- News

-
Digital Cameras

SLR

New design

Point-and-shot (ads)

Cheap (ads)

-
Buying guide

-
Glossary

Megapixel

ZOOM

Memory Card

Other...

-
History of digital cameras

-
Principe of work

Special Cameras

Home made camera

-
Forum

- Advertising

- Links

- About us

Last review was sent on 29 October 2009

Pentax K-7 reviews

Pentax K-7

Overall rating:

- 4.5

You can find here the most interesting reviews / ratings from the well-known expert sites about the Pentax K-7 Camera. Here are the reviewers:

LetsGoDigital	- 29 October 2009 -	- 4
DPReview	- 02 October 2009 -	- 4.5
DCResource	- 30 September 2009 -	- 0
WhatDigitalCamera	- 21 September 2009 -	- 4.5
Trusted Reviews	- 03 September 2009 -	- 4.5
Imaging Resource	- 20 August 2009 -	- 0
PhotographyBLOG	- 14 August 2009 -	- 3.5
NeoCamera	- 28 July 2009 -	- 5
PhotoReview	- 16 July 2009 -	- 4.5
PhotographyBLOG	- 24 June 2009 -	- 4.5

“ Pentax does not have an equally big marketing budget as that of Canon or Nikon. That is why the brand remains somewhat inconspicuous, due to all the attention that is claimed by the other brands. However, Pentax certainly is a brand that deserves attention. Something Pentax proves once again with the K-7. It is a very interesting and nice-looking camera for serious photographers, and even for professional photographers... ”

LetsGoDigital's rating:

- 4

Complete review here

“ The Pentax K-7 manages to combine superb build quality, comprehensive customization options, excellent ergonomics and an extensive feature set with (for a camera in this class) very compact dimensions. This makes it a more than viable alternative for those (but not only for those) who like to work with semi-pro equipment that still leaves some space in the gear bag. JPEG output at high sensitivities is not quite on the same level as some of the competitors but if you revert to shooting RAW things are pretty much evened out... ”

DPReview's rating:

- 4.5

Complete review here

“ The K-7 is a very capable performer. It may start with a bit of a whine (presumably due to the dust reduction cycle running), but it's ready to go right away. When shooting with the viewfinder, the camera focuses very quickly, at both the wide and telephoto ends of the lenses (at least those that I used). Low light focus times generally stayed at one second or less. If you're using live view with contrast detect AF, the news isn't as good. The camera can take one, two, or even three seconds to lock focus -- and that's in normal lighting. For better results, use phase difference AF -- you'll lose the live view for a moment and there's a bit of lag involved, but it's much faster. The shot-to-shot delays on the K-7 are minimal, as you'd expect. While it doesn't have the fastest burst rate out there, the K-7's sizable amount of buffer memory allows it to shoot for quite a while at over 5 frames/second. While not best in class, battery life was still excellent, and you can do even better with the optional battery grip (which can use AAs, by the way).

Photo quality is very good on the K-7, though you may need to tweak a few things to get to that point. The K-7's two biggest image quality issues are its tendency to underexpose by 1/3 to 2/3 of a stop, and the overall softness of its photos. The former is easy enough to deal with -- bracket your shots, or just crank the exposure compensation up 1/3 EV. If you too agree that the photos are a bit soft, then you may want to visit the Custom Image menu, and crank up the in-camera sharpening a notch or two. The rest of the news is more positive: the K-7 has pleasing, vivid colors. Noise levels are low through ISO 800 in low light, and ISO 1600 in good light. Purple fringing has a lot to do with what lens you're using, and it was moderate at times with the 18-55 and 55-200 mm WR lenses I used. Redeye was not a problem.

Despite a few flaws -- most of them being easy to work-around -- the Pentax K-7 is an excellent digital SLR, offering features normally found on cameras two or three times its price. Heck, some of the K-7's features won't be found on any other camera. While I doubt that folks with a lot of money invested in other D-SLR systems will be jumping ship for the K-7, owners of Pentax cameras or those just starting out will be lining up to get their hands on this camera, and well they should. The K-7 is a great camera for enthusiasts, and it easily earns my recommendation... ”

DCResource's rating:

- 0

Complete review here

“ The K-7 is, without a doubt, the best DSLR that Pentax has ever produced. It'll please existing Pentax users who may be looking for faster performance, better autofocus or even a fairly solid movie mode to add to the fray. Whilst the K10D has held strong for many users, the K20D only marginally brushed up upon this as an upgrade. As a result, many didn't part with their cash so soon for effectively so little - but the K-7 tidies this up once and for all and will see you tempted to reach for the piggy bank.

