Does the new 36MP Pentax tell us anything?

PB_PM

The K1 might have a better handle on noise, thanks to a newer processor, or different type of AD conversion. What @heartyfish sees may simply be due to the way the sample images are processed in post.

spraynpray

Oh really? The old 'no lenses' problem.

PB_PM

Pentax does have some lens issues, unless of course you dig up some older K-series glass. Of course chances are that older Pentax glass would have the same issue that many older Nikkors had on the D800/D810, not enough resolving power.

moreorless

Whether Nikon had a "deal" or not for the 36 MP sensor its only natural Sony charged more for it early on, even if its not gotten cheaper to make charging more for a new piece of tech on release makes perfect sensor just as it does with a camera the sensor is in.

The Interesting thing for me will be do Nikon upgrade the D750 to 36 MP? I'd guess with a modern processor they might well be able to do that and maintain 6.5 FPS now.

heartyfisher

HockeyMan said:

@heartyfisher
"K1 vs D810 .. IQ no contest .. K1 wins hands down !!"

So I looked at the images. Can you explain to me what you see in these shots that make them hands down better than what you've seen from a D810? It's just not that obvious to me.

By my reckoning..
1) Resolution .. better than I have seen on D810 .. and thats not including the special 4 image merge thing. which should at least Double PMP.

2) Colour .. "it just looks better".. plus it has the ability to tweak the colours in a way that seems more intuitive. Its probably the way the tones of colours transition. Also the "4 image merge" adds "more richness" and colour accuracy.

3) Looks more uniform edge to edge. dunno how else to describe it.

Thats just the IQ.. and add to that a whole bunch of software/hardware image features (Astro) ... its a yummy setup... as @spraynpray says.. If I didnt have all that nikon glass ...

I am still seriously thinking about getting one for a specific task/subject... say astro and landscape? Still life?

spraynpray

If you go down that road I would be interested in what lenses you would use for astro hearty.

heartyfisher

spraynpray said:

If you go down that road I would be interested in what lenses you would use for astro hearty.

Have not thought too far .. but probably one of the samyang lenses.. probably the 24mm 1.4

As you know I am not shy about putting DX lenses on my FF, so maybe the new tokina 14-20 F2 DX.. could be fun too... I think Tokina and Pentax used to have some joint lense design agreements so.. tokina lenses should work great with Pentax.

The new Pentax lenses look promising as well.. so will need to wait for the reviews of those lenses.

PB_PM

If you want to know how they'll pan out just look at the Tamron reviews, same lens with a different plastic coating.

spraynpray

The Samyang 24/1.4 is the best I have seen/used so far BUT it is hard to focus at infinity because it does not have a hard stop.

I have just bought a Siggy 24-35/2 and it is very good indeed for aberrations and it is an Art lens so it is as sharp as heck. Interestingly, the Siggy is very easy to manually focus at infinity though but although F2 is fast, it isn't 1.4 so the Sammy is still king.

heartyfisher

Unfortunately the 24-35 is not available in Pentax Mount at the moment..

Read one interesting feature on the Pentax for use with manual focus lenses, that has many of them excited is the "catch-in-focus" feature. Say for example you get a Samyang 135 F2 manual focus lense, if you have the "catch-in-focus" enabled, you just press the shutter and manually focus. as soon as the image is in focus it fires. if you are in continuous mode it fires several as you rack across the focus range. Would make using manual lenses much more "AF" !

Could also be fun for shooting water drops ! :-)

Hmm .. doesn't Nikon have this feature already? the firing of shutter only when in focus?

niemeyjt

spraynpray said:

Pentax were up there with Canon and Olympus back in the day, probably one tier below Nikon (although I'm not sure that was actually deserved back then) and above a lot of smaller companies.

You obviously never tried their service department. They lost interest in LX servicing whilst Nikon were still servicing the F3. Not good for a supposedly pro camera.

HockeyMan

heartyfisher said:

By my reckoning..
1) Resolution .. better than I have seen on D810 .. and thats not including the special 4 image merge thing. which should at least Double PMP.

2) Colour .. "it just looks better".. plus it has the ability to tweak the colours in a way that seems more intuitive. Its probably the way the tones of colours transition. Also the "4 image merge" adds "more richness" and colour accuracy.

3) Looks more uniform edge to edge. dunno how else to describe it.

Thats just the IQ.. and add to that a whole bunch of software/hardware image features (Astro) ... its a yummy setup... as @spraynpray says.. If I didnt have all that nikon glass ...

I am still seriously thinking about getting one for a specific task/subject... say astro and landscape? Still life?

