K7 - Worth It?

Hiya folks,

I'm looking around for a new DSLR just now after selling my second Sony A700 in May last year and really missing my photography, I'm evaluating my options as I have no buy in to any system, all the camera kit I still have is stuff like my tripod & bag nothing Sony, I was very close to buying a K7 last year and now I've been looking around and see it can be bought for as little as £600 now which seems a staggering reduction in price, but is it still worth it v the K5 or is the K5 worth the £400 additional cost?

I remember the posts last year Chris. It might help if you can explain what led you to sell your second A700 - what didn't it do that you need from your next camera, or were the reasons nothing to do with the kit per se?

The K-7 is terrific value at its current price, but the K-5 clearly has improved high ISO performance as well as some other improvements - eg faster AF. Whether it's worth the price difference probably depends upon how important these issues are to you.

If you are a wildlife (esp moving wildlife) or low light photographer, I suspect the extra investment would be worthwhile if you have the funds. If you are a lower ISO/landscape shooter then I would be tempted to buy the K-7 and put the money towards decent lenses instead.

Well it wasn't kit related selling my A700 it was more financial & work related, I travel Mon - Fri for work so was getting little usage of my kit and so decided to sell as I needed the cash.
I'm now as of the end of Jan going to be travelling one week and home one week so I will have much more time to get back into photography.

My usage is really architecture & landscapes and I very rarely used higher ISO's although partly because the Sony range at the time wasn't very good, I'm not sure I could justify the extra cash when I could put it towards lenses.

I would like to try some low light photography, but I'm not sure even brilliant high iso performance helps much at night, probably be as well just using my tripod!

It also seems to be that if I was going to buy a brand new DSLR v second hand that the K7 is the best value going.

Japanese cameras are rubbish...... my father used to
always say buy a German camera if you want the best!

I think the K-5 probably is worth the extra £400, but if you can only afford the K-7, go for it.

Interesting article: alphamountworld.com/photography-articles/pentax-k7-vs-sony-a700-comparison

Imagine the outrage if someone posted a similar off-brand comparison on here!

Thanks for that article it certainly puts forward the K7 as an excellent A700 replacement!

Also, don't discount the K-r - not a patch on the K7 build wise and lacks 'pro' features, but the performance is on a par with the K7 if not better, and it has much better high ISO noise. Whatever you decide, I hope you'll enjoy being with Pentax.

I'm going to nip into Jacobs in Edinburgh tommorrow and have a play with a K7 and see what I think, also going to do some investigation on lens options to see what is available and what the cost would be.
I was wanting to get another Sony but sadly there just isnt anything there now anywhere near the K7, only other brand I'm considering is another Olympus, I loved the lenses but I found the E620 grip quite small to hold (big hands) so perhaps picking up a secondhand E620 with Battery Grip or even the larger E-30 but I think the Olympus lenses would be pricier than equivalents for a Pentax.

I'd stick with the Pentax. Olympus seem to be fleeing the DSLR market. Not sure if they are going to continue with their standard 4/3rds cameras and lenses.

If I'm looking at brand new then the K7 certainly seems the best deal, for an Olympus I'd have to be going second hand as they seem to have discontinued everything but the new E-5 and their Pen Series, so I do have concerns about their long term DSLR future, although I did think there were similar concerns about Pentax although the K7 and K5 seem to have been very very popular.

FWIW I have owned both the K10D and the K20D, both sold on and now I have the K-7 and K-5. The K-7 is a great camera but I do like the new features in the K-5. In particular the extra resolution, which helps with cropping and still getting A3 prints and the much improved high ISO noise as I like to do hand held late evening street photography, where a tripod is not always welcome.

Other than that, I found the K-7 to be more than adequate and a great improvement over the K20D for live view etc.

Lets just hope they don't have a GX20 and 16-45mm kit going cheap

Lol, I had arranged for them to transfer it up from London and they never even got back to me to tell me if it was in or not!!!

From what you said you need, then buy a K7 it seems a no-brainer to me. I have one and have no wish whatsoever for a K5 as I also never use high ISO and any AF improvements must be small.

It is a tough one to answer.
I did look at the K-7 before I got the K-5, due to the fact that although my K20D was getting on a bit (nearly 3 years old and over 30000 shots), would the K-7 give me much more than my K20D (apart from better AF and shutter)
The reality, for me, was that, although the K-7 was a major improvement over the K20D when it came to AF, shutter, build, metering etc, the reality was that as it used the same sensor as the K20D, and at the end of the day, the IQ would be the same.

however, as you have come from an A700, you may find that the performance is a big improvement.

It all comes down to two things really.
1. Do you really need 7FPS. ie Do you do a lot of nature or sports?
2. Do you need excellent low light performance. ie, the ability to take photos at extreme low light such as very dim with the kit lens (ie F3.5-F5.6) and hand held, or you take a lot of interior shots handheld.

If the answer to both is no, then the K-7 will be the camera for you.
However if either is yes, then seriously consider the K-5 as it's IQ is in another league, especially taking these into consideration.

Hope this helps.