Terry
New member
It scored very well - although skipping the ratings, I always find some good operational tidbits in their reviews.
http://dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxk5/
http://dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxk5/
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Excellent K-5 Review Posted at DPReview
- Thread starter Terry
- Start date
Yeah, saw it...
every bit helps but I want to put my K-5 through a real life situation.. which would be tonight except there's a major blockage on the way to half moon bay from the i-280, where the Xmas party of my company is... and I am not touching driving on California 1 south at night on rain with a ten-light year long pole
Chilling at a Starbucks for an hour and may try that again, but google is still showing major traffic.
- Raist
every bit helps but I want to put my K-5 through a real life situation.. which would be tonight except there's a major blockage on the way to half moon bay from the i-280, where the Xmas party of my company is... and I am not touching driving on California 1 south at night on rain with a ten-light year long pole
Chilling at a Starbucks for an hour and may try that again, but google is still showing major traffic.
- Raist
ptomsu
Workshop Member
Have mine since 2 weeks now and I am very happy with it.
WRT AF speed, sensitivity, accuracy and versatility compared to Nikon (D700 in my case) I must say that the K5 performs. I would rate accuracy and sensitivity even a bit higher than the AF of the D700 although I am using high end glass on the Nikon compared to pretty cheap glass on the K5, but I think this has also to do with moving masses in the much smaller Pentax lenses. On the other side a next generation K5 could benefit from an AF array like the one of the D7000, adding this would really make this camera almost perfect.
What I have found is that - I am exclusively shooting DNG - the write speed to the card (or at least the speed to display the image after it's shot) is pretty long. I am using Extreme III SDHC cards.
WRT AF speed, sensitivity, accuracy and versatility compared to Nikon (D700 in my case) I must say that the K5 performs. I would rate accuracy and sensitivity even a bit higher than the AF of the D700 although I am using high end glass on the Nikon compared to pretty cheap glass on the K5, but I think this has also to do with moving masses in the much smaller Pentax lenses. On the other side a next generation K5 could benefit from an AF array like the one of the D7000, adding this would really make this camera almost perfect.
What I have found is that - I am exclusively shooting DNG - the write speed to the card (or at least the speed to display the image after it's shot) is pretty long. I am using Extreme III SDHC cards.
Terry
New member
Oh, I go straight to the conclusions but....if it is a camera I own I always loop back and go through the operating details. There are always a few good tips on effectively using some of the camera functions.Does anyone else skip straight to the conclusion page?
jonoslack
Active member
HI Terry
Thanks for posting this, I skipped straight to the conclusion page
Interestingly, they've scored it in comparison with the D300s and the Eos7D rather than the 60d and the Nikon 7000.
7d: 84%
d300z: 82%
K5: 83%
nat's crochet I'd say - and isn't it nice to see a smaller company really coming up with the goods.
Still enjoying mine I must say.
Thanks for posting this, I skipped straight to the conclusion page
Interestingly, they've scored it in comparison with the D300s and the Eos7D rather than the 60d and the Nikon 7000.
7d: 84%
d300z: 82%
K5: 83%
nat's crochet I'd say - and isn't it nice to see a smaller company really coming up with the goods.
Still enjoying mine I must say.
Jono- how are you finding the AF of your K-5? I did a bit of a workout tonight and I am finding still the AF to be somewhat unpredictable as to when it nails the focus and not. What I really don't like though is getting confirmation of focus lock when it didn't. Understanding this and how to avoid this, is right now my only deal breaker in keeping the camera.
jonoslack
Active member
Hi Ricardo
Well, I've had the same issue . . . but I'm sure that the problem is (as has been pointed out elsewhere) that the AF spots are much larger than the viewfinder spots. I had an issue today when I focused on a dog, and the focus point was between it's legs. (my Nikon D3 used to do the same thing sometimes); perhaps we've all been spoiled by the 'real' spot of the E3?
It's not ideal, but I think that it's probably something that one can become aware of - the 'focus adjust' with the manual focus ring is, at least, very fast and easy to use.
I've found the low light focusing to be really good and reliable. although I wish the limited lenses weren't quite so noisy when they focus (makes me think of the dentist). The new kit lens 18-135 is much faster and seems to get it right more too?!
