How would you change Pentax's K-7 DSLR?
By Darren Murph 
posted August 29th 2009 1:58AM
posted August 29th 2009 1:58AM
posted August 29th 2009 1:58AM
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I'm a k20d owner and do lots of concert photography - often very low light, and action. The k20d (k7 predecessor and similar sensor) is weak in two areas compared to Canikon - auto focus (AF) and high ISO. The big deficiency for me is the AF. I've lost too many shots whilst the camera was trying to lock in on focus. I love the k20d overall, and have no plans to get rid of it, but will likely get a Nikon d300s for the improved AF and acceptable shots at ISO3200.
One more thing - I have to research the auto focus assist in the K7.
I have a K20 to and agree with your comments however why not upgrade to the K7? I t seems to address any shortcoming the K20 had...
i would change the price to 1000 or so; it's not worth 1300 sans lens... IMO of course
Until they get the DSLR prices down to what the 35mm versions were in the mid 90's, the market won't "take off". I bought a Canon AE-1 in the early 80's for less than 400 with a lens, then when it died, I bought a Canon Rebel with lens for less than 500. When DSLR's came out, I looked at them but the price for "a good one" is just too much. Yeah, the sensors are "expensive" but should be coming down. Consumers are just being squeezed, because the manufacturers can do it. A full frame film version, even before the digital explosion was much less expensive. By now, the sensors should have come down in price.
You need to handle this camera to realize how absolutely brilliant it is. Compared to the 50D, D300, and it's other peers, it's like comparing a Ferrari to a Corvette or Dodge Viper. Yeah, they both have the horsepower and speed, but the K7 is smaller, tighter, sleeker, and just oozes quality. It just feels right in your hand, a much better balance of size / performance / and build quality. At this point, the technology advantages have basically leveled the competition when it comes to image quality. Yeah you could nitpick and zoom to %100 pixel size and say one camera or the other has slightly better noise at ISO 3200, but for 99% of us this would make no difference in rel world shooting. Where the K7 shines above the competition is the design, and useful features that make photography much more fun and intuitive. I thought it would be a gimmick, the the automatic level sensor on the K7 is a revelation. You can argue that you can rotate/crop in post production to fix this, but wouldn't you rather nail it right the first time when you go on on a trip and shoot 400+ photos?
I recently went on a outdoor trip with a few buddies ( biking / hiking / kayaking ). We had 2 SLR's for the Trip, a K7 and a D300. Both cameras took fantastic shots, but the K7 armed with a 35mm Limited Macro just felt so much better to use. I've got no issues with the D300, I would choose the K7 over it any day of the week. If you are in the market for a dSLR you owe it to yourself to at least try the K7 before you make your decision.
Just bought a (slightly, although I couldn't even tell) used K20d from Adorama for $500. This is an upgrade to our K100d. It's really quite nice so far. I wonder though is the K-7 worth more than 2.5x the price over this? Somehow I doubt it. We'll probably wait a couple more years and get it when it gets cheaper. Spend money on some lenses in the meantime like the 31mm or the 40mm limited ones (need a good normal-ish fixed lens) which would still be cheaper than the K-7. It'd be nice to get a faster long zoom too...
Delighted to hear that you were pleased with your 'new' K20D from Adorama - but if you ever have a query or concern regarding an order from Adorama Camera - or AdoramaPix - please don't hesitate to contact me directly.
Sincerely
Helen Oster
Adorama Camera Customer Service Ambassador
helen.oster@adoramacamera.com
www.adorama.com
I actually don't have any issues with the K7 from what I've read - weather sealing, IS, HD video, 14.6 MP, show me another dSLR with those features and at that price. My issues lie with Pentax themselves.
Pentax needs to improve their QC - I read the review of the 1.4/55mm, and it was ridiculous that the reviewer went through three of those lenses, before he found one that didn't have focusing issues, and that's like a $700 lens, so it's not exactly cheap. Similar QC issues occurred when the DA* 16-50mm came out as well.
Additionally, with the takeover by Hoya, it has seemed that Pentax's lens prices have jumped a bit. And Pentax's retail presence is nil - I went into big camera stores around Fresno, CA and back home in Detroit, and they had a deer in headlights look, when I asked about any Pentax mount lenses. I wound up getting the lens I wanted from Adorama, but I actually wanted to buy locally if I could.
The obvious: the sensor. I'd like to have the option of buying a Pentax DSLR with a 24x36mm sensor. I'd like to use my 31mm, 43mm, and 77mm prime set as they were actually intended to be used, without having to run a roll of film through one of my KX bodies.
I shot a bit with the K-7, but decided that, for the amount of time I use an SLR system (I primarily use a rangefinder; the SLR gets broken out when I need autofocus and flash, generally if I'm shooting an event or the like), it wasn't worth the cost of upgrade from a K10D. A nice, 12-15MP full-frame sensor would make me bite, though.
When the price on this body drops to the $500 range in a year or two, I might consider picking it up. Hopefully by then I'll have the option to drop two grand on a FF body.
The one thing that has held me back from purchasing this camera body is the fact that the in-camera HDR doesn't output in RAW format. The camera instead applies it's own tone mapping within the camera which seriously limits the artistic element that makes HDR shooting fun for me.
If, in the future Pentax offers up in-camera HDR output in RAW minus any kind of tone mapping built-in, I'll definitely buy it.
Tumbleweed
Um, I think they do. Wouldn't that be called simply taking the two or more bracketed RAW's the camera uses to composite the HDR in-body in the first place and exporting them out to your computer so you could it manually like you want to?
You couldn't export a composited RAW, it wouldn't be RAW anymore would it?
How would I change it?
Make the RRP about £50...
Then I'd buy it.
