Wow Pentax

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Wow Pentax

kewlcanon
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p.1 #1 · Wow Pentax

" "With an overall score of 82 the Pentax K-5 II (and its predecessor the K-5) are at the same level as the likes of the Canon EOS 5D MKIII, which scored 81. At the time of writing, it is actually eleventh out of ALL current cameras, only trailing behind offerings from Phase One and Nikon, each costing many times as much.

The Pentax K-5 II is a remarkable piece of kit, it scores better in the DxO mark tests than several very highly thought of, full frame DSLRs, beating all the cameras made by Canon! It manages to do this in a body that is very reasonably priced."

http://photorumors.com/2012/11/21/dxomark-pentax-k-5-ii-is-currently-the-best-aps-c-camera/#more-35680

Nov 22, 2012 at 12:54 PM

FlyPenFly
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p.1 #2 · Wow Pentax

I mean within the margin of sampling error of the last k5. I'm happy to see they offer a AA less version. I wish there were Pentax lenses I really want to try but there just isn't.

Nov 22, 2012 at 12:58 PM

Tariq Gibran
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p.1 #3 · Wow Pentax

I recently picked up the Pentax 21mm Limited and was pretty much wowed by it's size, build quality and performance. Color and contrast, even wide open (granted, it's pretty slow at f3.2) are as good or better than anything from Leica or Zeiss I have used. The jewel-like metal build quality is about at the level of Voigtlnader manual lenses, which is much better than most AF lenses. I'm sure I will be buying more of these Limiteds as nothing else exists like them in the DSLR world (given they are as small and often even smaller than mirrorless lenses).

The K5 has the best user interface, ergonomics and build quality (it's built much better than a Nikon D800 for instance) than anything even remotely near it's price. The two flaws I have found are AF accuracy/ reliability and Live View performance. The K5-II apparently fixes the AF issue but, from what I have read, the Live View is the same (a delay in the Live View image response to focusing, makes it very frustrating to use when manual focusing). Overall image quality though is very high, as reflected in the DXoMark score.

Nov 22, 2012 at 01:33 PM

ChrisDM
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p.1 #4 · Wow Pentax

I've owned the last 3 generations of Pentax cameras, and I tried to love each one (and I did love each one in certain ways) but the low light autofocus performance just wasnt there. Hopefully they made some real progress in this area with the II.

Regarding the lenses, Pentax's Limited/pancake series of primes are some of the finest, well built and beautiful lenses ever made. And their range of professional 2.8 zooms, while winning no beauty contests, are everything a professional photographer could hope for.

Nov 22, 2012 at 01:47 PM

Jon Guilbault
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p.1 #5 · Wow Pentax

No doubt about the loveliness of Pentax' Limiteds. The 31mm and 77mm are two of the best lenses ever made. Incredibly compact despite not being pancakes, very good technical performance, but most importantly beautiful rendering and colouring.

I haven't had a Pentax camera for many years, but I've never even considered selling my 31mm or 77mm Limiteds.

In fact, I'm looking at replacing the mount and adapting them to Sony for my A99. I really enjoyed the 31mm on film. I've always felt 28mm was just a little too wide, but that 35mm sacrifices a little too much of the dynamism of the wider perspective --practically a normal in this respect. I remember shooting the 31mm on my grandfather's MX (why can't we build digital cameras in this form factor by the way!) when I first got into photography and it's still the perspective that appeals to me more than any other.

(In contrast, I actually prefer the 77mm cropped to ~115mm, which is right around where I like my telephotos for photographing people.)

Nov 22, 2012 at 03:19 PM

Spyro P.
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p.1 #6 · Wow Pentax

Tariq Gibran wrote:
I recently picked up the Pentax 21mm Limited and was pretty much wowed by it's size, build quality and performance. Color and contrast, even wide open (granted, it's pretty slow at f3.2) are as good or better than anything from Leica or Zeiss I have used. The jewel-like metal build quality is about at the level of Voigtlnader manual lenses, which is much better than most AF lenses. I'm sure I will be buying more of these Limiteds as nothing else exists like them in the DSLR world (given they are as small and often even smaller than mirrorless lenses).
Tariq how does the manual focusing ring feel in the hand?
Are the distance scales well spaced out?

Nov 22, 2012 at 11:15 PM

Jeff Kott
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p.1 #7 · Wow Pentax

I've owned a K10D and now a K5. I also feel that I've been let down on too many occasions by the Pentax AF system, so I'm now using my 31, 43 and 77 ltd. lenses on my Sony NEX 7. With the EVF, magnified view and focus peaking I'm almost always achieving critical focus. Unfortunately, it's only with my Sony camera that I'm able to consistently get the most out of these fantastic lenses.

