Camera Labs

[kpr]

rei_vilo...

Wow this is really in depth and great...thank you so much for your efforts.

As you may know my passion is mostly wildlife and the higher ISO and zoom/cropping is very useful to me.
I wonder if I could make a request?

Some shots within an hour or closer to sunset or sunrise with a bit of distance (length of a football pitch is great) with the ISO up some at some point?
Subject really doesn't matter but a wee bit of movement in it would be good.
Around that time (The Golden Hour for wildlife) most critters are grazing so not really moving a whole lot.
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Pentax 18-55mm,Pentax 50-200mm,Sigma 70-300mm, Sigma 50-500mm

[rei_vilo]

Bonjour kpr,

Thanks for the accolade

I'll do my best to perform the test you've described. I've heard about the Blue hour for monuments, it appears to be the same as the Golden hour for wildlife.

Weather has been so horrendous for the last week in Paris, it was hardly possible to go and play with my new toy - err, take pictures .

Stay tuned
_________________
--- rei_vilo
Pentax K-7 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ

[rei_vilo]

9- Taking pictures at sunset

...or, actually, trying my very best to do so

Official twilight time was at 17h51. All pictures were taken half an hour before with a smc DA* 60-250mm F4 [IF] SDM lens and are un-post-processed. I went up to iso1600.

General landscape

This is La Défense area, nicknamed the French Manhattan. While Manhattan has a very clear linear structure, La Défense is rather chaotic with curved avenues, multi-levels streets and endless tunnels.

Distance: ~ 2 km or 1 1/4 mi

17:29:18 f/4.0 1/400s iso1600 60.0 mm


17:29:11 f/4.0 1/200s iso1600 98.0 mm


17:29:14 f/5.6 1/60s iso1600 250.0 mm



Quiet ducks

Distance: ~ 20 m or 66 ft

17:23:00 f/5.6 1/80s iso1600 250.0 mm


17:33:09 f/5.6 1/40s iso800 250.0 mm



Flying seagulls

Unfortunately, all birds are not as quiet as the ducks. The seagulls were flying and fishing in the Seine river.

Distance: ~ 100 m or 330 ft

I know there're some ratios about distance, focal length and speed to take care about, otherwise result is blurred.

17:24:04 f/5.6 1/60s iso1600 250.0 mm


17:27:49 f/5.6 1/15s iso1600 250.0 mm


The birds are moving too fast for the camera speed

17:27:51 f/5.6 1/13s iso1600 250.0 mm


17:28:23 f/5.6 1/13s iso1600 250.0 mm


The positive aspect is the K-7 sensor catches every bit of light. Reality was much darker but the colors are consistent.


@kpr
I hope those pictures could help you. Otherwise, give me some advice and tell me whether I should go sooner before twilight, use higher ISO, select faster speed or something else

I've only 360 shots with the K-7 so I need more time to climb the learning curve
_________________
--- rei_vilo
Pentax K-7 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ

[rei_vilo]

3rd break - Three details

The K-7 sports a light to assist auto-focus in poor conditions. Unlike other cameras, the light is greenish and rather powerful. In the K10D, the flash was used, when it was popped-up.



The LCD on the top could be lighted . I switched this feature off, but the green mode still does illuminate the LCD in glorious green. Remember the green color stands for automatic.



The bar on the top-right corner shows the inclination compared with the horizon, another new feature of the K-7.
_________________
--- rei_vilo
Pentax K-7 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ

[kpr]

Excellant.
Thank you so much rei_vilo.
There certainly appears to be great improvement on Pentax's part with noise level.
At least compared to pics I get anyway which in fact could just be...me

"The bar on the top-right corner shows the inclination compared with the horizon, another new feature of the K-7."

Now theres a great feature,wouldn't that be great seen INSIDE the camera also?


Dare I say this camera is more and more appealing each time I check here?
_________________
Pentax 18-55mm,Pentax 50-200mm,Sigma 70-300mm, Sigma 50-500mm

[rei_vilo]

Bonjour kpr,

Thanks for your message You're welcome

10- Electronic level

[rei_vilo]

11- Horizon correction

One great novelty brought by the K-7 is the horizon correction. I was dubious at first , and then went through series of tests, outdoor and indoor. Indoor, the K-7 was on a 1° tilted surface, looking at a wooden duck on strictly horizontal surface. Can the K-7 correct the tilt

Horizon correction is a level 4 parameters: press Menu > Record mode 3 and select Horizon correction.