I have one and love it... but still have a lot to learn.
The one thing that has bugged me (and it may be that it is new and I haven't figured everything out yet) but some modes reset to defaults when the camera is turned off... Specifically RAW mode.
Sure I'd love Full Frame, 1080p, and more lenses... But the best thing about Pentax is that you can use any K-mount lens ever made. Using a 30 year old lens can be pretty fun.
As for lenses, I'm most jealous of the Canonball 85 1.2... I'd also like a tilt-shift and a few choices of fast/long glass... but we really have a lot of choices with legacy lenses. Ive heard rumors of a Pentax 50 1.0, but I have no proof beyond the message boards.
Things I do love about the k-7
Build Quality- weather-sealed magnesium body means I'm never afraid to use my camera (new lenses are weather sealed too).
Stereo audio in- So that you can both see and hear your high def movies.
in-body shake reduction- this may be seen as a flaw with really long glass (but Pentax doesn't offer any yet). Maybe if Pentax comes out with a long enough lens, they will need to add in-lens shake reduction to compensate for the in-camera that is best suited for shorter glass.
cheap, legacy lenses- The new lenses are great, but old stuff is normally cheaper... and fun to experiment with.
Pentax President, Ned Bunnell, is a photographer, an active member of the Pentax community, and has a blog where he really reaches out and listens to the community.
Thats all for now.
RAW mode resets to JPEG after you turn off the camera? Are you serious? What the...? That would be pretty much a reason to return it for me. I never shoot JPEG. Heck, if they asked me they could remove any ability to save JPEGs.
Yes, its just needing to learn the camera. You can set the default to stay in either RAW, JPEG, or JPEG+RAW on power up and stay there unless overridden by the button on the side.
You are likely just toggling the temporary override button on the side meant for fast mode changes, which is of course won't stay persistent when power cycling.
I'm selling my K10D. I bought an LX3 for right now (going on a trip and don't want to carry a big SLR), and have a film SLR for other stuff. I don't know what will replace it. I'm thinking a D40x with a 35mm DX lens. Yeah, the build quality is nowhere near as good as the K10D, but Pentax also doesn't have a lens like that. I guess there's the 31mm Limited, but that thing's like $1100! Maybe if I save my pennies...
The limited 31mm f/1.8 is 890 USD.
You could check out the Sigma 31mm f/1.4, it seems awesome, and it's way less expensive.
Until recently, Pentax had the FA 35mm f/2, I have it, and it's really a great lens.
Better low noise performance. When a K20D seems to perform better than the K-7 something is wrong. I'm often shooting ISO 3200 at f1.8, so I need good low light performance. And no, using a flash would achieve results that I do not want.
Furthermore FullHD, 24p please. And drop the price. Perhaps add full frame.
Lenses... maybe Pentax should stop screwing their users. Why is a Pentax 12-24mm 665 Euro, when the same lens costs 418 Euro for Nikon (with a Tokina sticker on it)? Why has Pentax recently raised the lens prices up to 100% or so?
1) Time limit when shooting video, because of FAT32 limitations. The camera should create another video file when the current video reaches the limit.
2) Video files are HUGE. They should look up into other filetypes, h.264 maybe?
3) High ISO noise increased between K20D and K-7, because they reengineered the sensor because video caused heat up with the old sensor, but it seems they lost about a stop of noise.
4) 1300 is expensive. At that price point, it would be nice to get the new weather resistant kit lenses (one, or both)
TETHERING! Come on! What's wrong with you, Pentax? How could you not put tethering in K7? I find it essential on my K10D. It's the only reason I didn't upgrade to K7 yet....
Give it the latest APS-C sensor from Canon or Nikon. KEEP EVERYTHING ELSE THE SAME.
Seriously - that noisy little sensor is the only catch.
My first SLR was the ME Super in '81. I went with the K10 when it came out and eagerly upgraded to the K20 when it arrived. I liked the features and performance for the money. I spent a fair amount on lenses, some of which were the DA* series (50-135 f2.8, 200 f2.8). I soon started to advance to a point in photography where the K20 was coming up short, mainly in AF speed - or lack thereof. I was missing great shots due to the inability for the camera to focus quick enough and accurately. I was also hoping for faster burst rate and improved high ISO performance. When the K-7 came out, I jumped on it. I was holding high hopes for the new sensor and improved AF. What I found through the copies I had to return due to defects was that the AF was not that much of an improvement (especially with the very slow, but quiet, SDM lenses) and the new sensor was a big disappointment. Turns out that the K20 actually has a better sensor if you're shooting JPEGs! Pictures taken at all ISO settings were noisier than the K20, and I often take concert photos with the K20 where ISO 2000 and F2.8 at 1/125 is typical. Not only is the K-7 slightly noisier, but edges look overly sharpened for an undesireable affect. One of the problems I had was with the light metering system underexposing by more than a stop.
So the question I have is why would Pentax make a big deal about the new sensor when it doesn't even measure up to the one in the K20? I actually would have been less disappointed had they used the K20 sensor in the K-7. This in combination with the fact I had to rerturn multiple defective K-7 copies drove me to Canon and the 7D in the end. Now that's a real sensor breakthrough in the APS-C class! Would have been wonderful if Pentax could have done something similar with the K-7. I really like Pentax and hoped I would stay with them longer, but I just couldn't continue to be handicapped with the performanace issues that cost me prime shots all too often. I also wanted the option of full-frame at some point, but I don't believe any of Pentax's new lenses are full frame, indicating to me that they are not serious about entering that market, anyway. Since I already have Pentax lenses, flashes, etc, I wouldn't rule out eventually getting a K-7 to have as a travel camera due to its small size ...once the prices come way down.