Time for conclusions after one month of K-5 (and comparison to D3s)

[wtlwdwgn]

Thank you Dominique for the comprehensive review. I too will put LBA on hold and get the K5 sometime in 2011. I'll also have to get the grip for my long fingers. Now not to get too impatient with the CBA!   

[blackcloudbrew]

Well, I'm going to piggy-back on this tread a bit. My K-5 arrived today! I bought it used from a guy who has had to sell his stuff due to economics. It's a new replacement camera from his original stained version last year with only 800+ clicks. I'm itching to get out in the field with it and will this weekend for sure. All I can say so far is that it's too quiet! My k10/K20 sound like a camera, this thing is just too quiet. (LOL)

Anyway, I'm planning on giving it a work out after I read the seemingly 5,000 page manual that came with it. I think I'm done with LBA & CBA for the remainder of the year!

[calsan]

Hey, b.c.b.
well done on your latest 'capture'.

Yes, the poor old K-7 was only state-of-the-art for 3 months when it got unjustly overshadowed by the k-x.  Having said that, I still love mine and I'd be several thousand shots poorer had I not got it.  For me, the handling of the body and the improvements over the k10 are enough for me for the next few years [pending unexpected lottery results in my favor].

Have fun with your new camera.

[blackcloudbrew]

Thanks Cal, I intend to give this new kid a workout. I was really excited about the K-7 in 2009 and would have upgraded then but I came to see that it wasn't as big a leap from my K-20 as I might have wanted. The K-5 is clearly a different story and I can see those differences already. This means though that it's time for me to do a spring cleaning on my stuff. My old friend the K-10 will be going away as will a number of lenses both good and not quite so good. Like Jimbo, I'm keeping my K-20 as it's in tip top shape and will continue to be a workhorse for some time to come. In any event, I'd have been a proud owner of a K-7 if I had one. Nothing to sniff at there.

[blackcloudbrew]

Well, I thought it's time for a bit of an update on my K-5 explorations. I've had it for 2 weeks now and have been shooting with it every day. Without a doubt, this is the camera I've been waiting for (ok, so two years from now will I still be saying that? Who knows, but for now this is it.)

I've been impressed with the images quality of course but now that my fingers are getting familiar with the controls (from my K20d) I'm getting converted. Here are a few images from the past two weeks.

Flamingo Eye

_IGP1003 by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

Water Lilies (HDR)

_IGP1159_60_61_62_63 by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

Repetition

_IGP1455 by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

Drain and Texture

_IGP1452 by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

Mothers Day

_IGP1726 by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

A rose is a rose

_IGP1366 by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

Lamp, coker, and clouds

_IGP1742 by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

Music of the night (3200ISO)

_IGP1774 by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

and finally one just for fun shot from last night in the school's photo lab (those are enlargers in the image) a shot at 51,200ISO. This image proves that just because you can do something doesn't mean that you should. LOL

_IGP1842 by blackcloudbrew, on Flickr

The bottom line for me, after two weeks is that already, I've done things with this camera that I couldn't do with any of the others I own, and done things that I struggled to do with the others that I can now do with significantly more confidence and higher rate of keepers. I'm sold.

Earl da Peal

[Mike Pearson]

Very nice varied series Earl 

Anthony

[blackcloudbrew]

Well, I've now had my K-5 for more than a month and I have to say that really, although it may sound sloganish, I've come to see it as a 'game changer' for me. It's so much better in so many ways than my k10/k20 pair that I've come to rely on that I almost don't want to use either of them anymore. Although I'm selling the k10, the K20 may not be far behind. The k-5 just is faster, more capable, and better all around by a mile - and I'm only half way through the user's manual. I knew I'd like it but I never expected to see such a difference. It really is amazing.

My most recent example was this Friday where I was shooting my youngest daughter's graduation in a fairly dark arena. I shot hand held, mostly at 3200ISO, using my Tamron 70-200 f2.8 and got lots of good results. Here's one.

She is in the first row just left of center with arms upraised. Amazing results and just what I needed for this shoot. I could not have gotten these action shots with any other of my Pentax's, no way.

[tcom]

Time to bring back this thread, time for some more conclusions comparing K-5 and D3s.

As most have probably seen, I used the K-5 pretty extensively on the free stages of the Montreux Jazz Festival this year (the photos are under http://www.pbase.com/tcom/mjf2011). Well, this weekend, I had the chance to get accredited for the Rock Oz'Arènes, a rock festival taking place in the old town of the village of Avenches in Switzerland, the main stage being a roman amphitheater.

As I was an accredited photographer, to the difference of the free stages of the Montreux Jazz Festival, taking photos at paying concerts as accredited photographer, you are usually limited in taking your photos during the first three songs. That was also the case here in Avenches. As with difficult light condition, I prefer to shoot with manual exposure, it takes some time to get the exposure right, a matter of trial and error until the shutter speed, aperture and iso are correct. This takes some time and is ok when you can take photos during the whole concert, but when limited to three songs, I need a faster camera and used the D3s for Avenches.

In terms of speed, the D3s is just blindingly fast compared to the K-5. You can press the shutter and immediately review the photo taken, and it is a matter of pressing the delete button twice to get rid of it. In this regards, the D3s is really impressive and it is the main point for me to have taken the D3s instead of the K-5.

In terms of image quality, it is difficult to make a direct comparison between the D3s in Avenches and the K-5 in Montreux. The light conditions are not the same, and the music style (rock for Avenches) sets different requirements for the light. So, fast strobe light in Avenches and some bands used smoke machines pretty extensively. So, different light conditions make it difficult for a direct comparison. However, I do have the feeling that at least below 3200iso, the K-5 delivers a better color rendition than the D3s.

In regards of AF, well, with smoke machines and fast strobe light, the D3s showed sometimes some difficulties to find the right focus, as if the time the strobe light is on is too short for the camera's AF to decide whether to announce a focus lock or not.

For Avenches, due to the limited time allowed to take photos and the different light conditions, I was happy to have choosen the D3s instead of the K-5, because even if the K-5 renders better colors, the speed of the camera, as well handling as AF, becomes very important when time to shoot is limited to three songs.

For those interested, photos are under:

Montreux Jazz Festival 2011: http://www.pbase.com/tcom/mjf2011
Rock Oz'Arènes 2011: http://www.pbase.com/tcom/rockozarenes2011