Pentax K-5 - In the RAW test

The K-5 is equipped with a sensor cleaning system, a mechanical image stabilizer, sensitivities up to ISO 51 200, a powerful internal flash with a guide number of 12, a cable socket as well as a flash shoe for the connection of the K-5 External flash units, infrared receivers, full HD video, a SLR viewfinder with a 100% field of view and a 0.61x effective viewfinder image size, a high-resolution, but firmly installed 3-inch monitor and an additional LC display at the front for more ease of use. The only criticism: the range of lenses with ultrasound motor is less broad in the Pentax system than in the competition of Canon and Nikon.


The 11-point phase AF can have 9 cross sensors and can be switched on in live view mode, but this necessarily results in a "blackout" during the focus. The trip delay in the viewfinder operation is ok with 0.33 (1000 lux) and 0.49 s (30 lux).


Image quality


Despite the 2-megapixels on the sensor, the K-5 delivers only a slightly higher resolution than the sister model Kr: 1334 to 1472 LP / BH - okay, but certainly not outstanding in the RAW comparison

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Compared to the corresponding JPEG images, this means a resolution of 6 to 23%. As with the Kr, RAW can reduce the noise in the lower sensitivity range (RAW: 0.4 / 0.6 / 0.7 / 1.0 / 1.4 VN, JPEG: 0.8 / 1.1 / 1.1 / 1.3 / 1.7 VN to ISO 3200). As for the texture, there was not much to gain for the K-5: in the JPEG test, it showed a good fine-tuning (kurtosis 0.2 to ISO 1600), in the RAW format it can with Kurtosis 0.0 to 0.2 only minimally.


However, the K-5 can not hold the good 1026 LP / BH with which it scores with JPEG and ISO 100, and falls roughly to the level of the Kr (max 864 LP / BH). The dynamics are fine for RAW and a bit weaker than JPEG.


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Conclusion The K-5 scores with a top picture quality, in particular with a very detailed signal processing in the JPEG process and an extremely balanced coordination. It can be forgotten that the resolution is not quite what we would have expected from this sensor. The change from JPEG to RAW primarily results in a noise reduction. Buytipp image quality!


The JPEG-based test of the Pantax K-5 can be found here.


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Pentax K-5 RAW