# Anybody try the K5?



## Sage97 (Apr 2, 2012)

Hello all. Newbie here from TX.

Had to return a newly purchased but defective Nikon D7000 to Best Buy and was thinking about a K5 instead. They don't stock it so I can't get my hands on it but they can order it. I thought I'd compare it to the D7000 but I only had it in my noob hands a week or so.  I took ok pics with it but its obviously not the camera's fault.

Let me know if you have any thoughts. I'm just excited to learn and get started.


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## Sage97 (Apr 2, 2012)

Oh....I'd like to take close up pics of my guitars and amps as well as my 15 year old playing ball, vacation landscapes, candids and macro shots of flowers and insects etc.


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## loopy (Apr 3, 2012)

Ive had my k5 since October and I love it.  I do not know much about the D7000, but this site has a comparison between the two:
Nikon D7000 vs Pentax K-5

Perhaps another camera store has one in stock, so you can hold one before purchasing.


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## Sage97 (Apr 3, 2012)

Thanks loopy.

Saw that link before. Best Buy has a 30 day return policy so I can get my hands on it and shoot like crazy. I saw pics at another forum and they take fantastic pics. It will be a long while before I learn how to take pics like that. Learning through experience plus investment in lenses.

Thanks again.


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## cgipson1 (Apr 3, 2012)

K5 is a good camera! What I would look at is the other options available in whatever systems you are looking at. How many GOOD lenses are available? Flashes? Good support? Third party support? Professional level support if ever needed?

Curious.. what was wrong with the D7000?


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## jaomul (Apr 3, 2012)

Curious.. what was wrong with the D7000?[/QUOTE]

It was a Nikon


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## Sage97 (Apr 3, 2012)

cgipson1 said:


> K5 is a good camera! What I would look at is the other options available in whatever systems you are looking at. How many GOOD lenses are available? Flashes? Good support? Third party support? Professional level support if ever needed?
> 
> Curious.. what was wrong with the D7000?



The Auto Focus just stopped working. I put in different lenses and it just wouldn't work. Rebooted and reset everything to factory defaults and still no go. Put the lenses on a friends D5100 and they worked perfectly. Nikon tech support was highly responsive and supportive and walked me through various troubleshooting items over the phone and agreed that the AF/M button was defective.

Excellent advice re: buying into a system. Next step is for me to do homework on lenses and accessories. At this point, I'd really like to have a macro lens for flowers and insects, a nice 300mm zoom and maybe a good prime, maybe a 50 or 35mm.


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## Sage97 (Apr 3, 2012)

cgipson1 said:


> K5 is a good camera! What I would look at is the other options available in whatever systems you are looking at. How many GOOD lenses are available? Flashes? Good support? Third party support? Professional level support if ever needed?
> 
> Curious.. what was wrong with the D7000?



Excellent pics on your flicker site. I especially like the guitar pics and the spiders. I have a few guitars and want to take pics of them too. Were all these pics taken with the D7000? 

After seeing a ton of sample pics like yours, I've come to the conclusion that either the D7000 or the Pentax K5 would give me the pics I want. The biggest limiting factor will be ..... me and my limited abilities.


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## jaomul (Apr 3, 2012)

You wont go wrong with either, I nearly went for the Pentax k5 lately but bought the 7d because I have canon accessories. The pentax is built great and with IS built into the body any lens can have stabilization. The kit lens if you buy it also is weather sealed, also its less expensive than the nikon. It is definetely a strong contender


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## Sage97 (Apr 3, 2012)

Thanks Jaomul. Cork, Ireland? Never been but somehow I think you have access to the one of the best landscape sceneries. The 7D looks like a top notch camera. Too much moolah for me. 

Is the Pentax kit lens decent?


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## KmH (Apr 3, 2012)

Such is the nature of consumer electronics. Regardless the QC (quality controls), it is cost prohibitive to completely test every new camera that is produced on the assembly line.

Consequently, some % of new consumer electronics, from every brand, will get shipped with defects in materials or workmanship.


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## Sage97 (Apr 3, 2012)

KmH said:


> Such is the nature of consumer electronics. Regardless the QC (quality controls), it is cost prohibitive to completely test every new camera that is produced on the assembly line.
> 
> Consequently, some % of new consumer electronics, from every brand, will get shipped with defects in materials or workmanship.



I completely agree. My brother used to work for Pentax and he says that the K5s are QC'd per unit not per batch but still perfection is not an expectation. 