Upon reading about "pixel shift" and image merging, it does seem like Pentax has some very interesting software that should get Nikon's attention. I still can't really see it on my screen. I suppose my monitor at work is not the right tool to use for this.

I think the D810 successor will have it's hands full in terms of landscape and Astro! Hopefully Nikon is up to the task.

spraynpray

niemeyjt said:

spraynpray said:

Pentax were up there with Canon and Olympus back in the day, probably one tier below Nikon (although I'm not sure that was actually deserved back then) and above a lot of smaller companies.

You obviously never tried their service department. They lost interest in LX servicing whilst Nikon were still servicing the F3. Not good for a supposedly pro camera.

Actually I certainly did! I got the best customer service ever from their service department back when it was in Honduras Street EC1. They made time for me and repaired a second hand lens right in front of me while I waited. F.O.C. Brilliant.

niemeyjt

That must have been before their move to South Harrow, and before their LX servicing debacle. I had a good selection of Pentax bodies and lenses - all sold now - and would avoid them not because of their technology but because I cannot rely on their support.

spraynpray

Ah, a misunderstanding has occurred - I was talking Olympus not Pentax. I never owned a Pentax, I had a couple of friends that did, but I have been Olympus/Nikon all along. I never new they had bad support because things didn't go wrong much in those days.

heartyfisher

Maybe nikon needs to add sensor motion tech ...

NSXTypeR

Going off the disclaimer at the beginning I thought it was going to be a generally negative review.



Pentax looks like they did a good job though with the K1.

To be very honest, I very nearly went with Pentax as a choice for my first DSLR. A major deciding factor for me was that my dad has a FM2 and he had good results with it.

heartyfisher

LOL they were poking fun at the poor pentaxians in the beginning !

Good to see pentax still has the High ISO advantage over Nikon.

I have been looking at sample images.. and comparing them to Nikon's D810.
Surprised me but It seems to me that the D810 has an advantage in sharpness. That does not make logical sense to me so I will be looking for more examples and tests/reviews to either confirm or show equivalence. The Pentax does do better as expected in the super resolution pixelshift mode.

I like macro and its nice to see that the IBIS IS/VR/OS seems to works in macro mode!

Ironheart

heartyfisher said:

I have been looking at sample images.. and comparing them to Nikon's D810.
Surprised me but It seems to me that the D810 has an an advantage in sharpness. That does not make logical sensce to me so I will be looking for more examples and tests/reviews to either confirm or show equivalence.!

It's the lenses. Nikon's rule, pentax's drool.

heartyfisher

Ironheart said:

heartyfisher said:

I have been looking at sample images.. and comparing them to Nikon's D810.
Surprised me but It seems to me that the D810 has an an advantage in sharpness. That does not make logical sensce to me so I will be looking for more examples and tests/reviews to either confirm or show equivalence.!

It's the lenses. Nikon's rule, pentax's drool.

I thought so too !! LOL .. but I dug a bit deeper and the tester used the same lense for both cameras.. :-) furthermore the Pixel shift versions showed a slight advantage to the Pentax, that will not be possible if it was the lenses ( I found out later they used the same lense ) I would guess its either a real advantage to nikon or an error in testing. Or Nikon really uses Magic Fairy dust ;-) ( software sharpening ? ) Note: we are talking hair splitting differences here :-)

Ironheart

@heartyfisher how can it be the same lens? Aren't the mounts different? Anyway, the pixel shift can just as easily be accomplished in post if you take two identical photos on the D810, and merge them in post, with either a blend or a stack.

heartyfisher

Ironheart said:

@heartyfisher how can it be the same lens? Aren't the mounts different? Anyway, the pixel shift can just as easily be accomplished in post if you take two identical photos on the D810, and merge them in post, with either a blend or a stack.

How can they be the same lense ? good point :-) I will have to remember where I saw it .. and go back and have another look :-)

Re merging in post .. the technique is called "super resolution". and its usually done with 10 + images ( not 2 ). I have tried it .. works well :-)

Ironheart

Even 2 is better than one, but it only works with static images. Sports are right out.

heartyfisher

In some cameras, semi static is good enough for it to work :-)

Our Nikon1 cameras can go at 60 FPS! So it works ok with this technique .. even hand held !

NSXTypeR

Ironheart said:

@heartyfisher how can it be the same lens? Aren't the mounts different? Anyway, the pixel shift can just as easily be accomplished in post if you take two identical photos on the D810, and merge them in post, with either a blend or a stack.

Maybe they're using the Tamron 70-200? The Camera Store was saying the optical qualities between the Pentax and Tamron 70-200 were very similar.