Pentax K-x Digital SLR Review: Field Test Report

November 16, 2009 by Jack Neubart

Jack Neubart gets a taste of a sweet compact 12.4 MP CMOS APS-C DSLR with a suite of features.

I approach each new camera with a degree of skepticism. Unlike many out there, I’m not as easily swayed by all the media hype and promotional gobbledygook. I’m from Brooklyn and we need to see that something actually works. So when the Pentax K-x arrived, I looked at it, pleased that they sent me the “white” version, only because it reminded me of the Imperial Storm Troopers from Star Wars (would have been a great fit). I unpacked everything, mated the lens to the K-x body, installed the lithium batteries that came in the box, then added my own SDHC card—none included (also takes standard SD—but why hamper the machine out of the gate!). And I started to play with it.

Hmm, not bad, I thought. But let’s see how it performs in the real world. So, intrepid explorer that I am, I ventured outside. It may not be a tropical rain forest, but it is an urban jungle out there rife with photographic opportunities. I was ready for bear (good luck finding one of those in Brooklyn, but you get my drift) and I headed straight for my favorite city park.

Continued...Pentax K-x Digital SLR Review: Field Test Report

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Good news - bad news. Pentax K-7 came out as the winner.

The day started good.

Zipping along...

One pause to air-down the tires.

On the trail we go.

My wife had to come get us with the good old Chevy.

Still camped out for the weekend.

Some guys were climbing the big boulders.

Joshua tree is peaceful this time of year.

This is some kind of Indian burial place from the early 1900's and my wife and step-son peeping through

Another angle of the Indian burial.

Who is going to get food from inside the pumpkin?

I will fight you for it.

Okay, you win...I'll come back later as I know you can't eat it all.

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Hi Pentaxian friends.

Last weekend, we decided to go camping in Joshua Tree national Park, and go four-wheeling on the nearby trails. I brought my K-7 along with us, hoping to get good pictures of Joshua Tree and of the Jeep performing. It was incredibly dusty and the K-7 really took a beating. At times, the camera looked more like is was brown on account of all the dust on it. I had to clean it with a wet rag several times. I dropped it once on the Jeep's floor when we drove over a boulder. Not once did I need to clean the sensor. Not one piece of dust got it the camera and the camera is still working perfectly. That's pretty impressive. I did take some great shots in Joshua Tree and of the Jeep, as posted above.

The sad part, is that the K-7 outlasted the Jeep :(

We broke the rear differential in trying to crawl over a big rock, obviously too big for the Jeep. I had to tow the Jeep behind my Chevy Silverado all weekend... in shame. I didn't want to ruin an otherwise good weekend of camping so we stayed at the campground anyway.

So as it is right now, it's 1 to 0 for the K-7. The good news is that the K-7 is one tough camera. The bad news is that my Jeep is broken and it will cost about the same price as a K-7 with a good lens to fix the Jeep. Goodbye LBA for a while.

Thank you for reading,

Yvon Bourque

“FOCUS ON SAVINGS” K-7 SYSTEM REBATE

PENTAX ANNOUNCES “FOCUS ON SAVINGS” K-7 SYSTEM REBATE:
$100 VISA PREPAID CARD OFFERED ON MORE THAN 20 SELECT PENTAX LENSES WITH PURCHASE OF A K-7

GOLDEN, CO (November 15, 2009)…PENTAX Imaging Company has announced a FOCUS ON SAVINGS rebate that offers a $100 prepaid card on an exciting choice of PENTAX lenses. From now until January 15, 2010, K-7 buyers may select from more than 20 lenses (listed below) and receive a $100 VISA prepaid card rebate for each and every qualifying lens* purchased at the same time.

