You might be right Stuey, some things are worth waiting for! But the K7 is a very similarly capable option surely? What is it that you disagree with about the low light high ISO aspect?

The thing is though, the OP said in his first sentence that he couldn't afford a K5.

That's my understanding also Yves. I've always been surprised to see the K7 often painted as very much the same camera as the previous flagship, but from what I have read in the Magic Lantern guide and online reviews, it is clearly a significant upgrade. Mainly the processor power and speed, burst and buffer capacity, but also HDR and the lens corrections were extras I believe.

For sale??? Why would you ever ....

K7 is a lot of camera for the money, would be a lot even at twice the price. Its packed with practical photo capture aids and image control features, with a lot of high-end functions you'd expect only on pro-spec models from other makers. The main advance that the K5 brought is improved noise performance in low light, and that's something many say they need ...I find its rare to need ISO 800 or above, and in fact the K7 is fine at 800, even 1600 requires only basic NR measures.

Its even less likely I'll be thinking about high iso performance now I've got a 540 fgz flash ... This on the K7 combined with a Gary Fong lightsphere diffuser gives much better light quality than many low-light natural & artificial situations. Personally I'd rather keep shooting at ISO 100 and take control of my own lighting!

The K7/K5/ii series of cameras are built with a demanding, dynamic shooting style in mind. I mean strong for the outdoors and with quick access controls to key photographic features for the photographer who shoots in a dynamic way, responding quickly to changing light, subject motion, focussing needs and more. Not sure about the K50, but I have recently been enjoying the (rather high end) wireless flash feature on my camera with the 540fgz flashgun, an amazing feature. Video is reportedly better on the K5/ii with the sensor shake reduction option, rather than the newer 'movie shake' software solution on the k50.

We Pentaxians clearly have a natural instinct for the finer things in life.

Yes, hi Jules! Hope things have picked up. You're interested in K3 firmware ? What can this mean? ....

My own experience at 14mm has taught me that one key aspect to consider with these very wide views, is that the exposure balance is significantly changed ... namely, (as in your first 4 shots here), the sky gains increased weighting in the matrix pattern, and even in a centre-weighted reading, often beyond the point that the camera's algorithms can deal with. The result is as we see here, skies bright on the verge of blowing out, and dark and dull ground underneath.

The last shot here is the most successful in terms of this metering balance, mainly because it has a fair amount of directly lit zones in the midtones. The first 4 lack this, in fact they have very little midtone values, and no directly lit midtones. For this reason I think pure shadow lifting on its own will be of limited value - it will work better on the last where the shadows can blend more subtly with the good mids ( the sunlit areas on the fields and hillside).

Soilutions? Well, I would treat the skys and ground differently ... first point the camera up a bit to read the sky, fix it in manual, take the shot ... then point down a bit to read the ground more, take another shot (ideally tripod of course, but if you're careful it can be OK without, perhaps using the auto bracketing feature?) ...then blend the exposures in processing (Photoshop layers are the logical best technique.) No folks, don't panic, I'm NOT going to mention the OTHER option! :mrgreen

I'd like to have the 'Tapatalk' app available for Pentax User ... it makes posting and reading on forums so much easier, reliable & enjoyable on smartphones. There's dedicated buttons for posting functions and smilies, plus you can easily access your active ('subscribed') threads from a specific menu. There's no need to scroll any pages or swipe around the screen, its all formatted and displayed perfectly. It would be a great aid to active posting when limited to a phone, as I often am when travelling or out and about. Please Team, register and give us access to Tapatalk.