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Pentax vs. Nikon....are there any Pentax shooters that have used a d7000 or d7100?

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ZenImage

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Hello all!

I am upgrading from a d5200, I loved my camera, but as I'm growing as a photographer, I want something that is going to allow for more wiggle room. For a short time, I was looking into the 5300. But I'm not particularly interested in some of it's features...I'm not bashing, by any means, but I feel as though to me, some of it's features were a little gimmicky. I'm more interested in features that make practical sense, and will provide me with pro-like features for now as well as down the road. Having, at the time, only been exposed to Nikon, the logical step was the d7100. But I have no blind loyalty to any particular brand, and have started searching outside of the Canikon empire. I came across the K-3, and am VERY impressed with, well, just about everything! Both cameras have their strengths and weaknesses, so I guess my question is whether or not any of you out there have had an opportunity to shoot with both the K-3 or even the K-5IIs AND the d7100 or d7000 that can share with me their thoughts on both systems. I am COMPLETELY new to Pentax, and so have no basis for comparison. Any advice or feedback is appreciated. Thank you all!:-D
 
The Pentax will give you lots of wiggle room - in the viewfinder. That IBIS stabilizes the sensor but leaves you and the camera's sensors (AF and metering and of course the viewfinder) with an un stabilized jittery image. The longer the tele the more the jitter. I like my viewfinder stabilized and for my AF and metering to have a stable image to work with. On a DS LR, that means optical stabilization. (Thom Hogan confirmed this to me.) IBIS sounds good but it makes very little sense on a DSLR. On a mirrorless, yes. But not on a DSLR.
 
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Midwest said:
The Pentax will give you lots of wiggle room - in the viewfinder. That IBIS stabilizes the sensor but leaves you and the camera's sensors (AF and metering and of course the viewfinder) with an un stabilized jittery image. The longer the tele the more the jitter. I like my viewfinder stabilized and for my AF and metering to have a stable image to work with. On a DS LR, that means optical stabilization. (Thom Hogan confirmed this to me.) IBIS sounds good but it makes very little sense on a DSLR. On a mirrorless, yes. But not on a DSLR.
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Whoa! I thought I got dropped in the Cannon crop sensor forum for a second. Who is this Thom Hogan guy anyway? :-) Pentax calls it SR and it is done by physically moving the sensor a minute amount. I have never noticed much wiggle in the view finder but if it were there it would make me try to improve my holding technique. IBIS is a Sony or Oly technique. I think they work very well also. Besides any lens I use can have the SR switched on or off and a lot of lenses are made without optical stabilization among the big makers. You ever use a camera that has this feature much?

Cheers.
 
Midwest said:
The Pentax will give you lots of wiggle room - in the viewfinder. That IBIS stabilizes the sensor but leaves you and the camera's sensors (AF and metering and of course the viewfinder) with an un stabilized jittery image.
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LOL, are you still on your one-man campaign? You've been discredited every time you spew this nonsense.

We shoot Pentax and don't agree with you. We should know, we have experience, on Sigma teles with ILIS, and Pentax teles with IBIS. You're a Canon shooter, you have no experience with IBIS. As you've been told, over and over, if there is shake in the OVF, brace yourself before taking the shot, don't rely on image stabilization to rescue you.

IBIS stabilizes the relationship between the lens and sensor. The idea that metering will be impacted is absolute poppycock. ROTFLMAO!
 
Some Pentax mount Sigma's

17-50 2.8 (non OS because of Pentax IBIS)

18-35 1.8 (advance order - see bhvideo/adorama)

30 1.4 (just announced)

500

50-500

150-500

120-400

10-20 (both 3.5 and older model)

12-24

35mm full frame

many primes
 
audiobomber said:
Midwest said:
The Pentax will give you lots of wiggle room - in the viewfinder. That IBIS stabilizes the sensor but leaves you and the camera's sensors (AF and metering and of course the viewfinder) with an un stabilized jittery image.
Click to expand...
LOL, are you still on your one-man campaign? You've been discredited every time you spew this nonsense.