*Lenses must be purchased at the same time on the same receipt as the K-7. Limit five rebates per product per household. Each VISA prepaid card may be used to pay for goods and services anywhere VISA cards are accepted. For US customers only.
Following is a complete list of the qualifying PENTAX lenses:

Qualifying PENTAX Lens VISA Prepaid Card Amount

DAê 50-135mm F2.8 ED (IF) $100.00

DAê 55mm F1.4 $100.00

DAê 200mm F2.8 ED (IF) SDM $100.00

DA 15mm F4.0 ED Limited $100.00

DA 21mm F3.2 AL Limited $100.00

DA 35mm F2.8 Macro Limited $100.00

DA 40mm F2.8 Limited $100.00

DA 70mm F2.4 Limited $100.00

DA 10-17mm Fisheye F3.5-4.5 ED (IF) $100.00

DA 12-24mm F4.0 ED AL (IF) $100.00

DA 14mm F2.8 ED (IF) $100.00

DA 16-45mm F4.0 ED, AL $100.00

DA 17-70mm F4.0 ED (IF) SDM $100.00

DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL WR $100.00

DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL II $100.00

DA 50-200mm F4.0-5.6 ED WR $100.00

DA 50-200mm F4.0-5.6 ED $100.00

DA 55-300mm F4.0-5.8 ED $100.00

D FA 50mm F2.8 Macro $100.00

D FA 100mm F2.8 Macro $100.00

FA 50mm F1.4 $100.00

The PENTAX K-7 features 14.6 megapixels, widescreen HD Movie Capture, and a weather, dust, and cold resistant magnesium alloy body. More information about the K-7 and PENTAX lenses is available here: http://www.pentaximaging.com/.

A FOCUS ON SAVINGS rebate form may be downloaded here:

http://www.pentaximaging.com/special-offers/. K-7 body and qualifying lens purchases made on http://www.pentaxwebstore.com/ are eligible for the rebate. Rebate excludes products purchased at BEST BUY.

PENTAX Imaging Company is an innovative leader in the production of a variety of digital cameras including weather resistant digital SLRs and compact, waterproof cameras, as well as lenses, flash units, binoculars, scopes, and eyepieces. For almost 90 years, PENTAX has developed durable, reliable products that meet the needs of consumers and businesses. With headquarters in Golden, Colorado, PENTAX Imaging Company is a division of PENTAX of America, Inc.

Here are some random thoughts about Pentax!

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Hi Pentaxian friends.

1. Lately, I saw many posts about Hoya wanting to associate with another world-class company that could manufacture sensors for them. This could make Pentax viable outside the Hoya’s mission of medical instruments and the like. Hoya apparently purchased Pentax mostly for their medical instruments. It seems that Samsung eventually want to manufacture their own cameras with their own sensors…as I was told, at the last PMA, by a Samsung representative. What do you think?

2. The K-x is now available almost everywhere. It is equipped, as you know, with a Sony 12MP CMOS sensor. The low light/high ISO image quality is supposedly on the leading edge of all the current DSLRs. What would you think of a Pentax K-7x with the 12MP sensor instead of the Samsung 14MP? If the IQ were that much better, I would go for it. After all, Nikon seems to manufacture many models around the 12MP range and they are doing okay. In the past, I produce great enlargements of 11” x 14” and even 18” x 24” with the old Pentax 6MP DSLRs. If the IQ is better, 12MP is plenty and I believe it is the sweet spot for APS-C sensors. What do you think?

3. I own several Pentax lenses, some are “A” lenses, some are FA lenses, some DA Pancake prime lenses and some DA* zoom lenses, telephotos and primes. I am not a pixel peeper and frankly, I don’t see enough difference in image quality between any of my lenses to prefer one over another. For me, it boils down to what I am shooting on a particular day or what I can easily carry. I do use Photoshop to correct colors, Chromatic aberration and so on, but never to change the content of an image. It’s the darkroom of this era, why not use it to its full potential. If your picture is well composed, I don’t think that the viewers would see any difference between the IQ of one lens over another. What do you think?

4. I envision that Pentax will indeed introduce the 645D next year. They will jump from the APS-C sensor to one bigger than the Canon or Nikon FF sensors. Pentax made it clear before that they would never manufacture a FF DSLR. Would you get a 645D should the price be comparable to Nikon’s D3/D3X/D3S or Canon’s EOS 1Ds Mk III? There are thousands or millions of 645 used lenses on the market already and Pentax could introduce new 645 AF lenses modeled after the Film 645 medium format cameras. I would buy one. What do you think?

So there you have it, some random thought about Pentax’s future. I’m a die-hard fan of Pentax cameras and know that they will always emerge with something unexpected, innovative and great.

Thanks for reading, and what do you think?

Yvon Bourque