K5 = astounding = Digital Velvia

I've just held both the K-5 and K20 in my hands and compared the feel. not much in it preference wise even though they are clearly different. the K-5 feels colder and I Like the lightly deeper 2nd finger cutaway at the front.

I'm not keen on the placement of the K-5's play button though. It's in a worse place than the K20Ds placement. I would prefer to have the play button just under the AE-L button so IO can review a pic while holding the cam in one hand. I prefer the position of the AF button on the k-5

I admit if the K-5 was in the same body as the K20D but with K-5 performance I would still be happy.

The difference is like night and day ( )

My K20D was always noisy when bringing up the fill light. the K-5 is much much better


Do you really disallow yourself to upgrade before shooting 50K pics?

it's something i told myself.

i tend to be quite trigger happy. i take my camera everywhere. i've been with pentax for 6 months, and i'm already 15k frames in. at this rate, my k7 would have only been with me for a year and half before i upgrade. that's acceptable to me.

also, while the dr would be great, i find i can get the job done with the k7 wihout resorting to hdr.

it's just that it takes nailing the exposure, then careful noise reduction. it's excellent practice...

I agree with you Gillbod. The K-7 gets the job done... while I would prefer to have the DR of the K-5, as a lowly amateur there's no way I could justify the expense of upgrading at the moment. If I was a wedding shooter, I'd have upgraded by now! I'll just continue enjoying how nice the K-7 feels to use, and all the control and speed it offers over my previous camera (the difference between my k200D and the K-7 is definitely night and day performance-wise, and the K-7 is also better at high ISO), and put in a bit of effort to maximise its dynamic range when necessary.

That said, it is great to know that when the time to upgrade eventually comes, the K-5 or it's successor is going to offer some significant advantages. I'm delighted the new sensor is so good.

I shot 43k pics in 2010

I bet I shoot at least 60k this year now I've built a drive by shooting in car camera mount

Smeggy, with that capture count you are officially allowed to buy every new body that comes out!

43K! my god, I thought that over 30K with the K20D in just over 2 years and over 30K with the K10D too was a lot!

Do you not work?

Seriously though, Kudos to Smeggy.

Wouldn't mind seeing your in camera mount, Smegster. I would like to rig something up for shooting video, off the sun roof maybe?

I upgraded from a K20D, and since doing so I've taken loads of images I simply couldn't have taken with the K20D. Many are simply due to the higher ISO abilities, but some (candid hip shots at 1-2m) are also due to the much quieter shutter.

The low ISO IQ is pretty similar. ISO 80 looks good on paper but I can't say I've personally noticed a difference in quality (yet, although I have used it to eke out a bit more DR when shooting the eclipse earlier this month).

I have however noticed the reduced noise when using fill light, as Smeggy noted.

I'll try to remember to take a pic of it later.

I'm suffering from bad insomnia at the moment and frankly I'm too knackered to go out to the car to get the mount to snap it.

But basically it's a piece of 1mm aluminium sheet about 250m x 100mm which slots between the passenger window and inner rubber seal. screwed to the to edge of the sheet is a piece of plywood that extends into the car and attaches via a foam surround to a manfrotto monopod. The monopod also sits on a foam block on the floor of the car. I use used the foam to minimise vibration on the camera ( or obvious reasons )

Cullmann do the 3080 Multipod for use in cars.

The side legs come off and it becomes a mono-pod.

I got a boxed new one on ebay for £10

the one I built allows the lens almost against the side window though. Doesn't look like you can do that with the 3080. Although I'd like one of those as well for front windsreen shots.


I do like the idea of the touring set, but there is NO WAY I would trust a K-5 and lens on a suction pad though.

Well, this evening (apart from doing the sound for the play), I took the official dress rehersal shots with the K-5 for the first time.

I had my K20D too as backup this time. Well I say backup, it had my Sigma 24-70mm on it, and the K-5 had my trusted DA* 50-135mm on it.

Results? 450 combined shots later (2-1 ratio on favour of the K-5), the K-5 is simply stunning at Hi-ISO out in the field.

Both were hitting ISO3200 and occasionally more, yet where the K20D was struggling, the K-5 took it all in its stride.
I even had the K-5 set at 1/100 sec and varying the aperture between F2.8 and F8 at one point.
The K20D never went above F4.5 and never more than 1/80sec - more in the region of 1/60.
And still, the K-5 was not just better, but blowing the K20D into the weeds so to speak when it came to Hi-ISO, and the K20D is no mean camera when it comes to ISO up to 2000 for theatre work.

Yes, up to ISO400 there is probably not much in it, but above that, its like comparing a Diesel Astra and an Aston Martin when it comes to performance.
When the play is over I will post some images on my flickr stream so you can see what I mean.

Oh, and yes, the AF is better too, even with a DA* on it, which is not renowned for fast AF speed.

Am I happy with the K-5? errrrrrrr YES!

Here you go.

One image at 3200ISO

[img]http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5053/5390986469_065bb235f0.jpg" class="comment_image" />

IDK50364 by IHD Photography, on Flickr[/img]