There are downfalls however: Image quality suffers noise in the upper echelons of ISO sensitivity, keeping it from producing class-leading images - though overall images are very good. The kit lens is no better than standard too, with slightly less than sharp images - a shame given the excellent resolution. Slight underexposure is a recurring characteristic here and whilst the K-7's AF system is the best yet, certainly snappier than in previous models, there's still room for improvement before it can be seen as a truly pro-grade system.

On the upside though, a huge benefit for the K-7 is its compatibility with older Pentax lenses, especially when coupled with in-camera Shake Reduction. It's entirely possible that Pentax has plugged the mid-range pro-grade lens issue here - all lenses will benefit from the in-camera shake reduction, meaning you wont need to fork out loads of cash on expensive image-stabilised lenses. Whilst there's an argument that lens-based stabilisation is better, there's the significant cost factor which Pentax successfully bridges here, thus bringing pro-grade quality to more of the market. And with further investment in new digital-only DA optics, plus specific accessories, it's clear Pentax is pushing forward and looking to appeal not only to its existing audience, but further afield too. Overall the K-7 is a great camera, one that Pentax users in particular will more than likely flock to the shops to pick up... ”

WhatDigitalCamera's rating:

- 4.5

Complete review here

“ The Pentax K-7 is a superb camera, and really puts the cat among the pigeons at the top of the APS-C DSLR market. It has rugged weatherproof build quality, superb handling and offers every creative feature you could possibly want and more besides. Performance and image quality are a match for anything else in its class. It's a tempting package for any keen amateur or semi-pro... ”

Trusted Reviews's rating:

- 4.5

Complete review here

“ Pentax K-7 is a very high-quality digital SLR camera, offering a lot for its relatively low price. This is a camera you can learn and love, one that might spoil you forever from using another brand because its special features are so well thought out. We knew when we first held it and took our first pictures with it: the Pentax K7 is a Dave's Pick... ”

Imaging Resource's rating:

- 0

Complete review here

“ It is not uncommon for a camera manufacturer to release an incremental upgrade to an existing model - we have seen this in the past from basically all the major players. Sometimes the new camera will lose some of its predecessor's functionality while adding new features. It is, however, quite unusual to see a new camera that is a clear step back from the previous iteration without offering any novelties or improvements worth mentioning.

The Sony A330 appears to be one such camera. Its immediate forebear the Alpha A300 was a somewhat chunky but generally well designed DSLR that offered good handling and ease of use thanks to its sensible user interface and fairly good ergonomics. With the arrival of the Alpha A330, it has been replaced by an undeniably smaller but at the same time much less conveniently designed camera that is frankly uncomfortable to hold and sometimes frustrating to use. And that's a problem especially if we consider that the key word in the A330 announcement was 'ease-of-use'.

During our test of the new camera we got the strange feeling that the - new? - design team either had very little idea of what ease-of-use means to a photographer, or was explicitly instructed to design the A330 for non-photographers. That you need some half a dozen button presses to change the active AF point or enter a menu to pop up the flash when it's not in auto mode pretty much says it all. At the same time, certain things the camera could be expected to do automatically, such as switch to the second memory card when the first one fills up (provided there are two cards inserted, of course), must be done manually - again, not in the spirit of user friendliness.

Comparing a camera to its immediate predecessor is one thing, but what the Sony A330 will be measured against is its competition - and here the new offering still has the same advantages as the older A300; namely, fast Live View autofocus and no extra shutter lag or unnecessary mirror slapping. This alone earns it an 'Above Average' rating. Our recommendation, however, still goes to its predecessor the Alpha A300 or its higher-resolution sibling the A350, which offer the same advantage in a much better designed and ultimately easier-to-use body - so grab one until stocks last... ”

PhotographyBLOG's rating:

- 3.5

Complete review here

“ The Pentax K-7 is a DSLR with an incredible feature-set, no other camera does everything this one does. Its wealth of features, many of them unique or uncommon, helps users take better pictures. The combination of automatic horizon correction, 100% viewfinder and built-in stabilization gives relief to the photographer, letting him compose and frame with greater ease.

Image quality is very good with generally low noise and high details. Color accuracy and white-balance are impressive and extremely flexible, as are image parameters for detailed control over the way images are captured. The K-7 is also a fast and responsive camera.

With so much going for it, one must consider what are the elements of highest importance because there are cameras which can best it in some aspects such as continuous drive, focusing speed and - for full-frame models - very low light performance.

