RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: "Highly Recommended"

Saturday, October 03, 2009

"Highly Recommended"

When the test pictures and data all show that the JPEGs are ridiculously soft and images are super noisy (ISO 400 is already too terrible!), the DPR guys yet still "highly recommend" the camera. Really amazing! I have no more to say and better to leave my this blog post almost blank!

Still lucky that they post many of their test results, go judge yourself. Just remember pictures won't lie but people will! (Although people can still carefully select the pictures and manipulate the data!)

p.s. Also think about why it has taken so looong for DPR to "finalise" and publish their K-7 review, in particular.

Comments (43)

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Real Engineer · 806 weeks ago

ROFL @ RH

2 replies · active 806 weeks ago

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43rumors · 806 weeks ago

I agree with you! i have been surprised when at the bottom of the last page I saw "Higly Recommended" !!!!
cheers from 43rumors.com team ;)

2 replies · active 806 weeks ago

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Mike · 806 weeks ago

Seems very competitive with the Canon 50d which also received a Highly Recommended rating. Overall the K-7 looks like a solid camera.

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jose · 806 weeks ago

je, je, je,.... Pentax 7 - RiceHigh 0

1 reply · active 806 weeks ago

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Real Engineer · 806 weeks ago

RH Wrote:
"When the test pictures and data all show that the JPEGs are ridiculously soft and images are super noisy (ISO 400 is already too terrible!), the DPR guys yet still "highly recommend" the camera. Really amazing! I have no more to say and better to leave my this blog post almost blank!"

"super noisy" and "ridiculously soft"...Highly technical terms suitable for an engineer of your stature even if I say so myself.

Do you even know what noise is and how it is useful as well as detrimental?

RH wrote:
"Still lucky that they post many of their test results, go judge yourself. Just remember pictures won't lie but people will! (Although people can still carefully select the pictures and manipulate the data!)"

Wow. You, you saying someone can carefully select and manipulate data.
The engineer that does not know much about engineering.
The one who makes totally incorrect claims and draws wild conclusions yet fails to correct himself when its pointed out.

When if comes to cherry picking data and data manipulation, you are the foremost authority on the internet.

RH wrote:
"p.s. Also think about why it has taken so looong for DPR to "finalise" and publish their K-7 review, in particular."

Is this another example of RH Engineering?
Speculation, FUD, implication?

All tools best left for manipulators not for engineers, but, you are a manipulator and not an engineer so, please carry on.

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Prognathous · 806 weeks ago

Sharpened images are for the clueless. Pentax did right to choose lower sharpening. If only they were brave enough to turn it off altogether...

Here's a bit about the subject you ignored last time. Feel free to reply (though I'm not holding my breath):

"All DSLR's needlessly apply irreversible sharping to make the picture look nice at 100% crops. In practice, this is a senseless exercise. Sharpness should be turned off and only applied *after* the picture is resized to the intended screen or print size. In short, to anyone who understands anything about photography, DSLR's which use a "soft" default sharpening are better than those that use a "sharp" setting."

As for noise, using strong NR kills details, so again Pentax chose well. This is why both the K20D and the k-7 kill the competition when it comes to texture preservation. See some relevant benchmarks here:

http://falklumo.blogspot.com/2009/08/pentax-k-7-i...

RH, your complaints show lack of understanding on your part about what noise reduction and sharpening actually are. You'd better read some more about the subject. It would do you good.

Prog.

6 replies · active 806 weeks ago

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elho_cid · 806 weeks ago

K-7 is finally a Pentax camera that puts sense into that "RAW" button. I never used it on my K10D and I always shot RAW. Now with the stunning image quality that K-7 delivers in out of camera jpg I would finally shoot jpg most of the time and push the RAW button only when I'm really going to manipulate the WB a lot.
I'm impressed.

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Mario · 806 weeks ago

ah ah ah, rotfl.... you're sad after 'finally' a positive review for pentax from dpreview... ah ah ah... too soft for you? the camera is plenty of in-camera controls to set your personal profile and go happy... from years until now dpreview reviewed pentax usually very late while canon and nikon are tipically examined asap, but this is a marketing dept. problem, and a matter of market's slices... ah ah ah... with this post i'm definitively conviced that you have some serious problems against pentax, and btw against yourself...

