K5_First impression

[Tonistein]

When the K5 first appear I was not interested. My K100, K10 & K20 still running very well. I invested in new lenses - 14mm, 16-50mm, 10-17mm, 50-200mm & a Tamron 90mm macro. After clocking 9K pics on my K20 in May I decided to get a new body. I bought the K5 with 18-135mm 2 weeks ago. Since I couldn't get the vertical grip locally, I got it online from Amazon 3 weeks ago.
The K5 handles very well - focus fast & accurate even in low light using the AF lamp assist. One day after buying I used it at a charity event. Took 300 shots in Manual mode - 1/125 F8 with Elinchrome studio lighting using wireless trigger. Only one pic blurred because the subject - a 5 year old girl started crying & moved about. The rest are perfectly sharp. I was using the 18-135 & 14mm lenses.
Been shooting at other events this 2 weeks. I loved this camera - the best Pentax camera since the first Spotmatic I used in the late 70s' Stop using my K10 & K20 - put them in the dry cabinet. Gave away my K100 to my friend.
The only complaint is that the battery wears off after shooting 300 shots instead of the 500 shots as advertised. Fortunately I have the vertical grip with the spare battery. Another complaint is that when using the vertical grip, must press the AF button & shutter button at the same time. I don't have to do that for K10 & K20. Have to get used to that. Other than that it's a damned good camera.

 

[fengwei]

When the K5 first appear I was not interested. My K100, K10 & K20 still running very well. I invested in new lenses - 14mm, 16-50mm, 10-17mm, 50-200mm & a Tamron 90mm macro. After clocking 9K pics on my K20 in May I decided to get a new body. I bought the K5 with 18-135mm 2 weeks ago. Since I couldn't get the vertical grip locally, I got it online from Amazon 3 weeks ago.
The K5 handles very well - focus fast & accurate even in low light using the AF lamp assist. One day after buying I used it at a charity event. Took 300 shots in Manual mode - 1/125 F8 with Elinchrome studio lighting using wireless trigger. Only one pic blurred because the subject - a 5 year old girl started crying & moved about. The rest are perfectly sharp. I was using the 18-135 & 14mm lenses.
Been shooting at other events this 2 weeks. I loved this camera - the best Pentax camera since the first Spotmatic I used in the late 70s' Stop using my K10 & K20 - put them in the dry cabinet. Gave away my K100 to my friend.
The only complaint is that the battery wears off after shooting 300 shots instead of the 500 shots as advertised. Fortunately I have the vertical grip with the spare battery. Another complaint is that when using the vertical grip, must press the AF button & shutter button at the same time. I don't have to do that for K10 & K20. Have to get used to that. Other than that it's a damned good camera.

Congrats on the new camera. K5 is indeed pone of the best Pentax cameras ever made

As to your last point, I think it's your grip problem. You don't really need to press both AF and shutter button together if the grip works properly.

 

[Piscator]

My first DSLR is a K5, perhaps all these good reviews are taking its toll when one's expectation grows, I find the AF-S and AF-C sucky with inconsistent results. I will be sending mine for 'fine-tuning'. Fingers crossed.

All things considered the K5 and 18-135 WR is one of the best deals in DSLR game. Let's hope for DC/WR 12-35 and 70-350 to round up my trios for outdoor usage. And I am holding my breath for a better AF-C come K3 if Sony Alpha77 didn't bowl me over.

 

[Tonistein]

As to your last point, I think it's your grip problem. You don't really need to press both AF and shutter button together if the grip works properly.

It's not the grip problem. The K7 with vertical grip is also like that. A bit inconvenient but can live with it. If I press the shutter alone, there's no shooting info in the viewfinder but it will still click.
Today while shooting an event, experienced something strange with the K5. After shooting for a while & rested for a few minutes I start to shoot again. The moment I clicked the viewfinder went black - the mirror flip up. I have to click a second time & it's normal again. I tried a second time & it happen again. Fortunately I have my K20 as spare. Later on I did a thorough check. Somehow in the Drive mode instead of the Single Frame shooting mode, it went to the Mirror Lock up shooting mode. I did not change the setting & I don't know how the setting was changed. That's no way I did it accidentally - it involved a few steps to change this setting. Any K5 user experienced this?
Concerning the high power usage of the K5, the K20 is better in this part - at least 500 shots before the battery wears down. I set both cameras at 10 megapixel & JPEG.

 

[Tonistein]

My first DSLR is a K5, perhaps all these good reviews are taking its toll when one's expectation grows, I find the AF-S and AF-C sucky with inconsistent results. I will be sending mine for 'fine-tuning'. Fingers crossed.

All things considered the K5 and 18-135 WR is one of the best deals in DSLR game. Let's hope for DC/WR 12-35 and 70-350 to round up my trios for outdoor usage. And I am holding my breath for a better AF-C come K3 if Sony Alpha77 didn't bowl me over.

What setting did you use for your Focusing Area? I always select Centre for all my cameras. I don't trust the 11 AF Points.