I just thought of a possible weakness for the K5 - I think the next model up costs $10k so if I decide to upgrade someday, I'd be in a world of hurt. Upgrading from the Nikon D7000 won't be as painful. However, pro gear upgrades may be very unlikely for me as this is a hobby that at this time ranks next to guitar and recording. Hmm. Random thoughts.


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## jaomul (Apr 4, 2012)

Sage97 said:


> Thanks Jaomul. Cork, Ireland? Never been but somehow I think you have access to the one of the best landscape sceneries. The 7D looks like a top notch camera. Too much moolah for me.
> 
> Is the Pentax kit lens decent?



I am not sure how good the kit lens on the Pentax is but I think they are generally good with obvious room for improvement when or if you decide to upgrade. Image quality on the Pentax scores better than the 7d with most reviewers and generally the 7d is only considered better if your into shooting a lot of sports. I would have bought a pentax but as i was saying I have a few lenses and a flash and few triggers etc so it would have been inconvenient and wasteful to change over.

Nikon does give you more upgrade options and stuff maybe a little easier to find, but if you dont think you will need to upgrade the K5 could be your camera


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## Hood66 (Apr 5, 2012)

Sage97 said:


> KmH said:
> 
> 
> > Such is the nature of consumer electronics. Regardless the QC (quality controls), it is cost prohibitive to completely test every new camera that is produced on the assembly line.
> ...



The K5 is Pentax's Top Dslr at the moment.
The $10K one you are referring to is the 645D which is their medium format digital. 
Completely different format and different lenses mate.  You do not have to worry about that as your upgrade path.

If you buy the K5 you have Pentax's best until they release a new model. So you will not be losing out buy investing in Pentax... plus all thier lenses made EVER are backwards compatible so will all work on the K5.  

In case you can't tell, I am a self confessed Sony and Pentax fan.


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## cgipson1 (Apr 5, 2012)

Sage97 said:


> cgipson1 said:
> 
> 
> > K5 is a good camera! What I would look at is the other options available in whatever systems you are looking at. How many GOOD lenses are available? Flashes? Good support? Third party support? Professional level support if ever needed?
> ...



Yes.. all shot with the D7000. It is an excellent choice for a first camera... in that it will be very hard to outgrow with all of the features it has. Haven't used the K5 so don't know how it compares. I do know that Nikon has one of the largest selections of OEM accessories and lenses available... and that can be very helpful as you progress. And due to that, almost all third party manufacturers also do their best to ensure compatibility with Nikon (as they do Canon). You will find less available for the other brands... just because of lack of market share.

I had a friend who had a K5... and as he improved, he ordered a Nikon D4, as he couldn't find what he needed / wanted in the Pentax line-up. Something to think about....


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## o hey tyler (Apr 5, 2012)

Sage97 said:


> KmH said:
> 
> 
> > Such is the nature of consumer electronics. Regardless the QC (quality controls), it is cost prohibitive to completely test every new camera that is produced on the assembly line.
> ...



The "next model up" you're referring to is the Pentax 645D. It's a digital medium format, whereas the Pentax K5 is an APS-C DSLR (smaller than 35mm format). The 645D will not mount lenses from the K5 because the lenses wouldn't produce a large enough image circle.


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## Sage97 (Apr 5, 2012)

Excellent point. Thank you.


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## GnipGnop (Apr 5, 2012)

I was in your position a couple of months ago. I was looking at the Canon 60d, 7d. Never really been a fan of Nikon, but not for any logical reasons. Just didn't associate myself with the brand (even though they take good pictures). I had been extensively researching for a couple months prior, but the Pentax never came up in my searches.

Something to consider when researching is that each camera has it's issues, and they always seem worse than they are on the Internet. More people seek out forums to post problems they have with their merchandise then the people who have no problems at all.

The D7000 and the Pentax K5 both utilize the same sensor, which is manufactured by Sony. Each camera's software, design and lenses dictate how the sensor performs in each body. However DXO rates the Pentax K5 as the best performing APS-C crop sensor camera on the market. It even out performs the Canon 5d MKII in some areas (dynamic range). 14 full stops of dynamic range at ISO 80.

