K10D, D200, D80 & 30D

I was recently playing with all three of these bodies as I had access to them all including the Canon 1D Mklll and what amazed me was when I had finished shooting with all four cameras in RAW there was a glaring realization..The K10D at 100 to 400 iso was IMHO the best of the lot. When it came to very high iso settings depending on the lighting the K10D still came out in the top two or three. The observations I made were based on getting the exposure right. The banding issues were nonexistent and the color rendition was superb coming out of the K10D.

The conclusion I drew was the following. The K10D shines when one understands the importance of correct exposure. The other thing I garnered was the importance of understanding the latitude of the sensor in regards to extreme highlights to shadow detail. I have concluded that without a doubt in my mind, that RAW is the best solution for pulling the best performance out of the Pentax K10D.

Methinks, nail, head, hit etc... As that is the basis for all successful exposure. Perhaps in this digital age too many photographers are getting slack and trying to "sort it out in PS"?

What did you determine the latitude to be? It'd be interesting to hear your experience on this.

Absolutely
And if you haven't tried it yet, Ben, Silkypix Developer Studio gives the most amazing sharpness and colour rendition and control I've seen out of all the RAW converters (pixel peeping or otherwise).

Matt

Editing some shots taken on the old DL last night in Capture 1.....needed very little adjustment....

If K10D continues this vein of performance (not compatible with C1 yet) then I will be very happy.

CapureOne Version 3.7.7 supports the K10D PEF's.

I to find silkypix excellent but for jpegs especially the AWB and Exposure. If you let silkypix evaluate images they come out very good. The sharpness settings are very good to

Ben you have said its best to shoot RAW with the K10D so does this mean jpegs are far worse with the K10d compared to the other brands. What is your opinion on this ? I have read this to be the case on other forums and reviews but wondered what you thought.

I always shoot jpegs for speed of the buffer always allows more continues shots. Also file size

I have 3.7.6 on my PC (From Sandisk), and I have been shooting DNGs.... as I have been looking at Lightroom. Processing on Lightroom was easy.... but I only used it for PEFs on D and DNG from K10D....

Need to look at this a little bit more.

Pete, for the last time will you please get out of your thick skull the notion that JPEGs are bad on the K10D. They are not! Arguably they are better than on any other brand because they are sharpened less in-camera, thus giving you more flexibility. You can't unsharpen an over-sharpened image, but you can sharpen an under-sharpened image.

Your constant harping on about this only serves to make you look stupid.

And just remember, the processing power of a camera is infinitely less than that of a decent computer. Sharpening on the computer allows you to do a much better job than the camera can do. And it provides different ways to do it.

G

PS: And don't believe everything that people say on other forums. There are some very silly people on the Internet.

Maybe it's just that Pentax is simply the wrong brand for Pete.

Everything he posts suggests that he likes the over-sharpened default look from other brands.

If that's his preference, maybe he'd be happier flogging his K10D and getting a Canon - or a Sony Alpha, which even has shake reduction. PC Pro, experts that they are in all things photographic, have it on their A list now.

Hi all.
Just as an intro - my first post on this rather nice forum you have here...

I spent many many hours over the past two years trying to decide "which DSLR". A simple (and repetitive) question asked by people like me and answered in whole or in part (fairly or with bias) on forums across the globe.

I always loved my Nikkormat - a gift from my wife when we were young and penniless - with which I learned the basics and with which I took some timeless shots of our first child. I bought a Nikon F80 in 2001 with a couple of lenses; a camera I thoroughly enjoy using. Though just a keen amateur entering the digital arena earlier would have saved me a sh*t load of money, but I trust analogue and until last year digital seemed, well, a bit of con. I was uncertain about the whole APS-C sensor idea, had no love for Canon, had no opinion of Pentax other than distant respect.

It was last year I decided I really needed to make my mind up and it took me a year to achieve that. I'm not sure whether I'm indecisive or whether trying to compare the various brands/systems/price points just takes time.

Over that period I've read about, looked at and played with most of the obvious candidates including the D50, D70, D80 and D200 from Nikon; the EOS350/400, 20D/30D and 5D from Canon and the *st DS, K100D and K10D from Pentax.

The D200 seemed the ideal choice on paper for me. In many ways (not all) it's the match of the 5D but considerably cheaper; plus it's properly sealed against weather and dust. In terms of cheaper Nikons (ie. below the D80) it has a proper view finder; it has the brand/ergonomics I'm familiar with and I guess being completely honest it represents the F100 I couldn't afford when I bought the F80. Yet it just felt too bulky in hand.

The D80 just didn't quite satisfy and the Canon 30D just seemed a bit abandoned. I really hate the idea of investing in EF-S lenses if Canon are headed to full frame sensors across the board (at least Nikon seem committed to DX??).

The Canon 5D was really at the top of my budget and would have made buying much glass an issue for a while. It felt very good in the hand and I like the idea of a full frame sensor, but it's not weather/dust sealed and I'm kind of sceptical about Canon as the market leader. Basically as this was a rare and long awaited treat I could have happily shelled out for the 5D but simply in terms of results, lens options and overall cost it just didn't present good vfm to my mind.

Then to the real outsider for me (if you've been brainwashed like I feel I have been) - Pentax. They seemed a bit half cocked to me, a bit stop start - some interesting cameras, but always seemingly behind the curve; no pro model to "aspire to". The question are they going to be absorbed into another brand or just stop development altogether.

Then I started to slowly discover a bit more about the lovely Pentax lens options, like the limited primes. The seemingly ideal balance of price/features vs (potential) results and commitment to the K mount. Then there was the selection of Pentax by certain friends and people on other non-photography forums and some interesting reviews.

When I added to this the feel in hand, a decent view finder, dust an weather sealing and results which seemed (to me) the equal of the D200... well.

So I finally formed my decision: the Pentax K10D. I bought one from Chris at SRS (thanks Chris) along with the 31mm limited, then acquired a used 43mm limited and hope to land a 77mm and 21mm at some point in the next few months.

In summary:
- I wanted to say hi
- I wanted to illustrate from the perspective of a complete noob to Pentax that they seem to have got things right regards the real factors an "outsider" might consider when deciding on "which DSLR system?"
- I'm in agreement regards the pure results and especially given the results vs cost vs the D200

Cheers
Greg

But would it not simply make more sense to shoot RAW to offset all concerns? Surely this leaves the most flexibility and no room for doubt?

Yes, it would make more sense. And no doubt Pete will get there in due course. He's actually very talented, photographically, but he also has a talent for thinking without switching his brain on first.

G

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Thanks John!

Believe it or not your are not the first person to say that Well I guess its not that hard to believe

Ok Thanks for spelling it out George Thou shalt not hear anymore of sharpening from thow

Seriously I take your point and understand now.

Thanks George