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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
05-20-2014, 08:34 AM
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
05-14-2014, 04:44 AM
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Bet it's been at least 25 years since anyone has called an M-series lens 'newfangled'! :)
Congrats on your choice of a K10D, and welcome.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
05-14-2014, 03:49 AM
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I mostly agree about the K200D - another good option to be sure - but feel I should point out one difference I think is important, and that's the viewfinder. The K200D incorporates a penta-mirror instead of a pentaprism like the K10D. Not a huge deal if AF is accurate on a K200D and that's what you're using - but if you're relying heavily on manual focus, the brighter pentaprism is helpful I think. But I had a K200D in hand at one point, and it's very capable.
But we're talking about a hack to self adjust focus with the K10D, right? According to Pentax, we should not be able to adjust the AF in our K10D bodies at all. So I definitely feel their slackening of QA is ill-advised. And while on this topic, it appears they also didn't bother calibrating the focusing screens with the proper shim - if one is to expect accurate visual focusing confirmation with the screen, one might need to buy shims and adjust their own screen (as I have done). We obviously love so much about our Pentax DSLRs, but you really do need to be a true 'roll your sleeves up camera geek' to fine tune the beast and get those gorgeous images in focus.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
05-05-2014, 01:37 AM
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Wow, lots of great photos everyone - keep the good stuff coming!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
05-02-2014, 02:20 AM
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Wow, Ray, great macro shots of that spider!
And nice to see more bluebonnet shots, Paul. I really like that second one with people in it.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
05-01-2014, 02:22 AM
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Nice shots, Paul... great to see nice warm colors - nothing much has bloomed up here in Maine yet.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-20-2014, 07:16 AM
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Thanks for all the follow-up comments - this thread has been very informative - hearing everyone's thoughts on the K10D and seeing all the samples. For me it has indeed been about justification... justifying my thinking that I don't need a newer, "better" model. And as I'd said, I've actually owned both a K20D and a K-5, and then backed down. But as one who is stricken with GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome for those who may not have seen that acronym), I sometimes forget why I made these decisions in the first place and find myself lusting after supposedly better gear. And let's remember there are other reasons that a newer model might be better - we've just been talking about image quality from the K10D sensor, and I think we've proven we don't need to upgrade in hopes of a better sensor. If you wanted to print giant poster sized prints, then you would surely want more mega pixels. But this thread has proven to me over again (or reminded me), that the K10D is all I need in the Pentax department. Honestly, I bought a used Canon 5D because I'm always questioning if there's something better - in the case of the 5D I felt the full frame sensor would be superior - but I feel I've even proven that's not true. Lastly, regardless of image quality comparisons, I do not want to fill up my hard drive and bog down my computer with huge image files from 20+ mega pixel cameras. So the camera companies are offering me nothing these days - they've lost my interest - it's used gear for me unless something changes in their thinking.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-19-2014, 05:55 AM
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Okay, I have prepared the two shots - I uploaded both full size shots to my Flickr stream for pixel peeping, plus posted a 1:1 crop out of the middle of each shot. Light was a bit harsh, so it's no award winning shot, but of course that's not the point. :) Bear in mind, we're not just comparing the sensors in this case, but two very different lenses. On the K10D I used an SMC Pentax-M 28mm F2.8 (42mm equiv. as we all know), and on the Canon I used the very new and modern EF 40mm F2.8 STM. So beside the 5D being full frame, it also has the advantage of a modern lens with state of the art coatings. The EF 40/2.8 gets rave reviews and I see why - it's smokin' sharp! Nevertheless, I've pitted it against the very old Pentax 28/2.8. The result, IMO, is that the 5D shot is a little sharper and shows a bit more contrast than the Pentax shot - most noticeable in the 100% crop, barely noticeable in the full view shots. I believe the differences are due to the lens, and not likely sensor differences. Maybe the next test should be with an old screw mount lens on both cameras, so I could compare using the same lens (I own m42 adapters for both). Here's the full size and crops, linked over to Flickr so you can do more pixel peeping than you can here...
Full shot, Pentax K10D:
Comparison Shot: Pentax K10D by D2Gallery, on Flickr
Full shot, Canon EOS 5D:
Comparison Shot: Canon EOS 5D by D2Gallery, on Flickr
100% crop, Pentax K10D:
Comparison Shot: Pentax K10D by D2Gallery, on Flickr
100% crop, Canon 5D:
Comparison Shot: Canon EOS 5D by D2Gallery, on Flickr
Will enjoy hearing what you all think. As I said, I'm surprised at how little real difference there is beside the slight sharpness advantage of the new Canon lens.
