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Thursday, July 19, 2012

A Not-so-common K-30/K-5/K-01 Comparison of Mine

I am not comparing every parameter of the official published specs, but am doing a concise summary and comparison on what are really different, official or not, and for those more important things that are obvious or not! :-D


K-30 K-5 K-01
Body Material
Plastic
Metal Alloy Cover
Aluminium Cover
ColoursThree (Nine in Japan, two different finishing, glossy or matte)
Two (Black and Silver)
Three different combinations
Weather Sealed
Yes
Yes
No
Dust Removal
SR Shake (Ineffective)
Ultrasonic (Effective)
SR Shake
Battery Power
D-LI109P or four AAs (with Adaptor)
D-LI90
D-LI90P
Expanded ISO Range
100-25600
80-51200
100-25600
RAW Format
DNG
PEF or DNG
DNG
ADC (RAW) number of bits
12
14
12
Top Tv
1/6000s
1/8000s
1/4000s
Video Format Differences
1080p/30 frames or 720p/60 frames MPEG4 (motion compressed) in MOV file format (container)
1080p/25 frames or 720p/30 frames Motion JPEG (Not motion compressed) in AVI container
1080p/30 frames or 720p/60 frames MPEG4 (motion compressed) in MOV container
Re-AF during Video Recording
Yes
No
Yes
External Stereo Mic JackNo
Yes
Yes
Manual Video Settings
Yes
No
Yes
Remote Cable Switch JackYes
Yes
No
Focus Peaking
Yes, No during Video Recording
No
Yes, No during Video Recording
Interchangeable Focusing Screen
No
Yes, 3 types
Not Applicable
Support O-GPS1?
Yes
Yes
No
Support Vertical Grip?
No
Yes
No
AF Method/Option:
11-point phase-matching AF (9 crossed with yellow light sensor, 3D continuous tracking, zone selectable) plus LiveView CDAF
11-point phase-matching AF (9 crossed with yellow light sensor) plus LiveView CDAF81-point contrast-detection AF
CDAF Behaviour
Live image not enlarged
Focusing area enlarged during focusing
Live image not enlarged
Burst Rate:
6 fps up to 30 JPG and 8 RAW frames
7 fps up to 30 JPG and 20 RAW (PEF) frames6 fps up to 6 JPG frames
Top Monchrome LCD:
No
Yes (with limited data, though)
No
RTF Guide Number (at ISO100, 28mm film equivalent):
12
13
12
Tightly Closed RTFNo
Yes
No
Silent Shutter
No
Yes
Yes
Silent Aperture Coupler
No
Yes
No
Mirror VibrationVigorousGentleNone!
Live View Exposure Delay
Long
Acceptable
Shorter
Overall System Time Lag
Long
Moderate
Even Longer
Mass with Battery
650g
750g
560g
AvailabilityNewly marketed but limited supplies, not easy to find
Almost discontinued, not easy to find
Recent major price cut, but yet not easy to find! :-o

Comments (13)

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"not easy to find" Name of the post loool
1 reply · active 660 weeks ago
One will not treasure things that are too easy to find! ;-D
very cool...but now I am thinking K-5 is the way to go, not K-30.
According to Pentax Forum's pretty extensive review of the AF, 3D focus tracking / prediction is still MIA. Otherwise less error prone than the K5 in good light conditions and snappier response overall. For me, that is definitely worth paying for - but we will see how much the K3 comes out at.

Also, the K01 is suppose to be aluminum wrapped in rubber ?
1 reply · active 660 weeks ago
Yes, table updated.
Not easy to find ??? I can buy K-5 or K-30 without problems. Both are in stock in many stores in my country. BTW, K-5 is able to shoot up to 23-25 frames in DNG mode.
1 reply · active 657 weeks ago
My local camera store didn't have a K-5 in stock, and it would take them four weeks to get one. I ordered from B&H that same day and had it in my hand two days later.
K-5, K-30 and K-01 are EASY to buy. Even K-r are in shops.
1 reply · active 660 weeks ago
>Even K-r are in shops.

Thats called dead stock! The worst marketing ending!~
The solution for my 3 limited Pentax is the NEX 5N (en too my K5), bettter than the K01,
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/690/photorfu...
http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2012/01/27/using-pe...
K-30 looks ok but there are a few odd things. HDMI I don't use it much but this has been around on cheaper cameras for a while now.
No top LCD too bit of a shame. I bet it has NR on raw too. Overall not bad but I can't see this slapping rivals about.

Good to see a decent viewfinder though credit there.
Chart is wrong about interchangeable focusing screens.

From the Pentax K-30 product page:

Pentaprism Viewfinder
Low profile glass pentaprism viewfinder, with interchangeable focusing screens, achieves a 100% optical field of view for framing accuracy in a highly compact form factor.

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