Every new generation of Pentax cameras supposedly has improved AF. I'm not going to buy into that hope again.

Nov 22, 2012 at 11:42 PM

philip_pj
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p.1 #8 · Wow Pentax

Jon, I share your FL views after using several gens of medium format camera lenses with around 30-32mm equivalent FLs, notably the Mamiya 65mm f4 on an M7.

If you go ahead can I ask you to let us know how it goes, or PM me?

I can write to David Llado also, he may have some ideas, I had forgotten about the Pentax LE jewels and am in the middle of a restless search for 'the 35mm' prime lens, and colour is my thing, just got an a99. This camera may give manual focus lenses another kick along.

Nov 23, 2012 at 12:17 AM

Mescalamba
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p.1 #9 · Wow Pentax

Pentax K-5 IIs full size JPEG - 12MB

I took it from some review online, processed RAW to my taste (ok maybe overprocessed a bit) in LR4.2.

What does it show?

1) pretty amazing sharpness
2) moiré/false colors on edges
3) pretty noisy in shadows even on base ISO

Last is same for K-5. Honestly I dont know where DxOmark got their numbers for DR, but that camera has at best only 1eV noise-free shadows .. if its that much. Not particulary amazing..

Otherwise its nice camera, sure. AF is supposedly decent (according to K-5 owner I know). So its usable, just nothing mindblowing..

That shadow noise is what prevent me to buy K-5, cause I can have similar "DR" in old Canon 5D too. Noise smoothing on high ISO is another reason (blotches, blotches everywhere..).

Nov 23, 2012 at 01:44 AM

Emacs
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p.1 #10 · Wow Pentax

Mescalamba, you seem to have pretty specific perception. The K-5 shadow recovery was (and I guess is) amazing: I had up to 3-4 stops of shadow lifting with quite a little noise and quite good color/details. With the NEX-5n I only have about 2-2.5 stops, that isn't particularly wide and I find this range is not enough in too many situations. I wonder how canon users live with even lesser sensor capabilities

Edited on Nov 23, 2012 at 10:17 AM · View previous versions

Nov 23, 2012 at 08:12 AM

Emacs
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p.1 #11 · Wow Pentax

Oops, dup

Nov 23, 2012 at 08:12 AM

Tariq Gibran
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p.1 #12 · Wow Pentax

Spyro P. wrote:
Tariq Gibran wrote:
I recently picked up the Pentax 21mm Limited and was pretty much wowed by it's size, build quality and performance. Color and contrast, even wide open (granted, it's pretty slow at f3.2) are as good or better than anything from Leica or Zeiss I have used. The jewel-like metal build quality is about at the level of Voigtlnader manual lenses, which is much better than most AF lenses. I'm sure I will be buying more of these Limiteds as nothing else exists like them in the DSLR world (given they are as small and often even smaller than mirrorless lenses).
Tariq how does the manual focusing ring feel in the hand?
Are the distance scales well spaced out?

Hi Spyro, I'm traveling now and don't have it with me so I will give better info Sunday. The MF feels much better/ smoother in operation than most AF lenses feel with MF (when I first handled the lens and tried the MF, I was happily surprised by it's feel), but it's of course not at the level of damping of a full time MF lens.

Nov 23, 2012 at 02:08 PM

Mr.Lindy
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p.1 #13 · Wow Pentax

Here's a HOT Black Friday B&H deal on K-5IIs for $1,049, a solid $250 savings.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/891519-REG/Pentax_12050_K_5_II_Digital_SLR.html

Being up for 4 hours now I pondered K-5IIs as I still own alot of my Pentax glass.
But I've lived with Pentax poor low light AF with my K20D, been there done that...
...So I then browsed about elsewheres on their website.

I got a Minty 9+ Nikon D700 a couple hours ago from B&H instead.

Nov 23, 2012 at 02:49 PM

Mescalamba
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p.1 #14 · Wow Pentax

Emacs wrote:
Mescalamba, you seem to have pretty specific perception. The K-5 shadow recovery was (and I guess is) amazing: I had up to 3-4 stops of shadow lifting with quite a little noise and quite good color/details. With the NEX-5n I only have about 2-2.5 stops, that isn't particularly wide and I find this range is not enough in too many situations. I wonder how canon users live with even lesser sensor capabilities

My processed sample, leaves in shadow on tree left. Thats just lifted shadow, no eV push. It looks like if you try to do same with old 5Dc.

Yea I have specific perception, pretty much as everyone does. Only difference is that I have very demanding one.

Nov 23, 2012 at 03:20 PM

alundeb
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p.1 #15 · Wow Pentax

kewlcanon wrote:
" "With an overall score of 82 the Pentax K-5 II (and its predecessor the K-5) are at the same level as the likes of the Canon EOS 5D MKIII, which scored 81. At the time of writing, it is actually eleventh out of ALL current cameras, only trailing behind offerings from Phase One and Nikon, each costing many times as much.

