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I am hoping to get my K7 today (with Sigma 17-70mm)! I'll let you guys know how it goes Does anyone else have one yet? First thoughts? Anything that was tricky to figure out? Anything you wished you have gotten with it?

I'm very excited!

There is a lot of similar posts like this at Pentaxoforums.com. Think you should go read the DSLR discussion part for more information.

From what I have heard, the AF has been ramped up to be much quicker and more accurate in low light, build feels extremely solid (like the D300 from some users), colors are not very accurate, similar ISO performance to the K20D (better or worse has not been confirmed but to me ISO 3200 looks much better than K20D), video mode is noisy (first Pentax implementation), lack of exposure bracketing button (it is a 4 button press in menu to get there), and lack of SR switch.

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Samsung GX-10, , SA 18-55mm
Canon 5D Mark II, 40D, EF 17-40mm f/4 L, EF 24-105mm L IS, EF 50mm f/1.4

www.flickr.com/glxlr

for ISO performance, it is not better than k20d

in fact, some people thing that it is a bit worse throughout the iso level.

test:
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/K7/K7A7.HTM

I think it is a well rounded camera. Love the compact size but tough.It is now more ideal with pentax pancakes lens selection.

There are some disappointments tho, such as the AF is not as good and accurate as its competitor and the iso performance.

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RadiantLite - Cameras and Lenses Comparison Reviews, buying guide, photo taking techniques and other tips
My Portfolio - Some photos from my work

ISO performance is probably in line with the D300 and 50D. AF too is probably in line (not AF points though). Let's wait for the full reviews to come out though.

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Samsung GX-10, , SA 18-55mm
Canon 5D Mark II, 40D, EF 17-40mm f/4 L, EF 24-105mm L IS, EF 50mm f/1.4

www.flickr.com/glxlr

Admittedly I'm new to digital but the more I learn it seems not a million miles away from the principles of film.............in that you can use different electrical techniques as opposed to the chemical techniques employed in film processing to reduce grain or noise in electronic images.

To me it seems in all practicality that most sensors at a given size and a given megapixel size perform practically identically and it is the post "processing" of the image that determines the noise from one manufactures offering to another and that the user can, more often or not manipulate that post processing to obtain their preferred preference over the noise vs smearing presentation of the final image.

Me..........I'm not frightened by a bit of noise if it has the appearance of film type grain...........as grain was and still has the ability to alter the image in a creative fashion.

The more I look at these "tests" the more they loose their importance as they themselves become more noisy and somewhat self serving for the reviewer and perhaps the marketing department or the fanboy base that is being catered to.

It boils down to ability..........the ability to see and then capture an interesting image and then render that image so that is appealing to the target audience, whether it is an audience of one or millions, it's the content that will dictate the response and not the noise, or lack of it.

And to back up my argument I submit this, and ask..... could it have been improved if I had used a FF multi thousand dollar camera and a bag full of kit ?




Subjective admittedly but for me the answer is............... no.




PS.............recorded with a Motorola phone at a whopping .3 mp res with a plastic lens.

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Nick.
Lumix TZ 5
Canon F-1n, Pentax 6x7, RZ 6x7, Rolleiflex TLR 6x6.

it is easier to add grain on the final image, but it is hard to clean up image full of noise without losing details.

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RadiantLite - Cameras and Lenses Comparison Reviews, buying guide, photo taking techniques and other tips
My Portfolio - Some photos from my work

A boring image however is boring forever no matter how clean or noise free it is.

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Nick.
Lumix TZ 5
Canon F-1n, Pentax 6x7, RZ 6x7, Rolleiflex TLR 6x6.

No, it is not in the same league as the D300 or 50D. It's not even in the same league as the 40D which was released almost 2 years ago. You can easily test this out by going to the site that Enche linked and running the side by side image comparison. It smudges detail at high ISOs.

I find this rather annoying, as I was hoping to pick up the K-7 as a backup body. Full weather resistance at 1/4 the price of a 1Ds Mk III? Yes please! However, with the poor high ISO performance broke the deal for me. I use ISO 1600 and 3200 a lot more frequently than I use my camera in the pouring rain.

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PhilipGoh.com

Well the pre-production one wasn't at least...........and judging by the date of the article that's what they tested.

And I'll add if you use the Comparometer with the K-7 and the 50-D and pixel peep the image they call "house poster" side by side (compare the roof, semi circle window and gable area,) you might be surprised..........then for grins and giggles do the same comparison with the K-7 and the 5D MkII.

Plug the D-300 in as well while you are at it.............and then the D-700.

And how well that same comp with the Olympus E-620 looks !

I bet you shoot more images at lower ISO speeds that you do high, so I'd guess you'll be selling all your Canon gear now.......perhaps keeping one for high ISO shooting though

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Nick.
Lumix TZ 5
Canon F-1n, Pentax 6x7, RZ 6x7, Rolleiflex TLR 6x6.

Well it finally arrived! I just got my K7 yesterday and so I only had a few mintues to play with it last night... I bought it with the Sigma 17-70mm lens. I must say my first thoughts are that I am very impressed! Now I have very limited previous experience with DSLR's so I'm not comparing the performance to any other model. But here's the things I'm happy with already:

1. AF seems very fast in daylight, and still what I thought was reasonably fast in very low light (AF assist lamp works well...)
2. Easy to figure out menus
3. Comfortable to hold (feels fairly solid too)
4. Screen looks great
5. A lot of customisable settings

I'll tell you more as I learn some more about the camera. I must say though, I am even impressed with the Auto (Green) Modes (I normally like to be in control). There is very little excuse to take a bad photo with this camera!

Ryan.

You're setting your bar high Ryan.
Congrats on the new cam and I'll be watching for some pics soon hopefully.

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Pentax K-5
Pentax 18-55mm,Pentax 50-200mm,Sigma 17-70mm,Sigma 70-300mm, Sigma 50-500mm

That's quite impressive, though it's more than likely down to the amount of sharpening that Pentax does in-camera compared to others. This has been noted before by others. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that if you want sharp output by default you can bump up the sharpness in-camera and obtain sharper results.

Having said all that, the K-7 is still very tempting

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PhilipGoh.com

Truth be told that Image Resource site's testing looks way flawed looking at some of the results.

Plus as I said earlier the tests are based on the pre-production model so at this point to compare it to anything is worthless.

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Nick.
Lumix TZ 5
Canon F-1n, Pentax 6x7, RZ 6x7, Rolleiflex TLR 6x6.

Pre-production models should not be different from production models, unless your QA process is worth squat. You'll have spent hundreds of man hours testing on a pre-production model, so if your final product is substantially different you've basically negated all previous testing.

I know a lot of forums are complaining that some reviews have been based off a pre-production K-7 and that Pentax have made some changes since. The fact is, whatever changes they've made will be small and thus the majority (99%?) of what early reviews mentioned would be accurate.

Anyway, I'm still looking longingly at the K-7 regardless of whether a pre-production model was reviewed

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PhilipGoh.com

there is a tester from chinese website and his impression is summed by ricehigh

http://ricehigh.blogspot.com/2009/07/us ... -full.html

it includes the sample iso 400 and above.

I am not sure is the camera is in preproduction or not, and how differ is the preproduction and production camera.

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RadiantLite - Cameras and Lenses Comparison Reviews, buying guide, photo taking techniques and other tips
My Portfolio - Some photos from my work