Update on WDC's K-7 review

[Nigel_Atherton]

Pentax has confirmed that it will be making changes to the sensor as used on WDC's review sample. Details here.

We have amended the K-7 review accordingly, to make this clear.

[Monobod]

Thanks Nigel.

[pgraber]

Thanks, Nigel. I think some of us suspected that something was not quite 'kosher' about the model you tested - would Pentax really allow a whole stop of underexposure? - and it's nice to know that's confirmed. Look forward to the final version of the review - I can see a lot of work has already gone in to it.

[dangie]

I fined it difficult to believe that Pentax have decided to make changes to the sensor at such a late stage due to the review in one British photography magazine. One must assume that whatever change is made, it would be worldwide. Is Pentax now going to withdraw all K-7's already shipped?

[Nigel_Atherton]

I don't think that's what happened. It seems Pentax UK handed out the samples for reviews in the mistaken belief that they were full production models (perhaps they were, originally), not knowing that Pentax in Japan had already decided to make some tweaks.

That information didn't filter down the line at Pentax for whatever reason, and when the powers that be saw our review online they were horrified and announced immediately that the cameras given out to UK press weren't the final models.

But not directly to us. Strangely, it then took Pentax UK a couple of days to confirm to us that this was the case.

In a way we were unfortunate in being the first to get our review up so quickly. If we'd waited till monday (when the announcement was made) instead of posting it on Friday we would of course have been able to hold it back, as we have done from the magazine.

The basic problem was one of communication at Pentax UK, compounded by a couple of unfortunate subbing errors made in the review itself in our haste to publish it before the weekend.

[dangie]

Many thanks Nigel.

[offertonhatter]

Could this explain the distinctly average images a certain other magazine got out of the K-7 in comparison to the 50D and D300? When I read their review the images were under exposed and/or muted colours, which looked more like my istDS rather than my K10D/K20D. I look forward to reading the WDC and AP reviews when a fully production version is available.

[sirmy]

"..there tends to be around 0.3-0.7 of a stop underexposure, and whilst leaning towards exposure compensation at all times, this can cause highlight-blowing disasters when you don’t need them."

Am I a bit slow today or would 0.3 - 0.7 underexposure preserve highlight detail, a point which will be made again and again on numerous forums across the web?

[johnriley1uk]

Yes, underexposure will preserve highlight detail. The Pentaxes all err on this side of things, which I think is generally a good thing.

It's much better than over-exposing.

[pgraber]

Nigel
Any sign yet of an update to your review using a final retail model - they've been in the UK for a while now?

[Monobod]

What some forget is that Pentax build cameras for experienced photographers who can get the best from using RAW. In Photoshop, it is easy to adjust the exposure to a point where the highlights are still preserved but the image looks right. If you expect to get images that do not need post processing, experience will soon teach you how much exposure compensation to dial in.

All in all, IMHO this is far better than loosing detail that cannot be recovered.

[pgraber]

Now that AP have published their review based on final retail product, will we see an update to this online WDC review?