Hands-on with Pentax K-5 :)

[fengwei]

Okay, I guess quite a few guys here already got the camera. Some already shared their feeling and praise about this camera. Here as usual, I'd share some of my first thoughts.

Since the camera is almost the same as K7 on the outside, I won't say too much about whatever K7 already has. Here I'm only listing the obvious or major differences between K5 and K7.

1. Well, I thought I'd be able to use the camera straight away w/o any problem, but actually I did have some problem w/ some settings. K5 has quite a bit more settings (menu items) than K7. I especially like the setting that the camera can remember the last menu page now (can be enabled/disabled). When you press the menu button again, the last viewed menu page will show up instead of the very first page. What a cool addition!
2. AF is definitely faster and snappier, I only used DA35 lens, the AF never even hunted once even under very low light condition.
3. Haven't got chance to test low ISO yet, but high ISO is definitely A LOT better than K-7, easily as good if not better than K-r, but K5 photos have 4million more pixels.
4. There are 5 User settings to keep rather than only one like on K7, not really a big deal, but some might find it useful
5. RAW (FX)button now can be defined as some other quick accesses too.
6. Long exposure NR (noise reduction) can be turned OFF (thank you Pentax!)
7. 7fps continuous shoot is really fast!
8. AF (contrast AF) under liveview is much faster too!
9. Cross Process would be very fun, I'm sure I'd use this one a lot
10. 14bit RAW vs 12bit on K7.

There are sure quite a bit more differences/improvement which I forgot to list here. But I guess all these would make upgrading to K5 a no brainer

I also got the DA35/2.4 lens too. It's a beautiful lens, seems to be very well made, other than its light weight. Optically it's very very good. I'd do more test against FA35 and A35/2 over the weekend.

This time I didn't take open box photos, just two quick snaps before midnight:

 

[fengwei]

Okay, I don't wanna say too much about how much better or faster this new camera is than the K7, I'd just post some photos and let you be the judge. Have yet taken any low iso photos, but we are gonna have plenty of time during the outing. Here I'd just post some photos taken either indoor under room light, or street photos after dark, and of course quite a bit photos taken in the club. All photos taken in RAW (PEF), converted by Pentax Photo Utility v4.3 (comes w/ Kr and K5), resized or cropped, no noise remove or whatever.


This is the very first photos from my new camera and DA35 lens, wide open at ISO800:

100% crop, not too bad, isn't it?

Another indoor photo, also wide open at iso800:

After just these two photos, I already fell in love w/ the new lens. Trust me, you won't be disappointed

 

[fengwei]

Here are two street photos. First one, our model for K-r hands-on (DA35 wide open @ ISO3200):

And our new model for K5 hand-on (DA35 wide open @1250):

After these two shots, we headed to the club. Oh man, didn't expect it's sooo dark inside:

I'd definitely put my camera away if I were carrying a K7. But since I just got the new K5, let's try it out anyway.

 

[fengwei]

Under such dark light, DA35 really wasn't fast enough. But it's still usable (DA35 wide open at ISO4000):

Since it's too dark inside, I changed the lens to an A50/1.2 - the fastest lens Pentax ever made.

A same shot as above, but w/ A50/1.2 @ F1.8, ISO4000:

Had some desert before the drinks (A50/1.2 @ISO3200):

 

[fengwei]

Okay, I guess most guys wanna know how the camera perform at high ISO, let's do some pixel peeping. Here is the scene:

All photos taken w/ A50/1.2 wide open in Av mode, no EV compensation. You can see the results are a bit under exposed. They'd look a lot better if the expose was 1 stop brighter. Anyway, I'd post the 100% crops as they are. Sorry I only managed to start from ISO3200.

 

[fengwei]

ISO3200:

ISO6400:

ISO12800:

ISO25600:

ISO51200:

 

[fengwei]

And here is out model at different ISO.

ISO3200:

ISO6400:

ISO12800:

ISO25600:

ISO51200:

 

[fengwei]

100% crops of the above photos:

And here is out model at different ISO.

ISO3200:

ISO6400:

ISO12800:

ISO25600:

ISO51200:

 

[fengwei]

Other than some out of focus, you can see the noise patterns. At ISO 3200, it's really very usable. ISO6400 is pretty nice too. But at ISO12800, some noise remove needs to be done. ISO25600 and 52100 are not really usable imo, probably are only for quick snaps only.

A couple of days ago, when I played Kr, I felt it's the only Pentax camera I'd use ISO3200 w/o any problem. Well, now I certainly can add K5 in that category. It's so clean:

100% crop:

I'm so happy that we can take clean iso3200 shots like this w/o any problem:

 

[fengwei]

Okay, enough said. Here are some random shots either taken by friends or by myself:

And we really had some fun watching Ben sleeping there

 

[fengwei]

Conclusion:

Go and get yourself a K-5! You won't be disappointed

 

[evolutioner]

chop place..
wat a mad ISO performance..
shots done @ auto NR?

 

[fengwei]

chop place..
wat a mad ISO performance..
shots done @ auto NR?

NR set to LOW, but I shot RAW, so no difference anyway

 

[cleonbus]

Conclusion:

Go and get yourself a K-5! You won't be disappointed

That's a short and sweet conclusion:bsmilie:

 

[creampuff]

Wow, fengwei, after taking so much Guinness and shots of tequila you still got the ability to post this review. Everybody, please give him a pat on the back when you next see him. :thumbsup:

 

[werkgg]

really amazing test! maybe it's the time for me to upgrade... enjoy ur outing guys!!!

 

[darrrrrrrrrr]

nice, this camera is definitely on the cards for me but the price right now isn't too great, at least the one in US. Not sure abt the secret price u guys have on the pre-order. jealous!

 

[creampuff]

nice, this camera is definitely on the cards for me but the price right now isn't too great, at least the one in US. Not sure abt the secret price u guys have on the pre-order. jealous!

It is a lot better than the current US price...

 

[armadillo]

Fengwei, thanks for the review :thumbsup:
I guess everyone waiting for this :lovegrin:

 

[matchkk]

Thanks! It looks like a must-buy...