The Pentax K-5 II is a remarkable piece of kit, it scores better in the DxO mark tests than several very highly thought of, full frame DSLRs, beating all the cameras made by Canon! It manages to do this in a body that is very reasonably priced."

http://photorumors.com/2012/11/21/dxomark-pentax-k-5-ii-is-currently-the-best-aps-c-camera/#more-35680

Nothing new here. It is just the (now good old) Exmor sensor and DXO's weighting with emphasis on low ISO DR.

Nov 23, 2012 at 04:11 PM

Jon Guilbault
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p.1 #16 · Wow Pentax

philip_pj wrote:
Jon, I share your FL views after using several gens of medium format camera lenses with around 30-32mm equivalent FLs, notably the Mamiya 65mm f4 on an M7.

If you go ahead can I ask you to let us know how it goes, or PM me?

I can write to David Llado also, he may have some ideas, I had forgotten about the Pentax LE jewels and am in the middle of a restless search for 'the 35mm' prime lens, and colour is my thing, just got an a99. This camera may give manual focus lenses another kick along.

Absolutely. It's going to be a couple months (due to work obligations --not because of the complexity), but I'll be sure to mention how it works out. People have made similar adaptions and the register distance is on my side, so I'm optimistic.

Nov 23, 2012 at 08:11 PM

treebeard
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p.1 #17 · Wow Pentax

Mescalamba wrote:
Pentax K-5 IIs full size JPEG - 12MB

I took it from some review online, processed RAW to my taste (ok maybe overprocessed a bit) in LR4.2.

What does it show?

1) pretty amazing sharpness
2) moiré/false colors on edges
3) pretty noisy in shadows even on base ISO

Last is same for K-5. Honestly I dont know where DxOmark got their numbers for DR, but that camera has at best only 1eV noise-free shadows .. if its that much. Not particulary amazing..

Otherwise its nice camera, sure. AF is supposedly decent (according to K-5 owner I know). So its usable, just nothing mindblowing..

That shadow noise is what prevent me to buy K-5, cause I can have similar "DR" in old Canon 5D too. Noise smoothing on high ISO is another reason (blotches, blotches everywhere..).

Have you ever used a K-5? I am a bit confused by your post. I personally use a K-5 and I don't seem to experience the last issue you speak of.

Nov 26, 2012 at 03:55 AM

MarcG19
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p.1 #18 · Wow Pentax

Random thoughts:

I need a DSLR primarily to feed my animal photography pretentions (in particular birds in flight). Without the superior AF, pentaprism viewfinder, and controls of a good DSLR, I have no use for a DSLR per se and the emergence of micro-4/3s has had me using this for almost all my non-animal photography.

Pentax has always intrigued me: in-camera image stabilization, excellent reputation of its glass, a truly wide APS-C prime that Canikon lacks (the primary thing that launched me into m4/3 has been the portability of the lenses), and sensor technology that seems to basically keep up with Canikon.

Negatives IMO about Pentax: their current lineup lacks a lot of big telephotos (especially the exotics - am I wrong on this?), third party makers occasionally drop k-mount lenses, and now this allegation about AF problems.

But the big problem, IMO is: I have a decent amount of money in the Nikon and m4/3 lens baskets (I would like to reduce that but that's another thread). Selling and going Pentax would not be a problem (since I got most of those lenses used and could sell them for roughly what I paid for them). But that represents a massive investment on a system I'm not terribly familiar with.

Also, given the current state of the camera market and my assessment that there will be consolidation (perhaps massive) in the next few years, I'm hesitant to bet the lens basket money into non-Canikon or Sony products, since those makers will almost certainly still be making basically their current lineup in 4-5 years. Those makers have much stronger market and marketing positions than others - I hate to base my choices based on market presence and sales, but really, that matters sales-wise unless you're looking to be a boutique company like Leica or (it seems) Fujifilm. (m4/3 gives me a lot of heartburn here - I only justify it by the sheer amount of photography I do with m4/3).

Nov 26, 2012 at 06:13 AM

Jeff Kott
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p.1 #19 · Wow Pentax

I'm a Nikon and Pentax DSLR shooter and Sony Nex user.

IMHO if you want to shoot birds in flight, stick with Nikon and make it work with what they have to offer. (If you had Canon equipment, I would recommend that you stick with Canon.) There is no way that Pentax can compete with Nikon or Canon with respect to autofocus or lenses for that type of photography.

Nov 26, 2012 at 06:54 AM

MarcG19
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p.1 #20 · Wow Pentax

Thanks, Jeff!

for Pentax, though.

Nov 26, 2012 at 04:30 PM

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