On Sep 19, 2005, at 8:32 AM, Martin Trautmann wrote:
Hm - I feel that the result is reasonable. However, a DSLR is IMHO
aimed at
higher precision than ordinary P&S - so the default setup could be
expected
to offer high quality. At least ISO and resolution defaults are
high, too.
Pentax is marketing the DS, DL to people coming from the fixed lens
digicams. The results of their defaults print beautifully to the
sizes those communities generally print.
Is it correct that the default setup (which is a fixed default for
picture
modes) will produce images that are significantly worse than those
from
other DSLRs?
Sheesh, you're asking the same question over and over again.
Answer: No, they're not. They produce better prints straight out of
the camera than many of the competitors cameras do for the purpose of
making modest sized prints.
Your suggested solutions were
- change the setp (which can be done for non-picture-modes only)
"Solutions" for those wanting the best quality for large prints and
post-process editing.
The two targets ... excellent quality snapshot size prints directly
from the camera and high quality image capture for post
processing ... require different JPEG rendering settings. The optimal
settings for one will not be the optimal settings for the other. Most
DSLRs on the market only provide settings for the latter user
community. Pentax is providing defaults that work *better* for the
naive user community, and the option to exploit the hardware to
maximum benefit for the more advanced user community.
I don't know how fast compression is: saving double sized raw
images could
be slower. On the other hand compression + compressed saving might
take longer than
saving uncompressed. So I don't know whether there's a speed penalty.
Of course there's an impact on speed. However, regardless of how fast
compression and such might be, the DS buffers up to 5 RAW frames and
writes while you're continuing to shoot. The impact on performance is
relatively minimal ... as long as you're not trying to take more than
five exposures in 12 seconds or so (presuming a 45x card), you'll
never find the camera locked up in write operations while you try to
take a picture.
I have a 10D, which is even slower on writes but buffers nine frames.
Overall performance is pretty similar.
However, there's a storage penalty when your memory device can take
half the
images only.
A 1G card with my 10D will store between 120 and 147 RAW files,
depending upon the size of the JPEG file you tell it to encode with
the RAW (this is adjustable in the 10D). The DS will store 94-97
files on a 1G storage card. So yes, this raises the cost of card
storage for the same number of exposures by 20%. I don't really feel
that is terribly significant in a day when you can buy 1G cards for
about [EMAIL PROTECTED]
I don't personally search for all possible review sites. I look at
DPReview, Imaging-Resource, Steve's and a couple others as people
mention them.
I did not check all of them - but the logical questions would be:
- what's the optimum JPEG setup for best quality
I already gave you the settings I use.
- how does this compare to other cameras' optimum setup
On the 10D, to get JPEGs the way I want them requires similar changes
to the parameters.
- is there a choice (e.g. via firmware updates or optios) to make
this setup the new default
No.
Maybe this was answered before? I feel that your answer did not
correct the
info that Pentax' JPEG output is of inferior quality, but confirmed
it.
Sigh. "Inferior quality" is a judgement based upon many factors. I
feel that it is inappropriately ascribed to the use of the Pentax at
its automated defaults compared to the competition at their defaults
because the Pentax defaults are intended to be used a certain way and
the other cameras are providing results which meet the test
inspection criteria for a different use.
Normally, I just go to the store and look at a camera
I'm interested in myself, shoot my own test images, and make my
judgments from that.
That's a good idea how the camera feels. But it's not exactly true,
how well
the camera performs compared to others. ....
If I carry my card case with a few SD and CF cards, make 10 exposures
with each camera I'm interested in of standard targets, and then take
my cards home and study the results at my leisure... I'm learning a
lot more about the cameras than just how they feel. That's what I do.
Godfrey
