£250 cash back offer from Pentax.

[Monobod]

Have you heard the good news.

Spend £650 get £50 back
Spend £1000 get £100 back
Spend £1500 get £150 back
Spend £2000 get £250 back

Now there is an offer not to be turned down, thank goodness I waited for my K-7

[Done_rundleCams]

Have you heard the good news.

Spend £650 get £50 back
Spend £1000 get £100 back
Spend £1500 get £150 back
Spend £2000 get £250 back

Now there is an offer not to be turned down, thank goodness I waited for my K-7

Bravo Monsieur David

Cheers,

Jack

[Monobod]

Hello Jack,

Good to hear from you again. Well, yes I have succummed to the sales bods and bought the K-7 body. Battery grip and spare battery. This put me just a few bob short of the £150 cash back limit so I went totally bananas and bought the AF360FGZ flashgun as well. This will go well as a second gun for off camera flash set ups using the AF540FGZ I already have. Can experiment now with 'still life' set ups.

First impressions:

I must admit, I prefer the body size and shape of the K20D, I find the reduction on the left side of the K-7 to be uncomfortable and there is no where for my left thumb, but I will probably get used to that eventually.

The reduction in weight is noticeable and welcome too.

The viewfinder is bright, but as I wear glasses, I am finding it not easy to see the whole screen, I get a slight vignetting in the corners because my eye is a bit further away from the camera. Take the glasses off and it is A-OK, but I then need to put them back on to see the image on the rear screen properly. Just an age thing I suppose!

I bought the camera from Warehouse Express, here in Norwich and they have a good display of Nikon, Sony and Canon kit with cameras one can play with. I must say, of all of the others, I thought the build quality of the Pentax stood head and shoulders above. It was noticeably better than the Canons I looked at for the same money.

Nice to have alternative trays for the battery grip, so I can use AA batteries in an emergency.

All in all, with £150 cashback on top of the recent reduction in the K-7 price and considering that VAT here goes up again next month, I think I have got in just in time.

I think I will probably now consider selling the K20D and grip, as the K-7 is obviously going to dominate my photography from now on. I cannot see myself carrying two bodies around with me.

[El_Sid]

I cannot see myself carrying two bodies around with me.

While I don't lug two bodies around for most of my photographic expeditions (how daft would that be?) I do find two bodies useful for some event photography where I'm likely to need use both standard and telephoto lens. Changing lenses is often too slow or sometimes there's just too much of a crowd to manage easily and then 2 cameras is a boon. I suppose an 18-200+ lens would be a possible alternative but I'm still unconvinced about mega zooms...

I also like the comfort of having a back up if anything terminal, or even temporarily inconvenient, should happen to the main camera...

[Monobod]

Yes, I agree that it would be convenient to have a backup, but it is seldom ever the case that I would have the other body near enough to be useful. Leaving it in the car whilst out on a shoot is no good. Also, being realistic, the K20D is probably still a very saleable item, with all the boxes and accessories together with two Pentax batteries and a battery grip, so the cash would be helpful to offset the cost of the recent spend.

Someone suggested converting the K10D to infra red, but I can replicate this in Photoshop, so that does not interest me, so that is also being advertised.

The infra red conversion images I have seen to date do not seem to me to be very 'true to form'.

[PentaxManiac]

It's a bit late for you, but for anyone else considering going from a K20D or K10D to a K7 there's a dealer in Waltham Abbey in Hertfordshire called Digital Camera Exchange which gives quite good part exchange for both towards the K7. They advertise in the photo mags, sorry I don't have an e-mail or web address to hand.

[Done_rundleCams]

Hello Jack,


The viewfinder is bright, but as I wear glasses, I am finding it not easy to see the whole screen, I get a slight vignetting in the corners because my eye is a bit further away from the camera. Take the glasses off and it is A-OK, but I then need to put them back on to see the image on the rear screen properly. Just an age thing I suppose!


I think I will probably now consider selling the K20D and grip, as the K-7 is obviously going to dominate my photography from now on. I cannot see myself carrying two bodies around with me.

Hi David,

Oh, I know about that "glasses off -- glasses on" thing .... and, whilst the 2 bodies
is a bit more weighty, as Nigel says, it definitely makes life easier for events and such
Of course, I carry the 2 bodies around ...all the time ...simply because life in
YVR is an event just waiting to happen

Cheers,

Jack

[Monobod]

I wondered if taking off the rubber eye cup would help, but that could let stray light in through the back door.

My friends at the club still think I am 'on the fringe' by not jumping to Canon or even Nikon, but they are un appreciative of the merits od Pentax cameras, they had to admit though that the build quality was exceptional, even though reluctantly.

It makes me smile that they cannot control off camera flash without buying expensive bolt on triggers for the top plate and the guns.

They also thought I was pulling their leg when I told them that I had auto horizon correction, in camera HDR and that I could move the sensor around for macro fine adjustment of framing.

All for less than a grand too.

[Done_rundleCams]

I wondered if taking off the rubber eye cup would help, but that could let stray light in through the back door.

My friends at the club still think I am 'on the fringe' by not jumping to Canon or even Nikon, but they are un appreciative of the merits od Pentax cameras, they had to admit though that the build quality was exceptional, even though reluctantly.

It makes me smile that they cannot control off camera flash without buying expensive bolt on triggers for the top plate and the guns.

They also thought I was pulling their leg when I told them that I had auto horizon correction, in camera HDR and that I could move the sensor around for macro fine adjustment of framing.

All for less than a grand too.