We shoot Pentax and don't agree with you. We should know, we have experience, on Sigma teles with ILIS, and Pentax teles with IBIS. You're a Canon shooter, you have no experience with IBIS. As you've been told, over and over, if there is shake in the OVF, brace yourself before taking the shot, don't rely on image stabilization to rescue you.

IBIS stabilizes the relationship between the lens and sensor. The idea that metering will be impacted is absolute poppycock. ROTFLMAO!
Click to expand...
 
"Because he like others including dpreview hate Pentax - it annoys them, because to them it has always been inferior and they cannot think of it any other way despite all the facts before them"

I have a different theory. He is not annoyed at all. In fact, he is grateful Pentax is around.

Why do car magazines review the Toyota Camry and then go on and on about lack of performance and handling? To cater to the majority of their readership who see themselves as cool because they drive some sporty thing. Car enthusiasts buy the most car magazines and they want to read their sporty car is so much better than something. And it make them feel good about themselves that they are better than the average guy. The car magazines have to have some car to point to as representative of the average person who isn't smart enough to buy a really good car.

Does it hurt Toyota sales what the car enthusiast magazines say about the Camry? Not really.
 
I've been seriously contemplating on moving from the Nikon D600 to the K3. For my shooting style I've learned that the 1.5 crop benefits me more then the FF benefits. With the K3 only being $1019 at Amazon, i may jump. Especially since I've gone from 7 lenses to only 2 over the last 5 months. It's still a tough decision as I've been shooting Nikon so long. Also I'm so use to the DR(in landscapes) and low noise of the D600, I'm worried I'm so use to it, I may be disappointed.
 
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Tyr-Sog said:
I've been seriously contemplating on moving from the Nikon D600 to the K3. For my shooting style I've learned that the 1.5 crop benefits me more then the FF benefits. With the K3 only being $1019 at Amazon, i may jump. Especially since I've gone from 7 lenses to only 2 over the last 5 months. It's still a tough decision as I've been shooting Nikon so long. Also I'm so use to the DR(in landscapes) and low noise of the D600, I'm worried I'm so use to it, I may be disappointed.
Click to expand...
You wont be disappointed, I kept my ff for my fashion stuff but for everything else the k3 is better imho (or at least a acceptable trade off for the reach from 1.5 and size etc etc)
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Midwest said:
The Pentax will give you lots of wiggle room - in the viewfinder. That IBIS stabilizes the sensor but leaves you and the camera's sensors (AF and metering and of course the viewfinder) with an un stabilized jittery image. The longer the tele the more the jitter. I like my viewfinder stabilized and for my AF and metering to have a stable image to work with. On a DS LR, that means optical stabilization. (Thom Hogan confirmed this to me.) IBIS sounds good but it makes very little sense on a DSLR. On a mirrorless, yes. But not on a DSLR.
Click to expand...
This seems like a bunch of misinformation. To start, any serious "jitter" from a long telephoto will not be fully corrected via either lens stabilization or sensor stabilization. If it's that distracting through a Pentax viewfinder, you can be almost certain the captured image is going to look blurry on a Canon or Nikon -- OIS or not. So, why not know the full extent of the jitter before you push the shutter button?

Second, there's no reason for IBIS to be more useful on mirrorless than DSLRs. If that's wrong... why? So that begs the question... why did Panasonic just put IBIS on their latest camera?
 
tassosDA said:
According to photozone.de the 18-135 is one of the worst zoom lenses of Pentax! The sample they tested was actually so bad that they sended it back to Pentax- Germany to ask if it was defective. The reply from Pentax ( after testin the sample) was that the lens was whithin factory specifications!!! I dont own the lens but I would be very sceptical buying one cosidering also the fact that it isn't cheap either!! The best all around zoom lens from Pentax seems to be the 17-70 f4! If it had weather sealing it would be perfect.
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I own the lens. I wasn't all that happy with it and then figured out it was de-centered. I sent it to CRIS with a couple of test images and they sent it back very quickly. It looks excellent now and seems like a whole new lens (it's not, just adjusted).
 
