Pentax K-7
Yay, I now have a Pentax K-7 dSLR. I was going to get one eventually, with the original plan being to use the TRS and pick one up 30-days out from my trip overseas in order to claim back the GST. But as luck would have it, I stumbled upon a mega stock clearance. I compared the stock clearance price to what I would end up paying if I used the TRS, and the figure was so similar that I caved in and bought it. I now get a new camera and two extra weeks to play with it, compared to had used the TRS. The camera is brand new, full local stock, with a 1-year warranty. My order was processed and shipped on the 13th, and an attempted delivery was made on the 14th, which is fast. Nobody was home, and nobody was home to take delivery on the 15th either, but the 16th was a possibility. I was almost resigned to having get the delivery person leave the box somewhere outside, as risky as that would be, but about 10 minutes before I was to head out, the Star Track Express guy showed up with my camera. I signed for it, opened it up to have a quick play with it, and then had to go.
So last night, I returned home, put the battery in the charger and endured the agonising wait for it to charge up. And now that I have had the camera for one day, what are my thoughts? Well, it hasn't really "grabbed" me as much as I thought it would, and I think my experiences have reinforced the notion that the K-7 is more of a need than a want. My feeling is that the the K10D will still see quite a bit of use from me as the K-7 doesn't exactly scream out "use me". Size-wise, the K-7 is smaller than the K10D, but it still fits quite well in my hand and due to the magnesium alloy chassis, has a nice solid heft to it; build quality is nothing to fault. However, there are a few design issues that bug me. The ISO and EV compensation buttons are not that easy to reach and feels much better on the K10D. The 4-way controller isn't tactile enough, I prefer the lever-operated card access door of the older model, and the space between the SD card slot and door is a bit small and this makes getting a card out of the camera a bit fiddly. The camera uses a different battery to the K10D, while I would have liked it to been kept the same and the AF mode switch is a bit harder to turn. The K-7 has a video mode and live view, and although I currently don't have much use for these features, I can envision situations in the future where I will use them. The move to a larger LCD screen, from 2.5" to 3" is nice but not breathtaking, and although the fps is now 5.2 instead of 2.9, I'm not much of a machine gunner. The move from 10.2 MP to 14.6 MP for me only really means that I can crop a lot more, but there is also the downside of each photo having a bigger filesize.
Reading the above, things may seem quite negative, but it's not all doom and gloom. The viewfinder seems bigger and brighter, although I am comparing it to was is probably a quite dirty K10D focusing screen. The button catch on the mode dial will be useful as it will prevent the exposure mode from changing without my knowledge, which has happened a few times before. The ISO performance has also improved, and I think I'll be quite content with shooting at ISO 1600 which is a one stop increase. I'll also be willing to shoot at ISO 3200 if need be and will probably leave ISO 6400 as a last resort. In terms of image quality, I haven't done much testing, although it looks to be a smidgen cleaner and sharper, but of course, pretty much any dSLR in the last few years is capable of producing awesome photos.
Getting a new camera isn't exactly a simple affair of just getting it and then that's it either. I've had to update LR to v2.4 as the previous version did not have support for the files from the K-7, and I will have to look into updating Irfanview since the thumbnail previews now take quite a while to render. I have updated the camera firmware to the 1.01.00.13 and hopefully I will never encounter the infamous green lines. I've had to update my forum sigs to include the new addition. I've already bought a spare battery, with the seller saying he shipped it today, which is very very fast, although Auspost will probably screw me over, I've bought a LCD screen protector, but I've also got to get a new strap (I don't like the supplied Pentax ones so I've moved the Matin strap over from the K10D and that is currently now strapless), a camera plate for use on my tripod, and probably a few other things that I will discover that I will need. I've also got to figure out how I am going to use the two cameras, e.g. use the K7 as a primary and bring the K10D out as a spare only, or something else, and if I'm going to bring them both out on a shoot, how the heck am I going to carry them in my bag and on my body.
Pentax K-7 dSLR. These photos are probably the last time it will look like that as I have already taken to it with black tape and taped over the Pentax, SR and K7 markings.
Whacked a Pentax-M 50mm F1.7 on there since it's about the only lens that isn't taped up
So last night, I returned home, put the battery in the charger and endured the agonising wait for it to charge up. And now that I have had the camera for one day, what are my thoughts? Well, it hasn't really "grabbed" me as much as I thought it would, and I think my experiences have reinforced the notion that the K-7 is more of a need than a want. My feeling is that the the K10D will still see quite a bit of use from me as the K-7 doesn't exactly scream out "use me". Size-wise, the K-7 is smaller than the K10D, but it still fits quite well in my hand and due to the magnesium alloy chassis, has a nice solid heft to it; build quality is nothing to fault. However, there are a few design issues that bug me. The ISO and EV compensation buttons are not that easy to reach and feels much better on the K10D. The 4-way controller isn't tactile enough, I prefer the lever-operated card access door of the older model, and the space between the SD card slot and door is a bit small and this makes getting a card out of the camera a bit fiddly. The camera uses a different battery to the K10D, while I would have liked it to been kept the same and the AF mode switch is a bit harder to turn. The K-7 has a video mode and live view, and although I currently don't have much use for these features, I can envision situations in the future where I will use them. The move to a larger LCD screen, from 2.5" to 3" is nice but not breathtaking, and although the fps is now 5.2 instead of 2.9, I'm not much of a machine gunner. The move from 10.2 MP to 14.6 MP for me only really means that I can crop a lot more, but there is also the downside of each photo having a bigger filesize.
Reading the above, things may seem quite negative, but it's not all doom and gloom. The viewfinder seems bigger and brighter, although I am comparing it to was is probably a quite dirty K10D focusing screen. The button catch on the mode dial will be useful as it will prevent the exposure mode from changing without my knowledge, which has happened a few times before. The ISO performance has also improved, and I think I'll be quite content with shooting at ISO 1600 which is a one stop increase. I'll also be willing to shoot at ISO 3200 if need be and will probably leave ISO 6400 as a last resort. In terms of image quality, I haven't done much testing, although it looks to be a smidgen cleaner and sharper, but of course, pretty much any dSLR in the last few years is capable of producing awesome photos.
Getting a new camera isn't exactly a simple affair of just getting it and then that's it either. I've had to update LR to v2.4 as the previous version did not have support for the files from the K-7, and I will have to look into updating Irfanview since the thumbnail previews now take quite a while to render. I have updated the camera firmware to the 1.01.00.13 and hopefully I will never encounter the infamous green lines. I've had to update my forum sigs to include the new addition. I've already bought a spare battery, with the seller saying he shipped it today, which is very very fast, although Auspost will probably screw me over, I've bought a LCD screen protector, but I've also got to get a new strap (I don't like the supplied Pentax ones so I've moved the Matin strap over from the K10D and that is currently now strapless), a camera plate for use on my tripod, and probably a few other things that I will discover that I will need. I've also got to figure out how I am going to use the two cameras, e.g. use the K7 as a primary and bring the K10D out as a spare only, or something else, and if I'm going to bring them both out on a shoot, how the heck am I going to carry them in my bag and on my body.
Pentax K-7 dSLR. These photos are probably the last time it will look like that as I have already taken to it with black tape and taped over the Pentax, SR and K7 markings.
Whacked a Pentax-M 50mm F1.7 on there since it's about the only lens that isn't taped up