Well done David, that's as good of an advert as I've heard for Pentax in a while and should
send the Nikon/Canon users back to their collective instruction manuals for a re-read ...only to
be disappointed in finding out their camera's can do that

Cheers,

Jack

[David120]

Hi all

I've had my K10D now for a couple of year's but now the K7 is here is it really worth shelling out a lot of money to upgrade to the new camera? I've been very pleased with the results the K10 has achieved but does the K7 really produce vastly better image quality compared to the K10 to justify the £900 price tag?

Cheers

[Monobod]

Hi all

I've had my K10D now for a couple of year's but now the K7 is here is it really worth shelling out a lot of money to upgrade to the new camera? I've been very pleased with the results the K10 has achieved but does the K7 really produce vastly better image quality compared to the K10 to justify the £900 price tag?

Cheers

In a word, yes!

The definition is very much better, due to the extra pixels, but the K20D is also as well endowed in this respect. So if you are only looking for better image quality, the K20D is well worth considering. To be honest, the K20D handles better IMHO, I am not that keen on the narrow body of the K-7, it feels unbalanced with no where for your left thumb to go. But, I am sure this will change with time, as I get used to it. The reduction in weight is well appreciated, especially with the battery grip fitted. The grip has two trays, one for the normal battery and one for the AA's, so good flexability if in a fix with flat batteries.

Where the K-7 scores over the K20D is in the metering, with 77 segments, the live view, great for close up work and the very nice rear screen. The gimics, such as sensor shift and auto horizons are not that important, but a nice bonus, as is the HDR on occasions??

The menus are better with instant changes of settings from the boxes in the info screen, much like the Olympus system. I also think that the dust removal will be much better, again a la Oly.

Yes, the K-7 is a lot of camera for the money and I find the autofocus to be much quicker than the K10D and more positive. With the cashback offer and the recent price drop, I do not think there is a better bargain to be had from any of the other main manufacturers at the moment.

You could have the K10D converted to infra red of course!

[Done_rundleCams]

Hi all

I've had my K10D now for a couple of year's but now the K7 is here is it really worth shelling out a lot of money to upgrade to the new camera? I've been very pleased with the results the K10 has achieved but does the K7 really produce vastly better image quality compared to the K10 to justify the £900 price tag?

Cheers

Hi David,

Here is post I made a few months back of a email I received from a friend/customer who upgraded from a K10 to a K7 --- Click Here --

Cheers and, FWIW, I have yet to hear any negative feedback regarding the K-7

Jack

[PentaxManiac]

[/QUOTE]I am not that keen on the narrow body of the K-7, it feels unbalanced with no where for your left thumb to go.

[/QUOTE]

The purists, who of course insist that we all hold the camera in exactly the same way, would say your left thumb should be underneath the lens, or at least focusing and/or zooming the lens together with your left forefinger.

That said, I know exactly what you mean: I had a play with a K7 in Jacobs and was a bit concerned about its small size, to the extent that I'm not sure whether to move on to that or the K20D from my K10D.

[David120]

Thanks for the info. I see Park Cameras have now dropped the price to £930 for the body only and there's also a shop near Eastbourne that's a Pentax dealer so I'll see if I can get a good part exchange deal done on my K10.

[Monobod]

I am not that keen on the narrow body of the K-7, it feels unbalanced with no where for your left thumb to go.

[/QUOTE]

The purists, who of course insist that we all hold the camera in exactly the same way, would say your left thumb should be underneath the lens, or at least focusing and/or zooming the lens together with your left forefinger.


[/QUOTE]

Well, yes and that is what I mean when I say I will get used to it. It is just different rather than wrong.

[GDN]

So David how are you getting on with your K7 now? Any further thoughts? Have you got used to the narrow body?

[Monobod]

Hi,

Yes, it is falling into place. I do think it is better than the K20D, especially in respect of noise at higher ISO. The menu system is a great improvement with the info screen where you scroll around a grid of boxes and change things with the rear wheel. This is very quick, just like my Oly E-500.

Have a look on my Flickr site, there is a night time test shot taken at ISO 1250, half a second at f/13 hand held. The IS has worked a treat.

The exposures are much more accurate than the K20D, as you would expect with 77 zones, but this does mean you need to take more notice of the histogram to preserve highlight information. The K20D made me lazy here because of under exposure.

The virtual horizon is useful too. I thought at first it was a gimmick, but it is not. Also it works in portrait mode as well as landscape. Fully functional Live view is also very nice.

The build quality is just fantastic. I was concerned about the 'rubber' flaps instead of hard doors for the sockets, but this has been so well engineered as to be better then before.

I would thoroughly recommend it as a good buy. Especially with the cashback offer.

[GDN]

I would thoroughly recommend it as a good buy. Especially with the cashback offer.

Agggghhhhh not what I wanted to hear... I have my eye on one at the moment.... mmmm maybe a chrimbo present for myself...

Good to hear you're getting on well with it..

[Monobod]

I would thoroughly recommend it as a good buy. Especially with the cashback offer.

Agggghhhhh not what I wanted to hear... I have my eye on one at the moment.... mmmm maybe a chrimbo present for myself...

Good to hear you're getting on well with it..

Go for it, you know you want to!

[Done_rundleCams]

I would thoroughly recommend it as a good buy. Especially with the cashback offer.

Agggghhhhh not what I wanted to hear... I have my eye on one at the moment.... mmmm maybe a chrimbo present for myself...

Good to hear you're getting on well with it..

Go for it, you know you want to!

Hi David,

Glad to hear you enjoying the K7 ......... sounds like thoroughly

Cheers,

Jack