---------- Post added 04-19-2014 at 08:59 AM ----------
Forgot to mention one other detail... since the 40mm lens on the Canon gave a slightly wider view, I cropped it slightly to match. And then since it was a 12 MP sensor, I also scaled the image down - ever so slightly - to match the size of the 10 MP image. But we were talking very little size difference to begin with.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-19-2014, 04:42 AM
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Interesting - perhaps this is what we've been calling "punchier"?
This is a very good point! I use mostly old manual focus lenses, which very well may not be able to resolve as much detail on the newer higher MP cameras.
This is an interesting possibility also - while 1:1 viewing or pixel peeping can be very helpful (and I admit I'm addicted to it), I would say it could be tough to tell what you're looking at in some cases. Maybe some test shots will be more revealing than others, but not sure.
Agreed, this is a case of it being hard to know when there are or could be multiple factors to take into account. We know all lenses get worse out in the corners, so a lens that could resolve well on a 16 MP sensor in the center, might not hold up in the corners. I would think (and hope) the AA filter would be even across the sensor, but one never knows I guess.
Thanks for posting the 100% crops. It's fun analyzing and chatting about this, but in the end it's also obvious from your tests and 100% crops that we're really scrutinizing over very minor differences. I decided to do a CRAZY comparison myself. The only CMOS sensor SLR I have is a Canon 5D (original or "Classic" 5D, 12 MP). I thought a full-frame 12 MP camera would smoke the poor 10 MP APS sensor of the K10D, but I was very surprised by what I saw. Will prep the shots and share soon.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
04-18-2014, 03:54 AM
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Nice comparison shots - thanks for doing this test. I'm one of folks flapping their gums about CCD sensors giving punchier, more film-like results. I've owned a bunch of Pentax DSLR bodies, but never a CCD and CMOS body at the same time (I currently own an *ist DS2 and a K10D, but have also owned a K100D, K200D, K-x, K20D, and K-5). I had progressed through to the K-5, and then decided to back down to the K10D to get the CCD results I loved so much out of the older models I'd owned. So I'm going to now play devils advocate about the comparison you present.
First thing is from your description of doing the test, it sounds like you set out with the intent of making the images look the same ("I can get results that are very similar with appropriate settings in ACR"). I'm not saying that's a bad approach - it's a worthy comparison strategy, but if you set out to see if you could get the images to look the same, then you might be subduing the punchier color we claim the CCD sensor is capable of.
The second thing is that you scaled both images down to a smaller equal size, so differences other than color may be equalized. For example, I'm convinced that by packing 16 million pixels versus 10 onto the same size sensor and also working hard to keep noise levels low at high ISO settings makes for softer images at low ISO settings with the K-5 or K-5II. But if you scale both images down to 1000 pixels or less, however, the possibly softer image from the K-5II may tighten up and look very similar to the K10D image. I'm willing to bet if you did a 100% crop out of the middle of both test images, while the K-5II crop would show details at a larger size, it would also appear softer. From personally owning both cameras, I'm still convinced that what you gain in mega pixels you lose in sharpness, and that when pixel peeping, it's only when you scale down a K-5 image to the size of a K10D image do you see similar sharpness at 1:1 pixel ratio.
Lastly there's my own claim that CCD images from the K10D are more "film-like", which I love because I still love and still shoot film. My thinking there is that as noise does creep in with the K10D sensor, as long as you remove the color noise in ACR or equivalent, the luminance noise that's left is what's giving the images a more film-like look. I definitely know this is subjective, and I know some people would rather see less noise - period - regardless of the nature of that noise. But personally, I sometimes shoot at ISO 800 on the K10D in broad daylight because I like the film-like noise it will give my images.
Again, this is all subjective and just my opinions. The K-5 or K-5II are fantastic cameras capable of amazing images - better in some way, different in other ways.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-11-2014, 06:29 PM
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Happy to help - let us know how you make out and what you think of it.