The feature that most keeps me in the Pentax camp is it's flexibility with old lenses. The IBIS makes all of them stabilized, and the focus peaking makes the old manual focus ones a joy to use.

If you've never tried macro photography, this can open up a whole new world for your hobby. If you have tried it, the focus peaking makes it enormously easier. We keep a K-01 just for this feature (my older k-5 lacks it), but all the new Pentax bodies include it.





 
OpticsEngineer said:
"Because he like others including dpreview hate Pentax - it annoys them, because to them it has always been inferior and they cannot think of it any other way despite all the facts before them"

I have a different theory. He is not annoyed at all. In fact, he is grateful Pentax is around.

Why do car magazines review the Toyota Camry and then go on and on about lack of performance and handling? To cater to the majority of their readership who see themselves as cool because they drive some sporty thing. Car enthusiasts buy the most car magazines and they want to read their sporty car is so much better than something. And it make them feel good about themselves that they are better than the average guy. The car magazines have to have some car to point to as representative of the average person who isn't smart enough to buy a really good car.

Does it hurt Toyota sales what the car enthusiast magazines say about the Camry? Not really.
Click to expand...
As a former car nut your point is well taken and sorry for the rant.to everyone for the rant. Things is the Pentax K-50 is a CR best buy among other DSLRs. Why? It is cheap, performs well and generally has a lot going for it. So in theory if you have a really good product, which they do, then you would think it would sell better right? It is just a solid , well built , reliable and very capable device with unique features. It is the mid size family sedan that does most things very well, maybe a little sporty but it is no exotic sports car. I liken Pentax to Mazda. Limited budget and resources , but they get the most out of it. The car magazines laud Mazda, as does CR, all the time. The expert blogs and photography sites typically not so much with Pentax. I care what sites think only because I would like to Pentax to sell items in order for Ricoh to continue to support them because I really like Pentax cameras and lenses and I would like others to also at least be aware of Pentax and that their cameras are a viable option.
 
Well I shoot with an Optically stabilized 70-200 amongst other lens on my K3 so I;m probably one of the few who know the difference between the two from the shooters perspective.

If your shooting a brick wall the the OS gives you about 1 stop advantage over IS which really surprised me but a bigger surprise was to come.

In use OS offered no advantage in fact it seemed to be at a slight deficit I suspect this is because of the 'stabilized view' you tend to waggle the camera more without noticing so OS has less 'wiggle room'.

As to holding target again this was more obvious with ibis than OS and therefore easier to react to change and keep the target where you wanted it.

Exposure never varied between the two so that’s is complete hogwash

AF performance again no difference at all the camera behave as fast and it was as easy to acquire targets whether shooting ibis or OS

The big advantage OS had for me and why I used it is mode 2 disabling horizontal stabilization so shooting pan shots is possible with SR enabled.

If Pentax implemented the same feature I would not use OS , Ibis is just more natural and you feel more in control of the image.
 
ZenImage said:
Thank you, to all of you for your advice and for sharing your experiences. They have been super helpful with putting some things into perspective! In regards to visiting a camera store to test out different systems....uhh...well, Lakeland doesn't have any. Lol. Neither does Tampa. At least none that I am aware of, or that sell Pentax! (I still have yet to confirm whether or not Orlando has any) That has been my biggest road block; finding a retailer for Pentax...where I am currently living, if it's not Canon or Nikon, it isn't on the shelf. I have had to resort to tons and tons of online reviews and videos of the K-3 in order to piece together an idea of what it may be like.

*Hopefully I responded to this ok...I'm also new to forums, in general. ;-)

Best regards to all

-Jessica
Click to expand...
ZenImage,

I live on the east coast of Florida and last I looked the only store in Orlando that carries high end camera equipment was Colonial Photo & Hobby, and they didn't carry Pentax. Southern Photo in Melbourne does now carry all Pentax bodies and at least a few lenses. It's a good place with very nice people. They told me to bring my lenses and an SD card to try out any camera. They said they have all the bodies in stock. It's a bit of a drive from Lakeland but may be worth it, if you haven't already made your decision. They have a website.

