Compared to...

Studio scene comparison (JPEG)

This is our standard studio scene comparison shot taken from exactly the same tripod position. Lighting: daylight simulation, >98% CRI. Crops are 100%. Ambient temperature was approximately 22°C (~72°F).

Pentax K-7 vs. Nikon D300

Camera settings:

• Pentax K-7: Pentax 50 mm F1.4 lens, Aperture Priority, ISO 100
  JPEG Large/Fine, Manual WB, Default Parameters (Bright CI), Self-Timer (auto MLU)
   
  
• Nikon D300: Nikkor 50 mm F1.8 lens, Aperture Priority, ISO 200 (default base)
  JPEG Large/Fine, Manual WB, Default Parameters (Normal), Self-Timer (with exposure delay)
  

Pentax K-7	Nikon D300
9.4MB JPEG (4672 x 3104)	4.4 MB JPEG (4288 x 2848)

While the Nikon D300 has a slightly better per-pixel sharpness than the Pentax, the K-7 makes up for this with its higher nominal resolution. All in all there's not a huge amount between these two cameras and certainly in print it would be next to impossible to pick a clear winner, even at large output sizes. The tone curves and color response are remarkably similar as well.