K10D, do you think Pentax would let us down?

I read on another post that the image quality will be similar to the other 10MP DSLRs out there. I figured this much, so for the heck of it I wanted to check out some images from these cameras. On dcresource.com I found a comparision of the same image with the A100, D80, and Rebel XTi @ ISO1600.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/nikon/d80-review/index.shtml

It's easy to see that the A100 has a problem with noise at ISO 1600. The A100 and D80 and K10D all use the same sensor (right?). So my question is this: Do you think Pentax made the effort to reduce noise at high ISO like Nikon did? I know we won't know until we see images, but I was just wondering. Some people here have a lot of experience with Pentax, and I am just asking if you think Pentax would ignore this issue, or do something to address it and make as all happy!

I don't know why the A100 has noticeably more noise, I just hope that Pentax can keep it down.

--
-Brent

Pentax were able to have less noise in the original D then Nikon with the D100, and they used the same sensor, so i'm going to hedge my bets and say that i think pentax may well either equal the 10mp noise performance or set the bench mark, just my thoughts and hopes...
--
Not long now till i get a special K

Info thread for new Pentax SLR users:
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=19455961

GMT +9.5

boosh71 said:

I read on another post that the image quality will be similar to
the other 10MP DSLRs out there. I figured this much, so for the
heck of it I wanted to check out some images from these cameras.
On dcresource.com I found a comparision of the same image with the
A100, D80, and Rebel XTi @ ISO1600.

http://www.dcresource.com/reviews/nikon/d80-review/index.shtml

It's easy to see that the A100 has a problem with noise at ISO
1600. The A100 and D80 and K10D all use the same sensor (right?).
So my question is this: Do you think Pentax made the effort to
reduce noise at high ISO like Nikon did?

Click to expand...

Yes. I heard, in my daydream, IQ of K10D already surpassed that of D80 though the samples were not opened to the public yet. As shown on the comparison images at dcresource, D80 attained the low noise at high ISO at the cost of a good reproduction of tone & resolution, compared to Rebel and A100. (BTW, this is why I personally want Pentax to let us control the trade-off balance between resolution and NR.) Pentax usually don't rant about their products, but this time they call K10D a camera of "Revolution of Image Quality." Since they made such a slogan for K10D, I for one believe K10D will attain the better IQ than other 10MP DSLRs. I don't think they would use the 22 bit ADC in vain.

Either way, at this rate the sample images will be coming from our Japanese friends at the end of October, ie, the ones that buy it!

It is getting very late in the day, still, I trust them (as much as you can trust a company nowadays)
--
I'm so bored!

ISO3200 was obviously pretty bad, so it is no longer available. If 1600 is anywhere near the quality of the 6MP sensors than I will be happy.
--
Rosco
Terminal Stage LBA
http://www.pbase.com/roscot

ISO 3200 was "pretty bad" because Pentax choosed to start at ISO 100 instead of at ISO 200 as in the previous DSLR's. If they had started with 200 then 3200 would be as good as in the previous DSLR's. The limitation is that the sensor only can cope with a limited amount of ISO range and Pentax choosed 100 over 3 200 due to customer demand.

Take care
R

The *ist D series had the lowest noise at high ISO than the competition with the same sensor (confirmed in tests by german magazines Fotomagazin and Color Foto). I see no reason to believe they won't do that again.

Pentax has clearly stated that one of the main reason for going with a 22 bit A/D was to lower the noise, couple this with advanced signal processing in the PRIME processor then Pentax has the technology to do suceed.

I doubt they put in such advanced and expensive circuits just for fun - that would be very un-Pentax. Pentax is by tradition a modest company.

Take care
R

Pentax doesn't choose iso 100 to start, it depend on the sensor. All the 10MP sensor start a 100 iso, this because of the lesser dimension of the photosite and the lesser sensitivity of the single photosite.

bye

My guess is that the 22-bit ADC is the key to the low noise performance.

I'm hoping that it may also address the general CCD issue of only having 128 levels in the darkest tones and 2048 levels in the brightest tones - would it be possible for the ADC 're-sample' the 22-bit file and provide a more evenly balanced 12-bit file ?

See here for an explanation of the issue:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/u-raw-files.shtml

--
Mick
_
'Without deviation (from the norm), 'progress' is not possible'

(Frank Zappa)

http://pbase.com/hamoudix/
http://hamoudix.blogspot.com/

Hi Roland,

I'm not criticizing. I rarely used 3200. I do use 1600 all the time. So all I'm saying is I'll be happy with the staus quo noise wise at 1600. In fact from the hints Pentax has be throwwing around, I expect it will be.

Cheers
--
Rosco
Terminal Stage LBA
http://www.pbase.com/roscot