Last time I was in Lakeland I saw the Doobie Brothers at the LCC. Do they still put on concerts there?

Bill
 
Snydly said:
ZenImage said:
Thank you, to all of you for your advice and for sharing your experiences. They have been super helpful with putting some things into perspective! In regards to visiting a camera store to test out different systems....uhh...well, Lakeland doesn't have any. Lol. Neither does Tampa. At least none that I am aware of, or that sell Pentax! (I still have yet to confirm whether or not Orlando has any) That has been my biggest road block; finding a retailer for Pentax...where I am currently living, if it's not Canon or Nikon, it isn't on the shelf. I have had to resort to tons and tons of online reviews and videos of the K-3 in order to piece together an idea of what it may be like.

*Hopefully I responded to this ok...I'm also new to forums, in general. ;-)

Best regards to all

-Jessica
Click to expand...
ZenImage,

I live on the east coast of Florida and last I looked the only store in Orlando that carries high end camera equipment was Colonial Photo & Hobby, and they didn't carry Pentax. Southern Photo in Melbourne does now carry all Pentax bodies and at least a few lenses. It's a good place with very nice people. They told me to bring my lenses and an SD card to try out any camera. They said they have all the bodies in stock. It's a bit of a drive from Lakeland but may be worth it, if you haven't already made your decision. They have a website.

Last time I was in Lakeland I saw the Doobie Brothers at the LCC. Do they still put on concerts there?

Bill
Click to expand...
Hi Bill,

Thanks A TON for the info on the camera stores. It really does break my heart that no one cares to carry Pentax. How are people supposed to make informed decisions about products when they're strategically kept out of the running? But I guess that IS the point. Oh well. I happen to be a stubborn consumer, lol. Melbourne is maybe 3 hr. drive from here, give or take. I 'm not sure what they've been up to currently. I have been out of touch with it since I became too old for Disney on ice, lol!...they always try to do a bunch of stuff though. But they hold the gun show, monster truck rally...I believe N'Sync performed there a couple of years ago, as well as the Russian Ballet. I think Engelbert Humperdinck popped up recently...They're all over the place. How long ago were you here? They've tried building it up and have added a Hyatt...
 
I have the K-5II and the Nikon D7000. I use them both almost entirely for sports shooting in continuous shooting mode, so that's where my perspective is coming from in answer to your question.

I started with Pentax equipment in 2008 and bought the D7000 a couple years ago only because I wanted to use the Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 zoom, which is not available in a Pentax mount. I had no complaints about the Pentax equipment I was using, I just wanted the 120-300mm and had no alternative but to buy Nikon (or Canon) equipment if I wanted the lens.

Anyway, the biggest difference for me has been that the D7000 has lower noise at high ISO settings compared to the K-5II. I believe the K-3 has not improved on high ISO noise performance over the K-5II so I think the D7000 would still be the low noise winner vs the K-3.

I think the D7000 still focuses a bit faster in low light comapred to the K-5II also, at least for my purposes. That said, I only purchased the K-5II recently, replacing my K-5, and the K-5II has narrowed the gap between it and the D7000 in low noise and autofocusing performance.

The only other advantage the D7000 has for me compared to the K-5II is that I recently sold my slow focusing DA* 50-135mm and purchased a faster focusing Sigma 50-150mm (non image stabilized) for my D7000 as a replacement lens. Again, the Sigma 50-150 is not available in a Pentax mount, thus forcing my hand. Shooting typically at 1/500 SS or higher, I don't need the image stabilization but the Sigma 50-150mm focuses faster under indoor lighting, which is crucial for me as I shoot a lot of indoor sports.

