I just received my Pentax K7.  I must say, as I took it out of the box I was surprised at how serious of a camera it felt like.  I knew when I bought it that it was a tiny camera and as a wedding phtographer it’s hard to be taken seriously with a small camera.  It’s very common to see 3 or 4 people at any given wedding with entry level Canons or Nikons around their necks or even “Uncle Bob” with his Nikon D3X.  Needless to say if you have any insecurities or are new to the business you want something that looks professional. 

A little about me:  I have been a wedding photographer here in Utah for six years and love it.  I typically shoot about 100 weddings a year.  Growing up, I learned photography from my father who for my birthday gave me a Pentax MG with a 50mm 2.0 lens and a 135 2.8 lens as well.  Photography was a big part of my life. 

I continued to use my MG until my early 20’s when I decided to “get  serious” about photography.  Like most amateur photographers I thought a nicer camera would mean better pictures.  I purchased a Pentax PZ-1P which is in fact a wonderful camera.  I then decided to pusue a formal education in photography at a local university where I was learning almost nothing and after a few months quit.  Searching the internet one day I found a book on spotmetering and the zone system by Bahman Farzad which I highly recommend. 

Shortly thereafter, I was asked by a friend to take his wedding engagement photos.   Taking along my trusty PZ-1P and newly acquired Pentax ist-D we had a great time, they loved their photos.  Not long after that, I began receiving more and more request for wedding work and that’s how my career as a wedding photographer started.

Film vs. Digital

I have always loved film and was one of those people who thought they would never make the switch to digital.  I actually returned my ist-D because it was so uncomfortable to hold.  The PZ-1P is without a doubt the most comfortable camera to use I’ve ever had. 

My Switch to Nikon and Back again

About a year later I decided to pick up another ist-D and give it another try with the battery grip.  I went down to Inkley’s (a local camera store here in Salt Lake City) owned by Ritz Camera I went in to buy my ist-D.  The salesman actually convinced me to go with a Nikon D70 which I enjoyed a great deal.  Do I think it was any better than the ist-D?  Not at all.  Nevertheless, trusting too much in the salesman at the time purchased the Nikon. 

The Nikon was a fine camera.  I owned 3 D70 bodies, then purchased the D70s, a D300, a D90 and finally the D5000 because I wanted something smaller.  I didn’t care much for the D5000 and returned it.  Still wanting something small with all the features of my D300 decided to check out Pentax’s offerings.  So here I am a proud owner of the K7. 

K7 vs.  D300?

Stay tuned for a  working wedding photographer’s review of the K7.  I don’t intend to do a showdown between the Nikon and the K7 but I will say the K7 is easily as capable as theee D300. 

High ISO

It’s no secret that the Nikon’s ISO performance is better.  Shooting RAW things are pretty close but at higher ISO’s with the K7 you run into banding and if you underexpose a photo at a higher ISO you’re pretty much out of luck as the shadow areas contain very little detail.  That said, I think the camera’s shake reduction is awesome.  I almost forgot the camera had built in shake reduction since that’s not why I bought the camera.  I have successfully taken many sharp photos at 1/4 of a second using my 50mm lens.  Very impressive performance. 

Color

I love the color the K7 produces.  It’s very natural and vibrant.  The first thing I noticed was how good reds look.  I always felt the Nikon over-saturated reds which is problematic for a wedding photographer since skin tones were always looking too pink.  With the K7 the skin tones are perfect. 

The problem with the Nikon is that having red oversaturated meant I had to turn down the saturation to get the skin to look right.  Consequently, everything else in the photo was undersaturated.  With the pentax the background looks great and so do the skin tones right out of the camera. 

The other thing i’ve noticed about the K7’s images is that they have a “depth” for lack of a better word about them that can’t be described.  The photos look very lifelike.  I’ll post samples soon to illustrate this.

Ergonomics

The K7 couldn’t be better.  I love being able to directly control ISO.  White balance is easy to adjust as well but I find the auto white balance to be about the best I’ve seen.  No, it’s not perfect and perhaps a little to cool outdoors from what I’ve seen so far but under artificial light very very good. 

Initial Impressions

Stay tuned for a full review, I intend to put it through it’s paces in the next couple of weeks.  Email me at brad@bradovardphotography.com

if there is anything you’d like my opinion on.