I really don't know what to do with my upgrade plan to Pentax K-7. Originally, I was thinking of upgrading my Pentax K20D to Pentax K-7 when Pentax K-7 happens to get close in price to $1K. Now that with the Pentax K-x that comes with white color that I love as a backup and travel light and do it all camera. I am as confused as ever when I come to a purchase decision point that I find myself stuck and not sway one way or the other. I was not expecting the desire for K-x as much as I want an upgrade from K20D to a K-7. Pentax has done its jobs right and I am indecisive in what to get first. I am sure many of my readers and buddies are sharing the same dilemma. And I place a comment on
Ned Bunnell's blog post on K-x test shots with this question:
Ned, whatever magic that you and your Pentax great colleagues have done on the high ISO noise, can you think of back-porting the improvement as an option to Pentax K-7 so that we are in full blown of improvements on noise not just on K-x but also on K-7.
It would be odd to see substantial improvement on noise on the entry level camera from Pentax but not on the flagship product with K-7.
I am likely to get K-7 and K-x and it would have been nice if K-7 has the high ISO capability with the K-x.
Just a thought, please forgive me to be straight. We need honest talks and right to the point. Hope you take it positively.
I find it intriguing that Pentax seems to pull out their best performance in noise control into the making of Pentax K-x. Its sample pictures in ISO 3200 and ISO 6400 are very appealing to me to say the least. Unlike certain Full Frame enthusiasts who have been whining their discontent in not having full frame, their story mainly concentrate on the best in noise control which Pentax is not the best option but I would say this -- Pentax K20D are quite good up to ISO 800 with solid performance and very reasonable for shots up to ISO 1600. However, shots beyond ISO 1600 seem to degrade quite drastically subject to the lighting scenes and lens mounted. I did a
shooting for staged dance performance and I can attest that many of my shots in ISO 400 to 1600 come out very satisfactory for me and quite a number of keepers and good shots between 1600 to 3200 but it really gets to my comfort zone to shoot anything above ISO 1600 and not worry about noise.
With the coming of Pentax K-x with a Sony Cmos sensor, likely the similar one shared by Nikon latest top models, I am baffled to find much improvements on noise in ISO 3200 to 6400. With K-x, my impressions so far seem to indicate that I can shoot confidently from ISO 1600 to 3200 and not have to worry too much about noise.
What happens to K-7, if I have to give my impressions. It looks as if K-7 is at best in par with K20D and vary slightly both ways in terms of noise. I am not trying to step down on Pentax like RH and others are as Pentax K-7 is really a total revamp with a leap of bold moves with lots of improvement and substantial features on video, level indicator, better frame rates at 5.2 fps, quiet AF and better body overall just to name a few. All improvement really make K-7 a good competitor to Nikon D300 and Canon 50D for me. But the similar noise performance in K-7 seems to give competition reasons to doubt on the wonderful flagship product of Pentax. It would have been a clear winner if K-7 has the noise improvements made in K-x.
I am still undecided as to which camera to get first. Should I get a K-x first and then K-7. Or should I go with K-7 and forget about K-x. I am sophisticated guy who wants the best from Pentax and yet I am a stylish guy who may go out the extra miles to compromise for a smaller and more stylish camera for traveling and backup purpose.
I need to think it through as I don't want to rush into the decision. Patience will reward me for the ultimate dual body system that I need.
Update:- I have made the purchase of the Pentax K-x White and decided to postpone the purchase decision on K-7 indefinitely.
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