 

[Piscator]

I have tried 5, 11 and spot.The keyword here is inconsistency. You can cheat by setting aperture @ f 9 Or so but you can imagine the iso settingat such high f stop.

 

[CorneliusK]

I can get 600+ shots easily with the original battery, not sure why you are getting so few shots? Also I am using a knockoff grip but I only need to press the shutter button to focus and shoot?

The center point is slightly more accurate than the rest but I have generally found the K-5 focus in AF-S to be quite accurate. AF-C, not so great but thats often due to most Pentax lenses having somewhat sluggish focusing speed. I have gotten some great action shots with my DA*50-135 paired with a 1.7x AFA, its remarkably responsive and accurate in tracking action (probably due to the fact that focusing speed with a 1.7x AFA is ridiculously fast)

 

[fengwei]

Same here, I can take a lot more than 300 shots on one charge, even with the cheap DiVi Power third party battery. And I never needed to press both the AF button and release button together when using a battery grip on either K5 or K7.

 

[Piscator]

Cornelius K, what about your da star 16 50 af speed? Better than 50 135?

 

[CorneliusK]

DA*50-135 is a bit on the slow side but fine if you are not taking action. DA*16-50 slightly faster.

I think one needs to be realistic about AF ability, the K-5 is not really much different or worse from other cameras of the same price level, accuracy is similar, low light ability is similar, speed is slower but that is more to do with the lens.

 

[legoladd]

On my new K5 original battery I could muster 750+ shots (w/o flash) on first charge while with a divipower I can get 500+ shots for your reference

 

[pinholecam]

AF speed and accuracy is thereabouts if not better than cameras of its price range.
I've shot 2 events where I am able to look at and keep the shots done by A700, D7k, D90, D700.
The K5 never scored lower in terms of focus and speed (ie. photo opportunity lost); and that is with a mounted flash, which in fact slows down AF speed as far as I've noticed (ie. faster AF w/o using the AF assist light on the flash).

Subject movement at shallow DOF is always a factor to consider when taking photos in low light. Expectations need to be realistic and many times w/o the pixel peeping, the shots are prefectly fine though not 'tack sharp'

 

[edutilos-]

Subject movement at shallow DOF is always a factor to consider when taking photos in low light. Expectations need to be realistic and many times w/o the pixel peeping, the shots are prefectly fine though not 'tack sharp'

It's in some sense true, y'know. Most of the time the pictures are not going to be used beyond say, 1000 pixels width, even if they are printed in magazines (assuming you're doing it for WORK).

I can't imagine having many pictures that I'd want to hang from indoor events on my wall as a large print, anyways... But maybe that's just me. :bsmilie:

 

[Supersimon27]

Using a 3rd party grip . No need to press the AF button and shutter button together also .

 

[Piscator]

I did a side by side comparison against sony a33, at 3200 of a second, k5 just can't keep up in af-c. Let just say there is room for improvement. Price aside.

 

[detritus]

I did a side by side comparison against sony a33, at 3200 of a second, k5 just can't keep up in af-c. Let just say there is room for improvement. Price aside.

its not just the price. the sony uses a new design with the translucent mirror. that is the reason it is able to achieve faster AF. but the trade-off is that its not as good for high ISO shots.

also, EVF is not for everyone

 

[pinholecam]

I can't imagine having many pictures that I'd want to hang from indoor events on my wall as a large print, anyways... But maybe that's just me. :bsmilie:

To some this is the MOST IMPORTANT type of photos to paste up in the room
(Think sexy XMM; voluptuous race queens from all those indoor motor shows and such :bsmilie: )


Hmm... may be use monitor is better.... can do pixel peeping of the "important parts" :think:

 

[CorneliusK]

I don't think you the K-5 can be faulted for focusing speed, even for AF-C, its more of a lens issue, but anyway.

Focusing speed will only matter for events and action shots, I guess you are not satisfied with it currently but its something you can get used to. If you are really not happy with it, and believe that its a critical feature that you need, I guess you should look at other brands.

I am not trying to cover up for the K-5's flaws here, but you may find more satisfaction if you focus less on the perceived shortcomings of the K-5 and concentrate more on actually taking photos with it.

*Edit

RE: Photo sharpness

I have had requests for a couple of my photos to be printed huge before. Like 50cm wide for one portrait shot and a 1.8m wide for one pano. And the results were both very satisfactory. The K-5 is more than good enough for these sizes.

 

[le petit prince]

I wish I could post a First impressions of K5 review here, but I've to hang onto my K7 a long while more..

Anyway, for those issues with glaring disparities from what other users report -- battery strength, AF-shutter button -- could it be some mechanical problem? Or settings issue?

As for AF speed, Pentax's lags behind Nikon and Canon, as I have read often, but then, for AF-crucial shoots where it makes a difference, usually those who need it will use the AF speed demon models from other brands instead.

 

[Piscator]

It begins to dawn on me that it is no fault of K5 for lacking in the AF-C department but me for taking the plunge lol. Case closed and let's move on.