Beautiful shot - this scene is so appreciated with the long winter we've had here, and another big storm hitting the northeast again tomorrow and Thursday!!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-09-2014, 01:05 AM
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Sure, Mike... I'm using a KatzEye screen in my K10D. Here's a link directly to the Pentax page on their site... Pentax DSLRs - KatzEye Optics
They're not cheap, but quality is great! I know there are cheaper ones on eBay, and those might work fine, but I can't say as I've never owned one of those. One other thing you wouldn't know from the KatzEye page is that the screen that works in the K10D or K20D will also fit perfectly in the earlier *ist D / DS / D2 bodies. I own a DS2, so that was a bonus for me as I can swap the screen between those bodies if I want. Oh, and I should also mention that there are shims for these cameras (they can be ordered from Pentax - hopefully still available). Pentax puts in a default shim, but other thicknesses are available and you can correct front or back focusing issues by using the correct shim for your camera. One option is to send your camera in to KatzEye and have them install the screen - they will calibrate it for you by picking the correct shim for your particular camera - adds even more to the cost of the screen, but may be worth it to you. Probably cheaper to get the shims from Pentax, but then you have to do your own testing or experimenting to figure out which shim is correct. It's just a shame that Pentax doesn't calibrate each camera with the correct shim at the factory to begin with - but they don't see manual focus accuracy using their OEM screen as a high priority I suppose. My own experience is that after reading about all the FF and BF problems about this, I didn't want to chance it and I sent my K20D in to KatzEye - the calibrated screen was great! Later I decided I didn't like the K20D as much, and downgraded to the K10D I own now. I moved the KatzEye screen into the K10D, keeping the factory shim in it, and focus seems fine, so I guess I lucked out on that. Anyway, hope all this rambling is helpful. :)
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-08-2014, 03:58 AM
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Nice images! I love the split prism screen in my K10D also. I've had lots of Pentax manual lenses, but have never tried the 35-70... sure looks like a nice sharp one. Closest thing I have is a Vivitar 35-70/2.8-3.8, which gives stunning results also.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
03-06-2014, 03:15 AM
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Very nice shots!!
---------- Post added 03-06-2014 at 05:18 AM ----------
I respect your opinion on that, but it's definitely subjective - I owned a K5 and chose to sell it and "downgrade" to the K10D because I didn't care for the K5 images and prefer the look the 10 mp ccd sensor gives me. But definitely just personal taste.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-14-2014, 05:11 AM
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-06-2014, 04:39 AM
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Great - looking forward to seeing the comparison (I live for that type of thing).
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-06-2014, 04:36 AM
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I find that to be true also - most of the time it seems there's an odd color cast to images shot at high ISOs, and it's difficult to correct in post processing, even when shooting raw.
I'd forgotten to mention in my post about CCD versus CMOS, that I always shoot raw, and the ability these days to knock out the color noise in post is quick and easy, and with certain cameras and sensors, the noise still there often looks very much like a film grain. And that's another area where I feel CCD work out a bit better - but it's tough to pin down exactly, so I can't say for sure that you can't get that result from a CMOS sensor as well.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-05-2014, 05:53 AM
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Good stuff - if you end up getting some side-by-side shots, would love to see them. I don't usually use auto ISO myself, but I've also never tried it while limiting the setting - I should try that.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-05-2014, 04:29 AM
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More nice photos being shared - thanks for sharing everyone. As for thoughts on the various Pentax bodies lately, I have a different take on it. In fact I'm sure my thoughts are a bit "out there", but I'll share anyway. I'm probably one of the few people who downgraded my Pentax - intentionally. I went from a K100D to a K20D, then to a K5, then came back to a K10D, and am very happy here with the K10D (and no intention of updating again). My first complaint has been auto focus accuracy - I've almost entirely given up on having a Pentax body that focuses accurately - both the K20D and K5 had issues with AF. The K10D may also suffer from that problem, but I wouldn't know as I've given up and just use manual focus lenses in conjunction with a KatzEye screen. But also, I found I prefer the look I get with a CCD sensor rather than a CMOS sensor. Not sure I can prove it, but images from a CCD sensor feel more film-like... punchier, better color and contrast. And the noise at 800 and 1600 in the K10D feels a bit more film-like than CMOS-based bodies. And lastly, I have come to believe that as camera companies have pushed for better high ISO performance, something goes lacking at the low or base ISO settings - images shot at ISO 100 or 200 feel a bit softer with less punchiness. Please understand, this is just my opinion - I'm sure some of you will disagree. So I'm interested in hearing what others think.
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
02-02-2014, 07:14 AM
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Nice shots everyone - keep 'em coming!
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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion
01-28-2014, 08:52 AM
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Here are a few recent images I shot with my K10D and an old Mamiya/Sekor 135mm F2.8 M42 screw mount lens...
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