Otherwise, I generally still like my K-5II and may replace an old K-5 I have with the K-3. The number one advantage of the Pentax DSLRs is the weatherproofing. Shooting outside this is a tremendous advantage when it starts to rain. I've had the Pentax DSLRs out in all sorts of rain (with a DA*) lens and the equipment has never let me down. The D7000 and the Sigma 120-300mm have some water and dust resistance but definitely not to the extent of the K-5II, so I am careful not to subject the non-Pentax equipment to much rain. That is very inconvenient at times.

For sports shooting, the K-5II has a faster frame rate but a much lower capacity buffer compared to the Nikon D7000. I believe the K-3 has improved in this regard.

That's my two cents.

Jay
 
jakey217350 said:
Anyway, the biggest difference for me has been that the D7000 has lower noise at high ISO settings compared to the K-5II.
Click to expand...
Are you shooting jpegs? The K-5 II and D7000 use the same Sony sensor, SNR is the same, as shown on DXOMark.
jakey217350 said:
I think the D7000 still focuses a bit faster in low light comapred to the K-5II also, at least for my purposes.
Click to expand...
I believe that is an unusual opinion. The K-5 II low light AF convincingly outperforms the D7100 in this video, and the D7100 has upgraded AF performance compared to the D7000:

 
ZenImage said:
Snydly said:
ZenImage said:
Thank you, to all of you for your advice and for sharing your experiences. They have been super helpful with putting some things into perspective! In regards to visiting a camera store to test out different systems....uhh...well, Lakeland doesn't have any. Lol. Neither does Tampa. At least none that I am aware of, or that sell Pentax! (I still have yet to confirm whether or not Orlando has any) That has been my biggest road block; finding a retailer for Pentax...where I am currently living, if it's not Canon or Nikon, it isn't on the shelf. I have had to resort to tons and tons of online reviews and videos of the K-3 in order to piece together an idea of what it may be like.

*Hopefully I responded to this ok...I'm also new to forums, in general. ;-)

Best regards to all

-Jessica
Click to expand...
ZenImage,

I live on the east coast of Florida and last I looked the only store in Orlando that carries high end camera equipment was Colonial Photo & Hobby, and they didn't carry Pentax. Southern Photo in Melbourne does now carry all Pentax bodies and at least a few lenses. It's a good place with very nice people. They told me to bring my lenses and an SD card to try out any camera. They said they have all the bodies in stock. It's a bit of a drive from Lakeland but may be worth it, if you haven't already made your decision. They have a website.

Last time I was in Lakeland I saw the Doobie Brothers at the LCC. Do they still put on concerts there?

Bill
Click to expand...
Hi Bill,

Thanks A TON for the info on the camera stores. It really does break my heart that no one cares to carry Pentax. How are people supposed to make informed decisions about products when they're strategically kept out of the running? But I guess that IS the point. Oh well. I happen to be a stubborn consumer, lol. Melbourne is maybe 3 hr. drive from here, give or take. I 'm not sure what they've been up to currently. I have been out of touch with it since I became too old for Disney on ice, lol!...they always try to do a bunch of stuff though. But they hold the gun show, monster truck rally...I believe N'Sync performed there a couple of years ago, as well as the Russian Ballet. I think Engelbert Humperdinck popped up recently...They're all over the place. How long ago were you here? They've tried building it up and have added a Hyatt...
Click to expand...
Probably last there around 1981. Many trips there from the small town north of Melbourne where I grew up. Good old days. Easy drive to and from. The things we used to do.

Southern Photo had a k-x a few years ago, testing the waters I think when Pentax started getting pretty good at digital. They abandoned Pentax after that. I went in from time to time and was pleasantly surprised they had an entire Pentax case, just like Canon, Nikon, Sigma, etc. Don't know if it will last but they went all out this time. There is a Ricoh building (small factory or office space I think) right down the street. I wonder if they had anything to do with Southern Photo's new interest in selling Pentax gear.

Keep us posted on your decisions. I think handling your gear before purchase is important as well.

Bill
 
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