Superior P&S Features?

[Ron Kruger]

I bought my first P&S in nearly 40 years of photography, an Optio W80, just to investigate and learn something about underwater photography without a big investment.

After playing with it for a couple of months, I'm wondering why it offers some things I wish I had in my K20D, most notably ISO 64.

It also seems to auto focus better, especially in poor light, and the flash seems to fill more evenly.

[spyglass]

Good points Ron,

I too wonder why K20D owners do not have the luxury of a lower ISO. As for the auto focus system......        (a river of tears, filling a sea of despair) 

We own three W series P&S cameras (W60, W80, W90). They just keep getting better. 


Spyglass

[Ron Kruger]

They don't offer lower ISO on the K7 either. I won't upgrade until they improve that, and although there probably is a good technical reason, it seem odd to me they can do it in the W80. I'd like to see ISO 25 in a DSLR.

[blackcloudbrew]

Ok, I'm not trying to hijack this thread but it just occurred to me that it might be fun to do a P&S only photo contest. I realize that that would limit the participants but I think it would still be a fun thing.

Next thought. Yes, I don't understand the technical aspects of ISO and sensors. My k100ds can only do 200 ISO. Ron, I know where you are going with the ISO 25, I well remember how Kodak's film (at 25 ASA) produced really good results (under the right conditions of course) amazingly fine grain etc. It would be fun to do that again. But I'm not sure it's equivalent. It's got to be a physical sensor deal.

Tim

[Ron Kruger]

Momma took my Kodachrome away,
and I've been trying to turn the relatively plastic look of digital into that K-richness. By shooting and processing a certain way, I've been able to get close to what I once got from K-64, especially with my DFA 100mm macro. Lenses make a difference, and Pentax glass in general comes closer than Canon and Nikon. Contrary to popular advice, I get that my shooting to the left, not the right.
But (here I go again), I've come very close to K25 richness with my DA 15mm Limited.
ISO, ASA--it may be slightly different, but the same principle. The lower I go, the richer the colors, with deep, smooth contrast and the less noise in the shadows. 100 is pretty good, but I'd love to go lower with a true 50.
I'm not holding my breath, because everyone wants to shoot at 150000000 ISO and keep their plastic images without noise. Im a minority.

[calsan]

My optio P70 is definitely sharper corner to corner (in good light) with more detail at it's widest setting than I can get with the K-7 and DA18-55 combination - also beats my Sigma 17-70.
I had seen this as the advantage of a smaller sensor - lens does not need to cover a large area and there is greater DOF and less distortion / chromatic aberration.  I think the focusing seems better as there is such a large DOF, that most things appear in focus in a normal scene.