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Tom · 806 weeks ago

Yes, you're a master of brain washing people Rice :D

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Hin Man · 806 weeks ago

RH, is it possible that you have your Canon 5D way too long and you forget that your expectation is beyond what Pentax can offer you. I am not a pixel peeper. Perhaps your high expectations of Pentax cameras and perfection have killed all of your enthusiasm on Pentax.

I am sure if DPreview has a "just recommended" or "average" rating, you will still feel ridiculous. Your opinion equals the rest of the users and I see no value to whine about a review that has been done positively by DPReview without your influence. Sorry to step over the line for you, my friend. I can't agree with you on your negative assessment. Pentax K-7 is NOT a Canon 5D and the Dpreview review it as such comparing to Canon 50D and Nikon D300.

I only skim through the review to the last page. And I congratulate whole heatedly for the Pentax community to have a rating that they can rely on along with all the read user experience and report.

Issues and problems are known and I applaud your effects in reporting them in your blog and hold Pentax accountable for fixing the issues and improvements for better products. But your negative opinions on Pentax is not shared by me and many of the wonderful photographers who just don't rely on a single user or review to derive their decision. The photos and one's experience with a camera speak our minds more than a single picture.

Instead of your K-m camera, I still think you should have bought a K-7 instead. And we can see how you whine about the K-7 every hour. Warmest, Hin

9 replies · active 806 weeks ago

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Ivanko · 806 weeks ago

http://a.img-dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxk7/Sample...
http://a.img-dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxk7/Sample...

RH, do you prefer the result from 50D? Ha-ha...

1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago

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ricochet · 806 weeks ago

You should read this:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essays/rant23b....

1 reply · active 806 weeks ago

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Barbarosa · 806 weeks ago

before dpreview's review many pro photographers sad that K-7 i good-excellent camera
i remember one nikon pro who sad that despite owning and using d3x and bunch of lenses he will use k-7 instead of d300 for backup cammera
now even dpreview sad that k-7 is very good but some muleheads ppl can be so stubborn that can see forest because of one wood , they see noise but cant see great package of pro possibilities in K-7 for decent price
go find camera without noise and be happy , but don't spit on others, we are satisfied with pentax for now

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risinsun · 806 weeks ago

rice, people still come to your blog to have a good fun! but in fact, you are pathetic..

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ERR · 806 weeks ago

"And, I have no bias of any kind against the K-7 and Pentax."

I'm all game for critical discussion, but you dedicate a blog to hating Pentax and say you have no bias? Right!

1 reply · active 806 weeks ago

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manolo · 806 weeks ago

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Detail (D-SLR) Rating (out of 10)

Build quality 9.5
Ergonomics & handling 8.5
Features 9.5
Image quality 8.5
Performance (speed) 8.5
Value 8.5
Would make RiceHigh cry 9.5

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The Blog Reviewer · 806 weeks ago

Blog Review | October 2009 | RiceHigh's Pentax blog

Best avoided, but if you can't help it, read with caution. A tormented crusader and self-proclaimed master on his field, battling in the land of saviour wannabies against and invisible and once, befriended enemy

This all might sound like Quixote 2.0, but the true colours of this story are more in the vein of your average template for a love/hate story featuring fast cars and easy women.

Veredict "Read for your own amusement, popcorn included"

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BigMike · 805 weeks ago

I still prefer my K100D...

1 reply · active 805 weeks ago

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kadajawi · 805 weeks ago

Really, the JPEGs of the noise tests are amazingly sharp, certainly sharper than the Nikon and the Canon which really remove a lot of noise but also all the detail. The way the K-7 removes noise is actually quite nice, I am mostly bothered by chroma noise. But really, I can't be bothered about JPEGs anyway, and using RAW the K-7 can easily compete with the D300 and 50D, only the K20D is better. That's a shame of course, but still ok.

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