Pentax K20D - Low light vs. K10D?

Hi all,

I love my K10D, I really do - but even at ISO 800 I find the noise isn't to my liking. Having come from Canon (a 5D, where I could shoot at ISO1600 with beautifully noise free images), I realise I have been spoilt, but if I were to consider an upgrade to the K20D, how much better is it at low light performance?

I know there are lots of techy review sites that touch on this, but I'm interested in real world experience here.

Cheers,
James

Sold my Nikon D200+D300 for the Pentax K20D's and the Pentax wins hands down at 1600iso and for Image quality across the board.


Hope this helps.

The techie sites said there wasn't much difference. But then I upgraded to the K20D

Yes, there is some noise, but with Silkypix and shooting RAW I can get incredible images. Shooting at ISO2500 isn't a problem for me at all In fact, I recently had an ISO3200 shot of a horse printed at 18"x12" - looks first class

The noise is a different quality to the K10D. It's probably more like the 5D you were used to - since the K20D is CMOS and the K10D is CCD. I had a quick look at a friend's 5D (mark 1) and at ISO1600 it does look great - but I haven't yet had a chance to pixel peep!

In my mind, the trickiest issue in seriously low light is the metering. Still, it's often quickest to use fully manual and fire a couple of test shots off.

All in all, I'm chuffed with the K20D in low light
Matt

ISO1600: http://www.ephotozine.com/u16488/gallery/1102538
ISO3200: http://www.ephotozine.com/u16488/gallery/1012029

Sorry I don't have real world experience of the difference yet, but soon will as I'll be ordering a K20D very soon.

The techy review site DPReview does have some real shots of K20D and K10D noise to compare. Also note the points about the K20D's slightly larger dynamic range and more effective Shake Reduction - both of which should help in low light.

No camera is truly noise free at ISO 1600. Your Canon must have been applying noise reduction if you couldn't see any noise, and that means detail is lost in the process. Pentax cameras deliberately let a fair amount of noise through in order to preserve detail. You can always remove or reduce noise afterwards in post processing if you like.

Hi Terry!

I'd agree the K20D wins hands down at ISO1600 vs your old Nikon D200 (also my old D200 now!), no question, but vs the Nikon D300 I'd say there isn't anything in it. Interestingly, I've also found the D90 to be marginally better even than the D300 re noise control, which was surprising.

At ISO3200, then I'd say the Nikon D300 is ahead vs the K20D.

Whichever way you look at it though, the K20D has excellent noise control, and certainly a big step forward over my K10D.