DPR Forum

Welcome to the Friendly Aisles!
DPRF is a photography forum with people from all over the world freely sharing their knowledge and love of photography. Everybody is welcome, from beginners to the experienced professional. Whether it is Medium Format, fullframe, APS-C, MFT or smaller formats. Digital or film. DPRF is a forum for everybody and for every format.
Enjoy this modern, easy to use software. Look also at our Reviews & Gallery!

Some K5 Love

The K5 was and is a great camera capable of producing great photo’s especially with that 20-40 lens great combo as ur photos show keep it u will regret trading it in
 
The K5 was and is a great camera capable of producing great photo’s especially with that 20-40 lens great combo as ur photos show keep it u will regret trading it in
Thank you maranatha. The K5 will not be traded. It has more emotional value to me than the cost of a new 85mm lens.
 
All your K5 images look nice. What Z equipment do you have? Have you considered getting a K-mount adapter? I admit, I'm a die-hard Pentaxian, but am Z-curious.
Thank you JCD. I'm a bit Pentaxian as well, Spotmatic and Takumars for awhile early on, then K20, K5, and KP for digital. KP with DA21Ltd prime my most used combination for my "snap what I see right now" style of photography. So I'm well used to the workings and ergonomics of the Pentax system.

But, you know, mirrorless..... If you're a photo enthusiast it's too big not to notice, and too important not to try. My opinion of course.

I also like "retro" so when Nikon produced the Zfc, an APS-C format camera, I decided to give it a try. It is a small body, 20.9MP, smallish 2.36M viewfinder, no in body stabilizing, and a kit 16-50 that does have stabilization. I also have used a FF Z6ii which was impressive, but more camera than I need, so I purchased the slightly lower end Z5 with 28 and 40mm primes for FF use.

My observations:

Electronic Viewfinder: I am beginning to prefer the FF 3.69 OLED viewfinder of the Z5,6,and 7 series to the OVF of the Pentaxes. Heresy I know. It fit's my style in that I mostly use the viewfinders for quick composition and confirmation of ISO, SS, and Aperture. The camera settings are bright and clear in EVF, and almost unreadable in bright light on the K5 and KP. But, yes, the dark shadows tend to block up (a little bit) in the viewfinder at high contrast scenes. And you have to turn the damn camera on to look thru it. But bottom line for me, EVF not as bad as many claim. And sometimes helpful.

Focus accuracy: Totally improved. Fast, silent, and accurate. And the Zfc and Z5 are lower end systems. The Z6ii and 7ii are better action cameras. No idea about the Z9, it's above my pay grade. It's nice not to have to "fine tune" auto-focus on some lenses which I found I had to do with the KP.

Ergonomics: Well... Nothing I've found beats Pentax here. The command dials are not quite as easy to reach. A couple of FN buttons are awkward. But there's enough settings control such that I don't really need to change settings much in Program and Aperture Priority modes which I use most often. But Pentax wins this category by a fair margin.

Image Quality: I don't know if it is the new Z lenses, or more accurate focusing, or the combination of both, but I'm getting fewer "missed focus" shots, especially if I'm in a hurry (i.e. documentary type stuff). Other than that, nobody can tell the difference between images taken with Pentax vs Nikon when they look at my images on their laptops, iPads, or more often than not, their cell phones. I print very little, but I doubt there would be much difference since all are in the 20-24 MPX range. The Z-7 would be more a match to the K1 for printing.

Overall: Having said all this, PLEASE don't kick me out of the Pentax club. I still enjoy shooting with DSLRs. I slow down a bit with them and enjoy the feeling. If Pentax ever makes a FF at about the same size and weight of the Nikon 750, a camera I have used but never owned, I'd still probably buy it along with the 3 Amigos because. Just because....

--RB
 
You're still in the club, LOL!

I originally became interested in Pentax several years ago when adapting manual focus film lenses to a Sony NEX camera. I now shoot exclusively with K, M, and A series lenses and a pair of K-1 mII cameras. There are still times when I miss the clarity, magnification, and brightness adjustment of an EVF, so I understand what you're saying. I'll watch for some Z images from you.
 
Back
Top