As for lenses...Pentax also makes some of the highest quality prime lenses available. I should correct the previous member on here that stated every single lens will work that Pentax has made. That is not true. Every single Pentax K-mount lens ever made can be used. The other and older M42 screw mount can be used, but with an adapter. K mount lenses mount like any other lens made for the Pentax dSLR line.  Most can be had cheap as well. Their new lenses (especially the Limited lenses) are very very good. There are some little details in Pentax lenses that make them particularly nice to use. The cheapest kit lens (18-55 non weather resistant) doesn't rotate when you focus (unlike the cheapest lenses from Canon, for example) making them more friendly to use with some types of polarizers and other filters. Pentax also makes Weather Resistant 18-135s and I believe some zooms and wide angles and primes.  Most get great reviews. Paired the weather sealed body with a WR lens, and you don't have to run inside when it rains like most crop sensor bodies. Their macro lenses seem to be good as well.

The autofocus in my experience (and others) is that it is quick, snappy and accurate. If anything has been out of focus for me, it's been my fault. It does like light to be able to auto-focus though. But then, most do.

 I honestly thought I was going to be a 7d owner earlier in the year. I was hesitant to pull the trigger because of the price for just the body, plus lenses. I randomly came across the Pentax K5 reviews, and literally could not find a bad review on it, or one where it wasn't recommended. Combine that with a sale price of under $1000 for the body and kit lens and I was sold.  I realize this sounds an awful lot like paid review, but I'm just extremely happy with it. Solidly built, weather sealed, super quiet shutter, great lenses and controls. One dial at the front for shutter, one at the back for ISO, and hit one button and the rear dial turns to aperture. So easy and natural feeling to me.

Those are some of the reasons why I put my hard earned money into Pentax. I think at this price point you'd be happy with the d7000, 7d, 60d, or K5. Go out and handle them in the store to see which one feels comfortable in your hands. That's the best way to find out.

The entire first page of my flickr (with the exception of "blessed are those with a voice") are shot with my K5. Have a peek if you want some examples, and good luck with your purchase, what ever you end up getting! 

Flickr: Gn!pGnop's Photostream


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## Sage97 (Apr 5, 2012)

Gnip,

I really appreciate you taking the time to type all your thoughts to help me. 

I was sold on the D7000 when I stumbled upon the K5 reviews. The reviewers seemed to be forced to nitpick just to write an "improvement need." Continuous video AF seems to be a weakness along with a few others I am not too worried about. Then I stumbled on a Pentax forum as well as this one and I put the D7000 on hold to do more research on the K5. Pentax and third party lenses for the K5 don't seem to be too hard to find for someone like me who prefers to shop online. They may not be readily available at my local Best Buy or the mom and pop stores where I live but most online folks offer free shipping and return policies so its not all that bad.

I already have the D7000 at home and I like it. I ordered the K5 today so I should be able to play around with both but keep only one because just like Connor McLeod from the clan Mcleod, there can be only one. I am interested to see which one gets voted out based on my thoughts and findings as a complete beginner. The good news is, I am convinced that either camera will exceed my expectations so I can't go wrong either way. 

I've seen your Photostream link and I am quite excited and hopeful that may be someday I can produce similar results. I've also seen links from D7000 owning forumites that gave me the same level of excitement. I will make a decision soon and post some pics ......... well, much, much later. 

Thanks again.


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## GnipGnop (Apr 8, 2012)

Interested to hear what your thoughts are on both the 7000 and the K5...


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## Sage97 (Apr 9, 2012)

GnipGnop said:


> Interested to hear what your thoughts are on both the 7000 and the K5...



The D7000 seems to work really great. Took it to another indoor volleyball game (my gf's daughter is really good) and took a few landscape shots. I'd post pics here but they'll just surely produce laughter, obviously the photographer's fault not the camera's. 

The K5 arrives this week and I'm taking that to my son's track meet. I also plan on taking landscape shots too for comparison. Will keep ya posted.


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## Sage97 (Apr 9, 2012)

GnipGnop said:


> Interested to hear what your thoughts are on both the 7000 and the K5...



K5 actually arrived today! While it is charging, I looked for tutorials and other instructions on Youtube. Did not find a single  useful one......unlike the D7000. Well, I'll open the manual and learn about it's features the old fashioned way.


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## o hey tyler (Apr 9, 2012)

Sage97 said:


> GnipGnop said:
> 
> 
> > Interested to hear what your thoughts are on both the 7000 and the K5...
> ...



DSLR's are DSLR's. There's no hidden settings to make your photos outstanding, there's no difference in exposure between cameras or brands, there's no special mode that will improve your shooting ability or anything of the sort. 

Reading the manual is a great place to start. Just realize that any tips you find on exposure, setting your camera appropriately for the situation, and composition can be learned on any camera body by any manufacturer. Exposure is a standard.


