Good post. I suspect that the K-5 can outperform the A850 in all but pixel count. But that's just a guess based on sensor tests and a wedding photographer friend's comments regarding his A850. Paul On Jan 11, 2011, at 7:07 AM, Boris Liberman wrote:
> Hi! > > As I wrote earlier, my friends from DC (well, actually it is MD, but I like > to think of this as DC) came for a visit and left. Among other things I did > back up photos for my friend and I was given an opportunity to keep them for > my examination. He has Sony A850 and an assortment of lenses, notably the > famous Minolta Beer Can, Tamron 17-35/2.8-4.0 and Tamron 90/2.8 macro. > > I have looked and processed and examined and pixel peeped few dozen images > and compared some of them side by side given that we were shooting at the > same time on the same location. > > Few ideas crossed my mind: > > 1. Under bright day light Sony wins hands down. The exposure latitude and > color fidelity are ahead of those of K-7. The dynamic range difference is > evident once you start to play with curves and look into shadow-to-light > transitions. > > 2. Under low light both cameras struggle, though my friend does not shoot > above ISO 1600, while I shoot at ISO 3200. Given pixel count advantage, I > think it might be possible to downsize Sony images to take care of some of > the noise. > > So, on the surface it looks like naturally one might want to upgrade to > either full frame or another Pentax camera with better sensor. > > On the other hand, I had to look at 1:1 or even 3:1 (300% magnification) and > really side by side to see those differences. Of course playing with exposure > slider makes different impression immediately, but beside that I really don't > think that Pentax is so much behind. Let's say that the difference is 10-15% > although I do admit and do realize that these percentage points are > meaningless. What I am trying to say is that the difference is relatively > small. > > I have some reservations about the aforementioned lenses' performance in some > of the situations, but that's a different matter. > > Thankfully, I don't feel like I should or even must update from K-7 to K-5 or > to Canon 5DMk2 or whatever. I kind of used to feel that way having seen > Paul's comparison shots from his basement. > > I also think that to say that camera A offers revolutionary improvements in > IQ dept over camera B (*) would be a serious overstatement or simply a market > speak. > > Well, at least I had my chance to vent. > > Boris > > (*) As long as both A and B are of similar general class. It stands to reason > that 16x24 and 24x36 cameras are closer than it might have seemed initially. > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > [email protected] > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