Picture WITHOUT horizon correction


Same picture WITH horizon correction


and the usual crops for better examination

Left without and right with horizon crrection


Even closer

Left without and right with horizon crrection


The yellow lines come from iPhoto rotate tool. Results seem conclusive

Some useful tips worth remembering:

• Horizon correction is based on the shake reduction system, so a 2 second wait is needed so fully work.
  
• Horizon correction has a limited range of corrected tilt.
  
• Shake reduction, and thus horizon correction, should be turned off when the K-7 is on a tripod.

_________________
--- rei_vilo
Pentax K-7 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ

[rei_vilo]

12- First Pros and Cons and Wrap-Up

I've been using the K-7 for two weeks now and I think it's time to do a first wrap-up.

Pros

• High built quality
  
• Compact, lightweight, dust- and water-sealed, silent camera
  
• Great image quality
  
• 100% viewfinder
  
• Excellent ergonomics, both hardware and software
  
• Many manual parameters to control almost everything
  
• Improved and faster AF, light metering, shake reduction, dust protectionl, live-view
  
• Detailed user manual

Cons

• Real learning curve due to so many manual parameters and options
  
• Camera grip could result too short for big hands, hence the need for the optional battery grip
  
• In some case, inconsistent light metering

Wrap-up

• Everytime Pentax issues a new dSLR, it's a revolution First with the K10D, then the K20D and now the K-7, Pentax continues delivering dSLRs with incredible value.
  
• As always with Pentax, ergonomics and ease of use are great.
  
• But this comes at a price, in term of learning curve. A real work is needed before going and shooting on the fields: Which options I need? Which ones I'm going to use?
  
• As always and most important, image quality is there and I had a lot of fun.

I really hope Gordon and his team are going to test this new dSLR, ( Pentax PR, are you listening ), so CameraLabs readers will get more than a user review, a true review of this new exciting camera
_________________
--- rei_vilo
Pentax K-7 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ

[Mystic]

Thanks Rei_vilo for so much efforts, You did a great job.

I have a question regarding.. horizon level and shake reduction..

If I put K7 on a tripod and shoot via 2 sec. timer.. should I need to switch of those two parameters, or they are deactivated automatically?
thanks.
_________________
sincerely,
Mystic-grapher
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14258831@N00/
Pentax K20D;
AF-540GZ flash;
Pentax DA 12-24mm f/4 AL ED [if]
Pentax DA* 50-135mm ED [if] SDM 1/2.8
Pentax FA 28-105mm f/3.2-4.5 AL [if]
Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro;

[rei_vilo]

Bonjour Mystic,

No, shake reduction is not switched off when the camera is on a tripod: you need to switch it off manually.

But you're lucky with remote control

[Mystic]

So I was right!
you can shoot via. Self timer eq. 2 sec. timer, and shake reduction will be deactivated aautomatically.. even K-m has this feature, and it's a smart feature which doesn't require pentax to spend much resources, to implement.
_________________
sincerely,
Mystic-grapher
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14258831@N00/
Pentax K20D;
AF-540GZ flash;
Pentax DA 12-24mm f/4 AL ED [if]
Pentax DA* 50-135mm ED [if] SDM 1/2.8
Pentax FA 28-105mm f/3.2-4.5 AL [if]
Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro;

[rei_vilo]

Bonsoir Mystic,

For that very reason, you need to read and read again the 360-page long user manual

So many options available , so far so bad for the learning curve
_________________
--- rei_vilo
Pentax K-7 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ

[Mystic]

Rei_vilo,

we live to learn!
it would be so uninteresting, that in one day you'd know the camera inside out..

i'm looking forward to get it! maybe for the Christmas

have a good day!
_________________
sincerely,
Mystic-grapher
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14258831@N00/
Pentax K20D;
AF-540GZ flash;
Pentax DA 12-24mm f/4 AL ED [if]
Pentax DA* 50-135mm ED [if] SDM 1/2.8
Pentax FA 28-105mm f/3.2-4.5 AL [if]
Sigma 70-300mm APO DG Macro;

[rei_vilo]

Bonsoir Mystic,

[rei_vilo]

Bonjour,

I created a website with the Pentax K-7 User Review, among other hobbies.

Picture management is easier dur to the close integration between Sites and Picasa.

Enjoy
_________________
--- rei_vilo
Pentax K-7 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