Seeking Advice re: Next Camera Choice

[Gavjenks]

The simple truth is this: Canon has NOT updated its APS-C sensors in five years.

...which is completely irrelevant to somebody asking about a 5 year old Canon camera versus a new Pentax camera. That's all I'm saying. The 7D is exactly as up to date with its sensor as somebody could possibly expect it to be.

The OP asked about two camera choices: the Canon 7D, or the Pentax K5-II. As the dPreview review stated in JUNE, of 2013, as in THIS YEAR, the K5-II is "one of the best APS-C dslr's in terms of high ISO performance." It also has a newly-upodated focusing system, 7 frames per second firing rate, built in in-body stabilization system, and so on. It's also available at a very good price.

Did you read the rest of my post? I said that the K5-II has a better sensor (although there's no way to tell whether this is due to newer technology, or the fact that it is a larger format sensor with lower resolution, thus much larger pixels that collect more light), that it is very cheap, and that it has more bells and whistles and ergonomics. And thus is probably a better purchasing choice for somebody who is happy with Pentax brand. Who are you arguing with?

as DxO Mark shows, the Pentax sensor trests out better, with a scroe of 82, veruss the Canon with its five-year-old sensor design lagging with a score of 66,

This has nothing to do with this thread, since the k5-II DOES clearly have a better senso, no matter how you slice it. But still, I'm literally scratching my head as to why you persist with only paying attention to DxO mark overall scores, considering how terribly calculated they are (e.g. throwing away 90% of their own data), and considering that the much superior data also from DxO mark (the full curves) is easily available with just one extra click on the same comparison webpage. Come on, dude.

To anybody reading this: when you use DxO mark, you'll get information much more relevant to real life shooting, and more customizable to how YOU shoot, if you ignore the overall scores, and click on the "measurements" tab, then look at the individual curves:

SNR 18%: This is a measure of noise levels at different ISOs
Dynamic range: dynamic range at different ISOs
etc. for other variables.

 

[Derrel]

Dude...I am not paying attention merely to the overall scores...I posted the comparison earlier, showing the Dynamic Range score, the color depth score, and the Low-Light High ISO score AND the overall score. I have specifically mentioned the areas where the Canon's sensor is weak.

Try a little reading comprehension, mmkay? Your Canon fanboyism is showing.

View attachment 53688

Remember this, from earlier in the thread? It shows the areas where the OP's possible choice surpasses the five-year-old Canon offering in his price range...

 

[Gavjenks]

No, that's not what I'm talking about.

All of the things in that screenshot ARE overall scores, for each category. What I'm talking about is clicking on the measurements tab (you can see it at the top of your screenshot), and then looking at the curves that go into each of those numbers.

The overall overall score is especially useless. But even the individual overall scores (like the "sports score") are fairly useless as well, because they do stupid stupid things statistically to calculate them, not just basic averages or whatever you might expect a normal person to want. The curves are thus far more useful.

The curves also are more relevant to an individual photographer. If I always shoot wide open ISOs (daylight landscape photographer for instance), then I will care only about that part of the curve. If I'm a news photographer of dark concert venues and never use anything below ISO 800, then only the last half of the curve applies to me.



In this particular case, noise is a little boring, as one camera is consistently better than the other by about the same amount. But this is not always the case. For example, in the much more controversial case of the D600 vs. 6D, the curve is very informative and completely explains why people disagree so much:


The Dxo single score on the main comparison page ONLY takes into account those two circled points. The other 90% of the data to the right is completely ignored, and clearly shows how the 6D begins to outperform at high ISOs, which is what everybody reports in actual usage. Then people get all confused and argue about it, but the data explains everything, if only you look at the actual data instead of the poorly calculated overall score.