To be honest with you, after 3000 shots
the only thing that really bugs me about the camera is that it doesn't have the resolution of a MF back (why doesn't it?). . . . . . but I don't think MF backs have perfect AF either!In terms of:
1. operation
2. Image quality
3. High ISO
4. weather proofing and general solidity
5. size
it's wonderful - three issues I'm aware of are:
1. large AF points causing issues
2. magenta cast in reds (although it's simple enough to fix in PP, and it's only happened to me with Auto ISO)
3. variability in lens quality (but everyone seems to be guilty of this).
m3photo
New member
Re: Conclusion at DPReview
Hoping I'm not breaking the rules here but I hope I'm saving a few people the time to search for the corresponding part on DPReview:
"The Pentax K-5's automatic ISO functionality is amongst the most sophisticated available. In its default mode, it aims to deliver a shutter speed adequate to prevent camera shake using the '1/equivalent focal length' rule of thumb - so a minimum of 1/40sec at 18mm, 1/200sec at 135mm, and so on. But there are two other options, labelled 'Fast' and 'Slow'. The K-5's instruction manual is remarkably opaque about what these actually do, saying they increase the sensitivity 'actively' and 'as little as possible' respectively, but dig a little deeper and you find there's a little more to it than that.
Set to 'fast' the K-5's automatic ISO control aims to deliver shutter speeds significantly higher than are required simply for avoiding camera shake, so a minimum of 1/80sec at 18mm, and 1/400sec at 135mm. Set the control to 'slow' and at any given focal length the K-5 delivers a shutter speed which is adequate for preventing camera shake with image stabilization turned on - a minimum of 1/25sec at 18mm, 1/125sec at 135mm, and so on. So if you're shooting sports and don't care too much about high ISO noise, you can set it to 'fast' to freeze motion blur more effectively. For landscapes, architecture, portraits, etc., set it to 'slow' and you should benefit from better image quality as the camera will choose lower ISOs. This is a useful feature, and it is a shame that it is so poorly documented."
WRT to Monza's comment, actually the question should have been; "Does any body NOT jump straight to the conclusion page?"
I'm with you there Terry. Interesting bit about the Auto ISO, too.
Hoping I'm not breaking the rules here but I hope I'm saving a few people the time to search for the corresponding part on DPReview:
"The Pentax K-5's automatic ISO functionality is amongst the most sophisticated available. In its default mode, it aims to deliver a shutter speed adequate to prevent camera shake using the '1/equivalent focal length' rule of thumb - so a minimum of 1/40sec at 18mm, 1/200sec at 135mm, and so on. But there are two other options, labelled 'Fast' and 'Slow'. The K-5's instruction manual is remarkably opaque about what these actually do, saying they increase the sensitivity 'actively' and 'as little as possible' respectively, but dig a little deeper and you find there's a little more to it than that.
Set to 'fast' the K-5's automatic ISO control aims to deliver shutter speeds significantly higher than are required simply for avoiding camera shake, so a minimum of 1/80sec at 18mm, and 1/400sec at 135mm. Set the control to 'slow' and at any given focal length the K-5 delivers a shutter speed which is adequate for preventing camera shake with image stabilization turned on - a minimum of 1/25sec at 18mm, 1/125sec at 135mm, and so on. So if you're shooting sports and don't care too much about high ISO noise, you can set it to 'fast' to freeze motion blur more effectively. For landscapes, architecture, portraits, etc., set it to 'slow' and you should benefit from better image quality as the camera will choose lower ISOs. This is a useful feature, and it is a shame that it is so poorly documented."
WRT to Monza's comment, actually the question should have been; "Does any body NOT jump straight to the conclusion page?"
jonoslack
Active member
Re: Conclusion at DPReview
Thanks for the auto-iso bit - I'd also found it in the review and missed it in the manual (hardly surprising that I missed it in the manual).
:ROTFL: exactlyWRT to Monza's comment, actually the question should have been; "Does any body NOT jump straight to the conclusion page?"
Thanks for the auto-iso bit - I'd also found it in the review and missed it in the manual (hardly surprising that I missed it in the manual).