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Monday, November 01, 2010

IQ and AF-C of the K-5 - I am Not Impressed! :-(

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-dslr-discussion/119486-seagulla-girls-k5-auto-focus-continuous.html

View this thread and all the pictures attached. Pictures are gloomy and they are lack of sharpness and contrast, especially the seagull shots. It seems that the underexposure evil is in action. And, the blue colour of the sky is so fake. What I would say I'm not totally impressed.

As for the AF-C accuracy and hit rate, there are quite some OOF (Out Of Focus) pictures out of the series. Although the user has mentioned that it *might* be the user error on his part. I just wonder what "user error* could be made when everything is set to Auto?

As for the unfavourable colour response of the K-5, here are also some portrait samples. Again, I'm not impressed:-

http://www.dchome.net/viewthread.php?tid=947359&extra=page%3D1

Images are yet again (downsized) direct JPEGs out of the camera, lens used is the DA*55/1.4. See the English translation here.

The terrible colour response and IQ is the only thing that has impressed me deeply for these samples, frankly..

Comments (27)

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No offence meant, but you really should try to be a little bit more objective, instead of just letting your disappointment in Pentax get the best of you.

1. These are jpgs - they tell nothing about the colour response of the sensor/camera, but only about the very settings used.

2. There is a story being told in the "portrait" thread, I don't know how much of the green hue is intentional because of that. Most likely though it is nothing but white balance issue - almost certainly auto-wb-used (especially since the images all use way too high ISOs, indicating that the photographer is clueless). Maybe wb-option used is in the exif, but FastStone only shows the basics.

3. The colour of the sky is perfectly natural. Please adjust your monitor.

4. The gull shots a gloomy and dull due to being underexposed - most cameras underexpose shots like this.

5. You might want to read the photographers comment on the gull-shots - taken with a lens that is soft at this focal length. The focus itself seems to be either very good or totally off. Mind you, this is not an easy target as the distance of the subject changes. Oh, and since the images were cropped, but not necessarily to 100%, downsizing does induce softness with most algorithms in general use. I, not being a fanboy, do admit, that the AF-system is still not up to par for action - simply lacking AF-points for moving subjects makes it difficult to have solid tracking if the subject doesn't stay in the center constantly. Still having CaNikon AF is not a high priority as sports is not a Pentax niche. The running girls stay in focus nicely, though not the most challenging target.

6. While I do appreciate your ability to dig rumours and items from non-english pages, it sometimes makes me a bit tired to listen the same broken record again and again. (Of course no one forces me to visit your blog, but I like seeking news bits and rumours.) You're disappointed in Pentaxx developements - well, so am I, but that doesn't clound my objectivity.
2 replies · active less than 1 minute ago
Well, the K-5 is so good, it is demanding as well. I don't want to know how many rich people buy the top model rangefinder by Leica just to find out they are unable to focus and make a lot of bad shots.

So the fact that you have found underexposed pictures shot with too high ISO and wrong white balance is a non-event.

You can also see it this way: we all were once beginners. And we all had our share of unsharp, underexposed etc. shots. The difference is, some people post pictures on the web with are sub-par quality, while others have decades of experience yet never ever posted a single picture on the web.

While I don't like the sky color on those shots as well, it is especially the colors that I love about my K-7. I really hope that Pentax has not changed this when developing the K-5 on the K-7 platform...

C
1 reply · active 749 weeks ago
The OP mentioned he was not a 'schooled action shooter', and the light sky would be metered to a dull gray.

How about showing us how these photos should like like? With your Canon perhaps? So that we'll have a point of comparison. Of course you cannot take exact shots, but in the same theme.
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
I think both situations are challenging and results re not so bad. The gulls, because of the bad lighting condition (pictures seem to be taken late afternoon of a cloudy day). But a better lens + sun + IL correction could make better pictures.
5 replies · active 749 weeks ago
Some other samples :) http://www.flickr.com/photos/onigiri_chang/513091... http://www.flickr.com/photos/onigiri_chang/512833... http://www.flickr.com/photos/houtoku/5128673485/m...

I think also that the firmware is only in its early stage... Especially with jpeg compression (somehow crappy with certain pictures), and movie compression.
2 replies · active 749 weeks ago
Hi Rice,
I have checked many pictures at the the pentax uploader pages: http://pentax.photoble.net/?page=23&camera=PE...
and i must admit that lots of them look kind of dull and lack the snappy colors and contrasts i am used of Pentax gear. The nightshots are pretty good though! I will check the other links in this thread now!
This is kind of terrible! Where are the vivid Pentax blues, greens and contrasts? http://www.flickr.com/photos/peter_fang/512884229...
2 replies · active 749 weeks ago
You talk, man shot and post
what You think to who we gona belive?
Pigs find mud everywhere
New absurd post from Rice
The percentage from CaNikon is not impressive too. http://www.prophotohome.com/news/2010/03/01/autof...
I have checked a lot of K-5 pics today on Flickr (full sized) and i must withdraw my previous conclusions!
The images have a new kind of detail/color/contrast (Exmor sensor)and with the better lenses this kamera seems to be ok!!
I can't wait to get one myself. In Holland it is not for sale yet!
Judge for yourself f.i. in this set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/40850611@N07/sets/72...
1 reply · active less than 1 minute ago
I see special JPEG settings and nothing else.

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