The design and ergonomics of the Pentax K-7 are good but reflect compromises needed to make such a feature-rich camera relatively compact. Particularly, the LCD is too easy to leave marks on and the neck-strap gets in the way. The rest is well-thought out, with efficient and comfortable access to important functions.

The bottom line is that the Pentax K-7 is an excellent camera which has almost every feature available to a DSLR. It brings flexibility and superb image quality to a variety of subjects in a compact and well thought-out design... ”

NeoCamera's rating:

- 5

Complete review here

“ The K7 enters the Pentax range as a high-end model targeted at photo enthusiasts because its complexity makes it most suitable for experienced SLR photographers. Featuring a solid metal body, weatherproof sealing and a wide range of user-adjustable controls, it also supports high-speed continuous shooting at up to 5.2 frames/second and HD video recording at 30 frames/second. Pentax has also improved many of the components and functions that made earlier models attractive buys... ”

PhotoReview's rating:

- 4.5

Complete review here

“ The Pentax K-7 is the best-ever Pentax DSLR camera and a real challenger to the relative giants of Canon and Nikon. Pentax have seemingly decided to include every "must-have" feature in one camera, with the K-7's specifications reading like a keen photographer's wish list. Thankfully most of those features are very well-realised, with only a few duds to spoil the party.

Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the older K20D, the new K-7 improves on its sibling in a lot of ways that add up to make it a really compelling DSLR camera. The combination of 100% viewfinder coverage and large, high-res LCD screen make the K-7 a joy to use in terms of image composition. Live View is much improved, with the ability to view and change the camera's key settings, new Face Recognition AF mode, and the same 5.2 fps continuous shooting speed as when using the optical viewfinder. Only the painfully slow and often inaccurate contrast AF system detracts from the Live View system. Thankfully the K-7 focuses much faster through the viewfinder - indeed, this is the fastest focusing Pentax DSLR to date, and also finally on a par with the competition.

Making its Pentax debut on the K-7, the inclusion of HD video is sure to generate a lot of interest, especially as its main rivals don't offer this feature. Unfortunately, as with all the other DSLR cameras on the market that offer video recording, it's not the most user-friendly experience, with no handy one-touch recording, reliance on manual focusing, inability to change the aperture or shutter speed during recording, large file sizes that quickly fill your memory cards, and the inherent handling quirks of the DSLR format. On the plus side, there is a socket for an external mic and the K-7 offers the larger 1536 x 1024 pixel format, but if you want to regularly capture successful home movies, you'd be better off with a dedicated video camera instead.

The K-7's image quality is very good. Exposures were generally 1/3rd EV stop under-exposed, perfect for retaining detail in the highlight areas without sacrificing the shadow areas too much, and colours were accurate using the default Bright setting. The HDR mode makes it easy to create images with greatly expanded dynamic range, although you don't have too much control over the final effect and you really need to use a tripod to keep things sharp. The D-Range options help make the most out of both the shadows and highlights in a high-contrast scene, while multi exposure mode is a nice creative addition.

The K-7 produces noise-free images from ISO 100-400 but it starts to become apparent at ISO 800, with progressively more noise and colour desaturation at the highest settings of 1600, 3200 and 6400. Whist the three fastest speeds are certainly usable, they don't compare that well with the Canon EOS 50D and Nikon D300, which are better bets for low-light photography. If you don't require fantastic image quality at high ISO speeds, then the K-7 certainly holds its own against the competition.

But wait - this isn't quite the final story though. According to a recent statement by a Pentax UK spokesman, the camera that we received for review isn't quite the final production version (despite running version 1.00 firmware). Pentax's engineers have apparently "made a minor change to further improve the performance of the sensor on the camera to be included on the final retail version. As far as we are given to understand this will primarily reduce the amount of noise within the image; especially at higher ISO settings." If this version of the camera can significantly improve the K-7's low-light performance as promised, then it will be an even bigger threat to Canon and Nikon - we'll update our review accordingly when we receive another test sample.

Overall Pentax are onto a winner with the K-7, especially if the sensor change in the final, final version improves the noise levels at the higher ISO speeds. Current Pentax owners can be delighted that the best ever Pentax DSLR is has (almost) arrived, with the K-7 being a natural upgrade for both the Km and K20D. Photographers with no vested interest in a particular manufacturers system now find themselves spoilt for choice in the prosumer category, with the K-7, Canon EOS 50D, Olympus E-3 and Nikon D300 all at the same price point. In many ways the Pentax K-7 offers the best overall package out of them all, and is a really serious contender for your cash... ”