my-revie...ning-long.html |
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
11-03-2010, 11:12 PM
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Yes, this is a new feature that is only available on the K-5 (so far at least). I think that some folks will really appreciate this, and makes me wonder why other manaufacturers don't offer this feature.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
11-03-2010, 11:06 PM
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Ah, good. I was going to ask about this.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
11-01-2010, 07:20 PM
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Hi Todd, I agree with the others in that the first shot appears to be slightly misfocused.
For critical focus without using a 3rd-party screen, you can use live view (zoomed-in). The live view on the K-7 is quite good for this purpose.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-26-2010, 08:55 PM
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I agree. Most of my shooting (K20D) is done at ISO100-640, occasionally at ISO800, and the rare venture to ISO1600. With the K-5 it looks like my "working ISO range" will increase by 2+ stops! Not that I will suddenly be shooting regularly at ISO800-ISO1600, as there will still be benefits to keeping the ISO low. But at least now I will have more options. Very exciting!
And it's not only high-ISO that will benefit from the improvements - shooting under artificial lighting where rather strong WB corrections are needed which would also expose noise/DR weaknesses.
Of course, these situations also usually require the use of higher ISOs so the better noise and DR performance of the K-5 should be very apparent here.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-26-2010, 08:22 PM
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That post is here, for those interested:
Re: Gordon's take: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
"Yes, the K-5 has more Dynamic Range (DR) in raw at ISO 800 than the K-7/K20D/Samsung GX20 do at ISO 100, and about the same real DR without Noise Reduction (NR) as the above cameras at ISO 1600. However, that only helps the darker tones, as the bright tones will still be about the same across these various cameras (OK, the K-5 just a little bit better)."
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-26-2010, 08:05 PM
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Hi Falk, nice of you to stop by! I remember now that it was your Photokina report that triggered this question.
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-26-2010, 08:03 PM
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Thanks Col for the detailed snaps - I really appreciate you taking the time to take and post these!
It looks like I have nothing to be worried about - the LV resolution of the K-5 looks just fine!
One other question - does the K-5 allow you to zoom beyond 10x? If so, does this show any added benefit, or do things start to become pixellated?
I'm still curious to see a direct comparison of the LV between K-5 and K-7.
By the way, these images courtesy of Gerry Winterbourne from the other forum nicely illustrate the improvement in LV between the K20D and K-7:
K20D:
K-7:
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-26-2010, 07:55 PM
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My wild guess is that they figured that ISO80 is quite unusual to see on a DSLR, and might "confuse" users?
Also, I'm guessing the difference in IQ between ISO80 and ISO100 is small and wouldn't matter to *most* users.
In any case, I'm glad they gave us the option to use ISO80.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-26-2010, 07:02 PM
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I think it is more likely that they have merely understated the true specs of the DA35/2.4, so as not to impinge too much on the more high-end offerings (DA35 Ltd, FA31 Ltd). The DA35/2.4 is probably much closer (optically-speaking) to the FA35/2.0 than the marketing folks want us to believe.
Same here!
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-26-2010, 01:07 AM
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Thanks Col, this is great news!
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-26-2010, 12:54 AM
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Actually, according to GordonBGood, ISO80 is closer to the base/native sensitivity of the Sony Exmor HD APS-C sensor used in the K-5, and explains the better IQ at ISO80 vs. ISO100.
Since there seems to be quite a bit of interest in this topic, here is the conversation from the other forum (my apologies if linking like this is frowned upon):
Re: Stunning k-5...: Pentax SLR Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
Reading further into Gordon's comments, the DR of the K-5 at ISO800 beats the K-7/K20D at ISO100 (this has been confirmed by him in a different thread).
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-26-2010, 12:25 AM
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It's been really great reading all the K-5 user reviews (though I'm sure I missed a few), I'm so envious of you folks!
I had a quick question - and my apologies if this has already been covered - but how is the live view display on the K-5 when zoomed in? As I understand it the K-7 was a great improvement over the K20D in this regard, but I remember hearing that the K-5 might've taken a step back here (more stair-stepping when zoomed-in), at least on the pre-production model that was tried? Can anyone set the story straight here?
The reason I ask is because I have some nice MF glass and I would like to use LV to assist with focusing these lenses (the K20D LV is too coarse, though it's better than nothing).
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Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II
10-25-2010, 11:46 PM
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The K-5 is said to have close to 14 stops of DR @ ISO 80, which is 3.5 stops better than the K-7 @ ISO100. The deep shadows on the K-5 at low ISO have been described as being "smooth as silk".
Given that the deep shadows are cleaner, the K-5 should be more forgiving of underexposure. Especially at low ISOs.
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Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion
10-24-2010, 07:45 PM
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Intriguing, I wonder how much I can get one locally for.
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