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## Sage97 (Apr 9, 2012)

o hey tyler,

I understand what you are saying. When I said tutorials, I meant quick review of the menu system, special buttons, quick access to certain features and other possible options that could be unique to this brand or camera. 

So far my initial thoughts compared to the D7000 include the K5's smaller size, different shutter feel, the rear wheel controlling the aperture instead of the shutter speed in the Nikon, the funky auto focus when shooting with the live view (I am not a fan of this), the different language/terminologies (Tv, Av, Sv, etc.) as opposed to Nikon's S, A, M which makes more sense to me, the delete function being slightly more cumbersome compared to the D7000. 

There are a few others but I may be a bit biased towards the Nikon D7000 most probably because I have become more familiar with the Nikon functionalities and user interface.


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## Sage97 (Apr 12, 2012)

Man......the D7000 and the K5 are both outstanding. There is so much to like about both. To deal with my indecision and confusion, I'll start making a list of "things I do not like" and go from there.


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## GnipGnop (Apr 14, 2012)

Interesting! Lookong forward to your opinions.


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## Sage97 (Apr 14, 2012)

GnipGnop said:


> Interesting! Lookong forward to your opinions.



Doesn't seem to matter. In my hands, eyes and non-existing experience, I get the same results. Definitely not the same quality as the ones posted on here but still, they are the best pics I have ever taken and I don't even understand anything yet. At this point, might as well flip a coin.

I'm definitely a newbie so I am not embarrassed with these pics. I'm sure everyone has to start somewhere. 


D7000


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## Sage97 (Apr 14, 2012)

K5


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## NedZ (Apr 25, 2012)

I love Pentax, been using it since film era. The only problem I find with it is not as much support from third party manufacturers (lenses and such) as Nikon has. That might be a problem for you. I think Pentax has very good lenses, including kit ones.


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## aboudd (May 25, 2012)

I've had my K5 for a few weeks now, it has become my street camera. I used to carry my Nikon D3s but the K5 is half the weight and at least 30% smaller. The two lenses I have so far are the 31MM and 77MM MIV lenses. They are well built, like Leica M lenses and are great glass. As I am trying to keep the kit small I am not gathering zoom lenses. My search now is for a 15MM used at a decent price. Then my kit will be complete.

This image was taken in ambient light with the 77MM at minimum distance. There is a yellow arrow to identify the focal point at the center of the image.
I'm extremely happy with the sharpness.


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## daarksun (Jun 16, 2012)

I would have bought a Pentax over the Nikon had I not gone with the Canon 7D.  I was impressed with being able to use all of the Pentax lenses with the digital bodies.  The image quality is awesome. The menus seem a bit outdated but work fine and the AF system is lacking behind the Nikon and the Canon stuff. Pentax doesn't seem to want to get with the program in the AF department.  the new K30 looks awesome even to the K5. Something to consider.  

good luck.


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## gsgary (Jun 16, 2012)

I would have bought an S3 if it had not been for the M9 but i bought a Zorki 4


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## Sagitta (Jun 17, 2012)

There is a strong rumor going around that the K-5 is about to get retired in lieu of a newer model of some sort.  If so, I'd assume it would be a step (or 10) above the K-30.  For anyone K-5 hunting, the price is down to around $900 now give or take.


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## vindemiatrix (Oct 29, 2012)

I had a canon before I got my pentax k5. 
The k5 autofocus system is good in good light and depending on the lenses. I can't for the life of me get good photos in anything but manual mode. The flash overexposes unless you are using manual flash. These are bad things imo, but:

Image quality when I get it right is ridiculously good. I do not regret getting this camera.


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## wtlwdwgn (Nov 18, 2012)

I've been using my new to me K5 and I'm very impressed with the results I'm getting. The results are what should drive the choice of a camera not the name on it. I've been buying Pentax since 1965 so when I went digital I stayed with them. My 1st was a K10D, then the K20D, and now the K5. I have a large selection of Pentax lenses dating back to the 1960's which I use on my digital bodies (incl the Canon and Nikon) and the results are excellent. I have the Canon because the earlier K10D and K20D AF could not keep up with wildlife and birds. I haven't had a chance to try the K5 on birds yet but I'm hopeful. The K5 has now been superseded by the K5 II and K5 IIs. The images from the K5 IIs, which has no AA filter, are some of the best I've ever seen from an APS-C camera. Just my ¢¢.


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