Monday, March 07, 2011
Sunday, March 06, 2011
Enter K-5
I am awfully behind in my blogging effort. One of the things that I don't manage to get to is to produce a blog entry comparing Sony A850 and Pentax K-7. Meanwhile, I finally decided to spring for Pentax K-5, which as it appears offers basically just one but extremely important advantage over its predecessor - the Sony 16 MP sensor.
It all started when Paul Stenquist of PDML published this picture (presented here with Paul's permission) comparing K-5 with K-7 at ISO 6400.
The frame from K-7 is above and that from K-5 is below. It is no wonder that K-7, being at its highest ISO setting cannot match performance of K-5, which still has 3 stops of ISO up its sleeve. But more importantly this picture illustrates the virtue of dynamic range and the way K-5 renders the shades gradually whereas K-7 is pretty abrupt.
Although as we would see if I hopefully produce the A850 vs K-7 writeup the difference between K-7 and A850 is not as dramatic as I initially thought it were, I finally succumbed to the temptation.
Presently I've shot about 1,000 frames with K-5 and the matching between me and this camera is pretty much done. The upgrade from K-7 is seamless and as smooth as it can be. Practically I couldn't really put K-5 to the situation where its sensor and meter would produce a picture that cannot be salvaged from tonality point of view. I did manage once, shooting under the bright sun into the interior of my car. The contrast was way too high even for mighty K-5.
So, in a nutshell, K-5 is K-7 with improved sensor. I don't have SDM lenses so I cannot really appreciate the improvements K-5 offers in AF department. I've noticed significant improvement in AF speed under live view but I need to try this under real life use conditions. Was the upgrade worth it - yes. Was it necessary - no. It certainly did not make my pictures any better. But it made my shooting more convenient and worry free.
More to come, time permitting...
It all started when Paul Stenquist of PDML published this picture (presented here with Paul's permission) comparing K-5 with K-7 at ISO 6400.
The frame from K-7 is above and that from K-5 is below. It is no wonder that K-7, being at its highest ISO setting cannot match performance of K-5, which still has 3 stops of ISO up its sleeve. But more importantly this picture illustrates the virtue of dynamic range and the way K-5 renders the shades gradually whereas K-7 is pretty abrupt.
Although as we would see if I hopefully produce the A850 vs K-7 writeup the difference between K-7 and A850 is not as dramatic as I initially thought it were, I finally succumbed to the temptation.
Presently I've shot about 1,000 frames with K-5 and the matching between me and this camera is pretty much done. The upgrade from K-7 is seamless and as smooth as it can be. Practically I couldn't really put K-5 to the situation where its sensor and meter would produce a picture that cannot be salvaged from tonality point of view. I did manage once, shooting under the bright sun into the interior of my car. The contrast was way too high even for mighty K-5.
So, in a nutshell, K-5 is K-7 with improved sensor. I don't have SDM lenses so I cannot really appreciate the improvements K-5 offers in AF department. I've noticed significant improvement in AF speed under live view but I need to try this under real life use conditions. Was the upgrade worth it - yes. Was it necessary - no. It certainly did not make my pictures any better. But it made my shooting more convenient and worry free.
More to come, time permitting...
Gabriel Hadar - the story teller
Back in August 2010 we paid a visit to the Diaspora Museum, Tel Aviv. One of the attractions was the "Hour of the Story" presented by Gabriel Hadar. The kids loved it. In fact, I should say that I loved it too. But I was also with my camera and so I took pictures. After the show Gabriel approached me, gave me his card and asked for the pictures. Fortunately to me, the pictures came out really well. And so I sent them to Gabriel. A short e-mail exchange happened and finally, just a few days ago Gabriel sent me the link to his web site. For those who don't read Hebrew, the little writing beneath Gabriel's pictures says "Photography: Boris Liberman".
Great many thanks, Gabriel! And I should say that I wholeheartedly recommend you this wonderful artist and a man of his word.
The link obviously is going to be added to the friendly sites section of my blog.
Great many thanks, Gabriel! And I should say that I wholeheartedly recommend you this wonderful artist and a man of his word.
The link obviously is going to be added to the friendly sites section of my blog.
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