It should be better!

DOH! I wish I'd know that before I spent all that time typing my reply Obviously camera settings will have no effect on RAW files.

I think this calls for some experimentation, I'll set my K10 and 20 up to take some comparison shots and see if theres any difference.

watch this space

Morten,
If you had sharper images with the K10D and this lens, then I'd hazard a guess to say that the focus is fractionally off on the K20D with this lens.

Looking at the shot, the cluster of purple flowers just in front of the light house (the ones horizontally centre of the light house, about 2/3rd between the bottom of frame and lighthouse) are sharper than those closer to the lighthouse.

It looks like a small amount of Front Focus.

I'd suggest using a focus chart, a tripod, and using the Custom menu to Adjust AF for the particular lens.

That should sort it out

HTH!
Matt

You wont be able to upload the raw file itself.

If you are processing in Lightroom (of which I have no experience) I am assuming you are using the same settings as you used for the K10 ?

What sharpening settings do you use in Lightroom. Are there two seperate sharpening stages one for "capture" sharpening, and one for "output" sharpening (such as Unsharp mask ?)

Aminstar i clearly see the difference. but as you say i'me in experienced to the post processing and don't do allot.

I normally take a picture load them onto the computer and set the white balance do some crop if need and that's about it.

But as i can see from this i have to do more before i release the picture...

The only thing that is nagging me is that i have to do more on this house than i had to do on the K10.

BR Morten

I am not sure about you but I would be quite happy with an image like this



and the full size is here

But as I mentioned earlier, you are the best person to judge it because you have used your K10 to full satisfaction, so look at other avenues too.

Hope it works out well

THE RAW FILES
IMGP0294
IMGP0311
IMGP0318
IMGP0327

for you Peter

Morten,

I think you misunderstood what Alan and some of us have said. You do not need to do much with the images, all you have to do is sharpen it, that's all. If you are shooting RAW then surely you are expected to do some kind of processing, nothing heavy but definitely something.

And if you want to shoot JPG with the K20 as Alan has pointed out then you have to tweak the settings. Read the manual, you will find various settings that surely one of them will bring the enhancements and the sharpness you want.
I wasn't aware of what Alan commented about the Pentax K20D being the DSLR with the least sharpness input into the images put into it when exposing, but now he has said it I can clearly relate to it. I was shocked with the first results of my images when I embarked on this, until I found my way around.

Not saying you have to put up with it or there is absolutely nothing wrong with it, but I think it would be a good idea for you to explore it first, and then if you find that it definitely has a fault then return it. Or else you are bound to keep going to the dealer and find all the K20s are behaving the same

Morten

If you are shooting raw files it is neccesary to sharpen then in pp. This is not optional, but is part of the very nature of a raw workflow. Unlike film, the nature of a digital image is inherently unsharp. Have a look here http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/sharpen1/sharpen1.htm

I suggest you add a "capture" sharpening and "output" sharpening (USM) routine to your processing.

Why you notice this now on the K20, and not on the K10 (which I still use) I am not sure, but I dont think there is anything wrong with your camera or photographic technique.

Morten,

It may be that your RAW conversion method will have to be altered, try shooting RAW+JPEG & if you can't produce a sharper image from the RAW than the camera has produced as a jpeg then you need more practice on your conversion technique.

Don't forget that you also have roughly 50% more pixels with the k20d over k10d & the added resolution will highlight any weaknesses in the optics.

And as others have said, they're not bad anyway, just slightly soft at 100% which I would expect from a siuperzoom anyway.

Morten

here is a simple example I pulled out after noticing you sent me the exact RAW file you also had. Just like RR has mentioned and the others also, the conversion methods and what you are using will influence a lot.

All I did with your RAW file in the CS4 was just pull the SHARPENING tab to 64 from your RAW image defaults shot. Now that will immediately show that there is a huge difference between your jpg converted image and this one, if you just pulled the jpg out of straight RAW.

Now usually I would have enhanced this just a touch and it would end up looking like the other similar image I uploaded.

Like I said you do not need to do a lot more, you just need to adapt

Now if this image was mine I would have just manipulated a tiny bit more, for me it was slightly a touch underexposed, so just tweaked that, balanced the colours with curves and for me that was it, I got it like I wanted.
Perhaps you could upload a similar image taken of the K10 so we could compare also, and if its the same one with the lighthouse still better for comparision.

There are several ways of skinning a cat, just choose which suits you best

I've essentially done the same job as Aminstar here, but are including them as 100% crops. As a final image it's a little overdone, but is ideal for showing the need for sharpening if shooting RAW.

First shot converted from your RAW file with zero sharpening.

[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q105/RR76/IMGP0311nosharp.jpg[/IMG]


Second shot converted in adobeRAW with settings of; amount=100, radius=1.4, detail=50, masking=20. I also gave it a slight contrast boost as this has alot to do with percieved sharpness too.


[IMG]http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q105/RR76/IMGP0311sharp.jpg[/IMG]



The forum software may well resize them into the thread so you may need to click on them to see them at native resolution.

Matt is there any focus chart that you recommend?

okay guys i think i got the "picture" on the sharpning. A bunch of thanks for enlighted me on that. And also for the time that you have put into this post.

One of the reasons i have asked this question is that i would be sure that it was me and not the camera that was doing something wrong. Also because i have been thinking of buying the 150-500mm sigma for wildlife photography.

No problems Morten,

Shooting RAW can produce better images than jpeg, simply because you are making the decisions image by image rather than applying a generic setting to all.
This does mean however that you need to put the time & effort into tweaking each image afterwards.

Looking at your examples, you put thought into the shots & are not one to take 2 dozen quick fire shots & hope for the best so I'd say stick with RAW and practice your processing. Do try shooting RAW+JPEG though, it should give you a good target to aim at when processing your RAW files.

Some will swear by shooting JPEG but I would only consider that if I knew I had control over the lighting & were producing lots of images.

Morten,
I use the one at http://focustestchart.com/chart.html
Set it up like this:
* Daylight lit room
* Camera on tripod - level!
* Stick chart on wall
* Position tripod at 45 degrees to the wall
* The centre focus point should be pointing at the large black bar in the middle.
* Move the lens to infinity and use the "AF" button to focus (I have my shutter release on half press to NOT autofocus )
* Examine the picture, adjust AF and repeat as needed.

HTH!
Matt