Official K-5 specs !!!

The dynamic range of digital sensors already exceeds anything that transparency film ever offered or that photographic paper could ever reproduce.

I'd be interested to see examples of what sort of images are found to be a problem.

This was a problem for me and one I had to use HDR for.
The shaded part was almost black and the sunny part very bright .. no matter which I exposed for the other was a total nightmare. I would presume with a better dynamic range I could get it right in one shot?



Christchurch Priory (HDR) by Mike.Pursey, on Flickr

I haven't done anything with the pictures I took yet, but I will.. I'll include a few problem ones.

If I approached this one, my first feeling would be that I'd return at a better time of day when the building was lit. Then there would be no problem, and arguably the image would be more dramatic. A matter of taste and also of logisticsa - is it possible to be there at a better time? Is the building ever out of the shadows?

What you have done is correctly apply a technique to a situation. You have condensed the dynamic range so that it can be reproduced on a monitor or print. This image does not represent the original dynamic range, which probably we couldn't even see on our screens.

To be honest, no matter how much dynamic range a camera had there would need to be a corresponding range in whatever the viewing medium was. This doesn't really exist at this time, so HDR applied moderately is the perfect answer. You've done a good job.

Well at least with the K-5 it now auto aligns the 3 pics in camera so there is less need for a tripod. I cant get on with the HDR feature in the K-7 as even the smallest movement messes it up so take my 3 pictures and then come back and do it in software.

Another strange feature on the K-5 : it seems high speed mode has a choice of 7fps or 1.6 .. the K-7 has 5.6 or 3 which is a much better spread.

Best wait for the manual to be uploaded

what camera preview.k5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIo1wbkB6Mk&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNCee0R1sow&feature=related

I think those are already posted somewhere deep within the thread

The Pentax released one is an absolute joke .. Nikon use a well respected celeb to make a higly polished video showing the camera off to its full potential .. Pentax stick a couple of workers in a broom cupboard and let them mumble on for a couple of minutes

To be honest, comparing digital to slide or print film is a red herring. Technology has moved on and we can expect to do a lot more with our images. Some DSLRs record a terrific DR, it's there in the RAW files and gives you tremendous latitude for deciding which tones will be represented in the final picture, pulling clean detail out of what were apparently deep shadow areas.

You can only portray a limited DR on a print, but recording a high DR file in the first place lets you choose the overall balance of tones.

The DA* 16-50 has a double barrel extension and seems to work fine in the rain, so this should be no problem.

Am intrigued by the design of the 18-135 though, it looks to me like the focussing ring is at the back? Would that help with SDM speed and reliability? Guess we'll find out soon enough!

What do you use for this Mike?

There were some earlier posts which involved Stefan and myself which had links to various sites that showed that good tonality with digital just isn't possible. Highlights are very poor compared to medium or large format film and noise is a problem with the shadows due to the limited way in which this information is digitally stored. The videos on this site explain about the problems with mid-grey and below link

Photomatix.

I'd like to point out that things were a lot worse with film, which is why photographers developed ways and means to cope. A polarising filter is essential to kill highlights from water and vegetation. A graduated ND can tone down sky so that it fits into the available dynamic range. Waiting for the soft evening light and waking early for the morning light are two time-honoured traditions. Knowing the Lake District I'd wait for a nice thunderstorm.

I am curious though that you say you could not solve the problem even while "bracketing like crazy". I have found that there's little I cannot do with +/-3 EV bracketing. Digital makes all this so much easier.