K5 first impressions

Ordered yesterday, arrived today! Thanks SRS! Only played with it for 20 minutes, so far it looks simply awesome!

My favourite bits so far (note I am upgrading from a K20D):

1. My Tamron 17-50 focuses much quicker. Possibly as much as twice as fast. (remember the K20D is already slower than a K7). Part of it seems to be that the screwdrive is more powerful, and partly it doesn't seem to need to fine-tune the focus at the end like the K20D did. Haven't tried any other lenses yet. I don't have any SDM lenses to test either.
2. It's smaller, about the same size as my old K100D Super.
3. The flash housing doesn't poke out the front so much, much easier to slide into a compartment of your bag, or a large pocket.
4. The shutter is a lot quieter. I never got on with the noisy K20D shutter.
5. EV compensation goes to -5 and +5.
6. Haven't tested the DR yet, but I'm expecting good things.
7. Video capable, I won't use this much, but it will be handy to not have to take my video camera "just in case".
8. Lock button on the model dial. I was forever pulling the K20D out of the bag and shooting away, only to discover pulling it out of the bag had rotated the dial to some other mode.
9. Live view that actually works! The zoom-in-and-focus thing is really cool too.
10 Bigger LCD screen, this is really noticeable when reviewing shots.
11. The sensor shake on startup is much quicker and quieter. It buzzes instead of the CLAK CLUNK i got on the K20D.
12. The SD card slot isn't nearly as bad as many people are saying! In fact it's really not very different to the K20D one, perhaps a millimeter or two less room between the card and the door, which makes removing the card a TINY bit more fiddly. Nothing major at all.
13. Faster processor. Zomming in and out on the LCD and panning around are all much more responsive.

I haven't tried the high FPS yet, it's not something that really interests me. I suppose one day when my sons are doing school sports or something it might be useful. That's several years away though, one's 4 and one's 2 months I'll probably have the K3 by then!

Do you mean the double focus check with that?
I thought they still used that

I don't know really, it just seems to have less fiddling around at the end of the focus turn. It's quite a bit faster, that's about all I can say for sure

both my K20S and K20D exhibit a sort of mini-hunting once the AF has got 99% of the way there.

The K10D does that as well, it's the double focus check.
Pentax is one of the few if not the only one that use it these days.

I haven't hear complains about AF accuracy problems with the K5 so it seems to be doing well.

Still loving it! The shutter most of all. A lovely muffled deep-voiced 'PerChuuk' noise, compared to the K20D's high-pitched whiney 'ShurSnikt'.

My K5 was out last night taking photos under street lights at up to 12800 ISO. No problems there, but what I did notice is that my top LCD panel was almost unreadable with two sections 'off'. The temperature was no more than 2 centigrade. The panel recovered when restored to a more normal temperature and has been OK today, though it isn't quite as cold.

The manual mentions possible problems at low temperatures but 2 deg. C is a long way from the specified lowest operating temperature. I am assuming my K5 is not particularly unusual, can anyone confirm?

What sound did your K100D make, Tim?

Ooeerr I cannot remember! It was similar to the K20 I think.

Malcolm I haven't heard of anything like that. I've had mine out for a stroll around town this morning, I guess it's about 2 degrees here, no problems with the LCD (yet).

Thanks Tim. SRS tell me it is not unheard of and told me to "watch it". I will be doing that, can't seem to take my eyes off it now.

I suspect if I leave it a while and it fails I shall have to put up with a repair, while it is so new an exchange would be more appropriate.

I don't know why I typed K20S I meant K10D. Must have had a brain fart

Check what temp. is being recorded on the shot Exif data when it happens.

The freeware PhotoMe can read it. Not sure if it can be read on the camera?

thanks for the k20 vs k5 comparison, will be interested to hear more, especially ergonomics-wise, I have a K10 and am starting to think about an upgrade, so it's quite interesting to me. The K7 has a few off-putting omissions which I think have been covered by k5's programmable raw button

interesting to hear about the screw drive speed / lack of focus confirm - I think I read somewhere that there was a user option to use the double check or not ??

what's your opinion on how the EV bracketing function works for PEFs on k5 vs k20 ?

you're doing well to have time on a forum with a 2month old, my little one is nearly 6m old now and I've virtually forgotten what forums are !

cheers

Sounds fantastic. I reckon I'll get a good used one in about five years time, when I can afford it.
Regards

Hi Thoughton, could you do some simple sharpness test between K5 and K20, couple of crops (same lens, object).