New Pentax K-5

[Johnboy2978]

Anyone heard much about the new K-5 from pentax? Certainly looks like a good upgrade from my current k10d. I think it's supposed to roll out at aroud $1600USD.

• High resolution 16.3 megapixel CMOS sensor w integrated AD conversion circuitry.
• High sensitivity 80-51200 ISO range with improved noise performance.
• Speedy 7 FPS captures fast action shots.
• Highly responsive and accurate 11 point SAFOX IX+ autofocus system with dedicated AF assist lamp and light wavelength sensor.
• Widescreen 1080p HD video at 25 FPS, with sound via built-in or external 3.5mm stereo microphone jack.
• Large 3 inch LCD with 921,000 dots of resolution.
• Fully weather sealed and coldproof design.
• Durable magnesium alloy covers surround a rugged stainless steel chassis.
• Highly accurate 77 segment metering system.
• Pentaprism viewfinder with 100% field of view and 0.92X magnification.
• PENTAX body-based Shake Reduction (SR) stabilization system.
• A maximum 1/8000 second shutter speed.
• HDMI port outputs high definition images and video (and sound).
• Native support for both PENTAX PEF and Adobe DNG 14 bit RAW files.
• Improved in-camera HDR image capture.
• A wide range of in-camera image processing and special effects filters.
• Customizable RAW/Fx button.
• Built-in electronic level with tilt scale display.
• SDXC memory card compatibility (via firmware update).

 

[shaunly]

I was looking at this too. Looks like a great camera. It's actually 1199 Euro which is about $1560 USD for the Kit. I'm guessing it'll be around $1299 for the body which is the same as the Nikon D7000 and Canon 60D. Looks like competition is getting stiff in this price range. I thought the D7000 was priced great for what you get, but this Pentax might even be better. Can't wait to see the reviews.

 

[Sachphotography]

I think the biggest question if how well does Pentax cope with High ISo... I think Nikon has done the best with creating a more film like grain in High Iso rather than Pixel grain. To me it seems to look more natural and film like. A friend of mine shoots a 1d MIV and it looks good too. Interested to see what pentax has done.

 

[Derrel]

I think the biggest question if how well does Pentax cope with High ISo... I think Nikon has done the best with creating a more film like grain in High Iso rather than Pixel grain. To me it seems to look more natural and film like. A friend of mine shoots a 1d MIV and it looks good too. Interested to see what pentax has done.

I dunno about that...the Pentax K-x was considered by some review sites to be the absolute crop-body class-leader at High-ISO image handling, beating out all Canon and Nikon and Sony cameras at High-ISO settings like 1600 and 3200; is it possible that Pentax has once again done its homework really,really well,and figured out a way to dfo suoperb noise reduction???

The sensor's native ISO range is unusual: 80 to 51,200...hmm....that seems odd to me. 7fps--nice! 11 point AF AND color-tracking....hmmm....that's something Nikon;s new D7000 has improved upon over even the older AF modules: more pixels that are color-aware, in order to do AF tracking basically by subject color ascertainment....and a 77-area metering system....hmm....might be nice!

Pentax has always made wonderful cameras, cameras that are easy and fun to shoot. Sounds like this will be a nice camera. Pentax also just introduced a new low-cost 35mm f/2.3 (yeah, I think it's f/2.3, not f/2 or f2.8) economy-priced prime lens for APS-C sensor Pentax bodies...that'll be nice.

 

[shaunly]

I think the biggest question if how well does Pentax cope with High ISo... I think Nikon has done the best with creating a more film like grain in High Iso rather than Pixel grain. To me it seems to look more natural and film like. A friend of mine shoots a 1d MIV and it looks good too. Interested to see what pentax has done.

I dunno about that...the Pentax K-x was considered by some review sites to be the absolute crop-body class-leader at High-ISO image handling, beating out all Canon and Nikon and Sony cameras at High-ISO settings like 1600 and 3200; is it possible that Pentax has once again done its homework really,really well,and figured out a way to dfo suoperb noise reduction???

The sensor's native ISO range is unusual: 80 to 51,200...hmm....that seems odd to me. 7fps--nice! 11 point AF AND color-tracking....hmmm....that's something Nikon;s new D7000 has improved upon over even the older AF modules: more pixels that are color-aware, in order to do AF tracking basically by subject color ascertainment....and a 77-area metering system....hmm....might be nice!

Pentax has always made wonderful cameras, cameras that are easy and fun to shoot. Sounds like this will be a nice camera. Pentax also just introduced a new low-cost 35mm f/2.3 (yeah, I think it's f/2.3, not f/2 or f2.8) economy-priced prime lens for APS-C sensor Pentax bodies...that'll be nice.

80-51200 ISO isn't native, it's max. They didn't list the native ISO on the preview. Regardless of what the max ISO is, if they can make 6400 ISO real usuable (like a D700) then that's a huge leap for cropped sensor technology.