Two new, old DSLRs

[ManualFocus-G]

I have two bargain DSLRs on the way, and I intend to test and compare their shake reduction features!

I won:

K100D for £110.00 posted.
Sony a230 for £97.00 posted.

The Pentax interests me the most as you can change the focal length in the camera, rather than having to buy dedicated adapters. I expect the SuperSteadyShot on the a230 to be similar to that of the a450, which gave around two stops advantage at shorter focal lengths and a stop advantage for long lenses (>300mm) over a non-stabilised lens.

Will post some results soon hopefully

[stingOM]

Conglats Graham. I too waas tempted by this offer:
http://forum.mflenses.com/is-this-a-good-price-for-a-pentax-k100ds-t43548.html

[ManualFocus-G]

[stingOM]

Yeah, no interest from the folks here yet. Already have too many cameras. Currently I have Nikon D2H, Panny G1 and Fuji S3...Hard to justify yet another camera

[luisalegria]

Well, I already have a K100D

One day I'll figure out how to clean the viewfinder haze.

The K100D IS is a wonderful thing. It really does work, most of all with long lenses. I never thought I would be handholding 400mm, but with this its something that works even in an overcast and in the shade.

[ManualFocus-G]

[stingOM]

Hi Graham,

I think you can comfortably shoot at ISO 800 1/6s with any difficulties:
http://www.techtheman.com/2007/05/pentax-k100d-test-shots.html

[LucisPictor]

Cool, Graham!
It's always fun to play with those "old" gems. And it's not just playing, they perform well!

[poilu]

[ManualFocus-G]

[eddieitman]

The steadyshot can be due to missaligned sensor is there any black bands on pics? If so take a look at
http://blog.dynaxdigital.com/equipment-tech-talk/digital-slr-and-slt-discussion/how-to-adjust-the-focus-sensor-on-your-konicaminolta-and-sony-dslr

[Transit]

The K100D is one sweet camera. That 6MP was a well developed sensor.
The best DR is at 400iso. I used to just leave it in 800iso most of the time for shutter speed.
Have fun.
Pete

[GrahamNR17]

I have found the K100D works well with MF lenses and shake reduction. Bear in mind the lens flange will need to be plain metal and large enough to short the electrical contacts, otherwise shake reduce (and hence focal length selection) is switched off by the camera. I have found it easy to remove a small area of black anodising or paint on the rear of the lenses. But my favourite lens - Helios 44-2 - isn't big enough at the rear to cover the electrical contacts.

What's really nice is, with the electrical contacts shorted, you can use Aperture Priority mode with accurate metering, which makes pre-set lenses a joy to use. Without shorted contacts, aperture priority still works, but you'll need to dial-in +1.5 EV.

Have fun

[ManualFocus-G]

Interesting about needing to short the pins. Can you not just tape foil over the contacts on the camera?

[martinsmith99]

My shake reduction works on all cameras; it's called a tripod.

[ManualFocus-G]

[GrahamNR17]

[ManualFocus-G]

Right, the K100D is here and I love it! It's small, well built and the SR is brilliant! Just need to sort the exposure issue out

[yinyangbt]

So?
some samples from the Pentax handheld lowlight ??
I was either thinking of such a move , but with 2 stops advantage ,I belived that 3200 (2 stops over 800) Sony nex 3 could be a better deal allowing to use my AR , MD/MC, Fuji X and FD mount lenses. But I still am curious about that in body shake reduction. Maybe you'll post some samples at 800 and 1600 iso(the last one to compare with the 6400 on nex , could be better)

[ManualFocus-G]

Hey, that's an unfair comparison. The K100D is four years old now, comparing its high ISO to that of a Nex with a much newer sensor is not on. The stabilisation of the Pentax will give it an advantage, however, for slow moving subjects.

I haven't done any serious low light shooting yet, but the anti shake system is brilliant! I've just shot a 400mm Tamron out the window and got a pin sharp image at 1/125th second allowing me to use ISO 200 rather than the usual 1/640th which would be required at ISO 1000 or so, which equates to about 2.5 stops or so. Perfect for slow moving wildlife.

I previously owned a Sony a450 which would only reliably give me 1 stop of stabilisation with long lenses. The Pentax reliably gives me 2 stops with long lenses, and 50% reliable results at 2.5 stops.

Time to pull out those old Soligors

[ManualFocus-G]

K100D image shake reduction test

I took 4 photos at each ISO level of the same subject, handheld with a Tamron 400/6.9 prime lens wide open. I had to increase the exposure in pp because I haven't modded the camera to expose properly with M42 lenses yet.

All shots below are 100% crops of the test image.

ISO 3200 @ 1/1000 - +0.35 stop exposure increase in pp (for a camera without stabilisation, this is the most likely setting for a sharp shot, where 1/600 second is required due to the 1.5x crop factor) - 100% images were sharp at this setting



ISO 1600 @ 1/500 - +0.35 stop exposure increase in pp - 100% images were sharp at this setting



ISO 800 @ 1/250 - +0.35 stop exposure increase in pp - 75% images were sharp at this setting



ISO 400 @ 1/160 - +0.35 stop exposure increase in pp - 50% of the images were sharp at this setting



ISO 200 @ 1/60 - +0.35 stop exposure increase in pp - 25% of images were sharp at this setting



Full image at ISO 400

[yinyangbt]

[scsambrook]

Graham's results with the K100d tally with my own experience regarding image stabilisation - it simply does work beautifully. In fact by holding the camera firmly and breathing out prior to releasing the shutter I can usually - not always but nearly always - get properly sharp results at 1/30th with a 200mm lens.

What puzzles me a little is that the IS on my K10d doesn't seem to be as effective. However, the shutter release is heavier than the K100d and seems to have a fractionally longer delay before the shutter fires. Splitting hairs here, of course, so it could be me and not the camera.

If only Leica had a similar system in the M8/M9 it would be wonderful - !

[ManualFocus-G]

Hi Teo

I understand now But yes, I think the Pentax system is better, although I haven't had the chance to use an ultra modern Pentax or Sony camera yet

I was always disappointed by the Nex-5 above ISO 6400...there was just too much noise and the colours desaturate. I wonder how the Nex-5N performs? I have to say, I'm very impressed with the Pentax

Regards

Graham

[yinyangbt]