K7 poor image quality

I have just bought my first DSLR the K7, upgrading from a Fuji 9600s. I bought it with the kit lenses 18-55mm WR and 50-200mm WR. Up to now I am unimpressed with image quality. I have tried changing settings to ensure ISO stays low but I still find images are noisey grainy and with poor sharpness. AF Focus seems to be accurate when using view finder, anti shake is ON. I have tried alternative sharpness settings etc but see no improvement with image quality. What am I doing wrong or is it due to the KIT lenses? If so do they cause image noise associated with high ISO even when ISO is set to no more than 200?

I'm having the same issues with my K-7.

Regards, Chris.

Sigma 10-20mm 11mm, ISO400 f5.6 1/15s hand held after a coffee, again jpeg unsharpened unprocessed.

There is opportunity to get more detail from processing the RAW, balancing sharpening and de-noising. Even so, printing at A4 the noise and sharpness will probably be acceptable.

[IMG]http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx49/df8/f4487d63.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/xx49/df8/0c863cdc.jpg[/IMG]

Hi all
Thanks for feedback. I am going out now to take some photos, weather is a bit brighter and I hope for an image improvement. Will post some images so you can advise me. Most of the ones I took so far I deleted as they were terrible. Even the inside house with popup flash were grainy and soft edged.

I have had a K7 for quite a while now and cannot fault the quality in any way, I have only one gripe and that is the slow focusing. I found my the initial kit lens a little soft but very tolerable although not in the same class as the 16-45 that I now have. Do you save your images as JPEG or RAW? You will find quite a difference between the two formats straight out of the camera.

The green mode on the K-7 (PSvTvAv etc dial) auto ranges the ISO up to 800 as it chooses. Which is why I don't use it. The GX10 and GX20 allowed the camera to limit the ISO in green mode. Just use P mode instead of green.

Also if its 2nd hand, factory reset the settings.

Check the "AF adjustment" (menu and left arrow) 37. on the menu. It might have been used with a Tamron lens and focus adjusted for all lenses.

Never had issues with quality from my K7, I usually shoot RAW though and just do levels and brightness, contrast adjustments and sharpen. The shot below was shot at ISO 400 f4.5 @180th sec. Now its not sharp throughout the depth of the shot, but it has been slightly softened to give it a kind of dreamy look using the Topaz plugin for CS5. The lens was the Sigma 24-70 F2.8 DGEX using the Sigma EF530DG flashgun and stofen diffuser.

Where was your focus point?.....shooting @4.5 will give you a very limited dof!......I cant see anything that I would call "in focus!"....When I recieved my K20 it was back focussing,have you checked your K7?.....Ken

Just a quick question. Why did you take the shot at f/4,5? Not the best choice of aperture for the image you posted in my opinion. There are numerous things you could try to improve your images and these are not meant to patronise you, but may give you an insight in improving the images and your photography.

1, Take some shots in different dial settings modes on the camera
2. Adjust your white balance for the conditions
3. Try different focal lengths
4. try f/7, f/8, f/9 these apertures often produce crisp images
5 Try different focus modes
6 Try different metering modes

Thank's Fletcher, always open to suggestions and always learning. Was a very awkward baby, refusing to smile and it was a sort of grab shot. and the last smile.

I see your a Wakey lad, live in Outwood myself.

One of the big differences between Point&Shoot and DSLR cameras is that manufacturers tend to tweak the image less in the latter case, because they expect the owner to do some post-processing himself.

This is particularly true of Pentax. So, to get the best out of your camera you must tweak EVERY image yourself, which means learning how to use an image processing program.

You will usually need to alter the exposure slightly, to adjust contrast and levels, and to apply a little sharpening. If not shooting in daylight, you may also need to look at colour balance.

The K7 is one of the best cameras ever made, and it is 1000 times more likely that the cause of your problem lies with the owner, not the camera. That said, cameras do malfunction, but you should first look behind the camera, not inside it.

Good luck.

G

Hi Snappychapy

Sorry I was commenting on Dougf8's images from the boat. I think Your Baby shot is A OK. I live in Ouzlewell Green, but I doubt many people have heard of it, hence stating Wakefield.

Regards

Fletcher8 aka Gareth