I love my Pentax K-7 -- isn't that what it's all about?

Author's Rating:

Pros: Ergonomic
Outstanding images
Great build quality

Cons: none

The Bottom Line: 
This is a great choice for the advanced amateur or professional.

Author's Review
Context
Although I'm an advanced amateur photographer, with more than 40 years experience with Single Lens Reflex photography including extensive darkroom work, this is my first digital SLR camera. I'm expert at scanning color and black-and-white film and slides, and manipulate the files in my digital darkroom (a.k.a., Photoshop). But I've avoided purchasing a digital SLR because I was convinced the cameras would fail to match my standards, they are expensive, and I've believed they would be technologically obsolete too quickly. After all, I'm happy with my 27 year-old Pentax SuperProgram, and feel confident that my negatives will last for a long time. I'm not sure I can claim longevity for digital images.

What changed my mind? I've learned that many films--especially generic color print and slide films--fade after only a few years so their lives are very limited anyway. [Black-and-white seems to last forever; I have negatives over 100 years old that have barely suffered]. Film scans beyond 4000 dots-per-inch (dpi) are beyond the point of diminishing return, so the current crop of high end digital SLRs have caught up with their film counterparts with respect to resolution. Digital storage, although fragile in the sense that storage media (e.g., hard disk drives) are obsoleted every few years, seems to have settled into an archival standard (e.g., tiff) that will survive generations as long as the files are propagated--and by archiving on the Web this propagation is much more likely to occur. Finally, I've tired of waiting for my film to get developed.

This review addresses my transition from a film SLR to the full-featured Pentax K-7. Is it difficult to use? What's the learning curve? Does it have the expected features? How does it work with legacy Pentax K-mount lenses? I am not addressing the quality of the images since this is really a function of the photographer, the lens, and the results of scientific measurements made by laboratories with appropriate calibrated equipment. Let's just agree that the Pentax produces beautiful images, with very low noise (some reviews report unacceptable noise at high ISO settings, above 1600), and great color (again, some reviews report slightly off color, but I have no way of commenting on this--the colors look fantastic to me).

Ease of Use
First off, after ensuring the battery was charged, I took my first photos within seconds of turning the camera on. There are many ways to control the exposure settings (aperture, shutter speed, sensitivity), but for no-brain shooting there's a "green" selection that I term PhD, or "Push here, Dummy." In other words, the dial that determines if the camera uses a "hyper-program," aperture priority, shutter speed priority, sensitivity priority (ISO speed), or "hyper-manual" mode, also has a green dot that basically lets the camera decide everything, within limits. Other selection dials on the camera body, for autofocus method for example, also have positions marked in green. So if all you want are snapshots at the family picnic, set everything to the green positions and snap away. The results are awesome.

The Pentax K-7 fits my hand like a glove. The grip is perfectly contoured for this average-sized right-hander. The shutter release falls naturally under my index finger. I can easily rotate it for vertical shots. And, I learned, three other critical functions fall perfectly under thumb and forefinger: little wheels used to change shutter speed and aperture, and an exposure lock button so that multiple images retain the same exposure settings (necessary for making panoramas, for example).

There are more than 20 buttons, levers, and wheels around the camera. There’s also a four-way directional pad with central “OK” button; the pad’s directional key functions change according to context. This is complex by nearly any definition, but due to variations in shape, size, and layout, plus mostly intuitive legends, I find that it’s actually quite easy to navigate the maze. This is not to say that you can forego the instruction manual; intuition only goes so far. In my case, moving from a film camera, there are many functions that I never saw before. But after reading the manual and learning what the functions do, I find it easy to use the buttons, levers, and wheels.

Beyond the hard controls, there are dozens of features that are accessed through screens that appear on the 3” LCD video screen on the back of the camera. These are easy to navigate and mostly intuitive to set.

When taking pictures, pertinent information such as shutter speed, aperture, and ISO setting are shown on the LCD video screen, on a secondary LCD display on the top deck, and in the viewfinder. You also get, in the viewfinder, an indication that correct focus is achieved, and if the camera is level. Flash readiness, shake reduction status (on or off), exposure and focus information, and other data are also displayed.

Bottom line: the camera feels natural to me, and has the functions I expect to find under my fingertips. I don’t feel like I’m struggling to use the camera (although some functions that I rarely use sometimes require thought to find in the menus).

Learning Curve
Make no mistake, this camera has a steep learning curve. The length of the climb is related to your experience with similar cameras and your ability to learn how to use complex devices. Those who are comfortable learning new software programs on their PC will find a shorter learning curve on their Pentax compared with those who can’t get the gist of Windows Vista.

It’s essential to read the manual from cover to cover—over 300 pages. This has to be one of the best operating manuals I’ve seen. It is extensively cross-referenced, uses clear illustrations, is not condescending, and covers all functions. The manual does not try to instruct on how to make a photograph. Its purpose is to explain the camera’s functions, settings, limits, and customization. Making striking images is up to the photographer; the manual does not interfere.

It’s also essential to use the camera and manipulate its features while reading the manual. There is no substitute for hands-on instruction. I felt comfortable embarking on a serious photographic outing after “playing” with camera and manual for about four hours. Practice makes perfect; re-read the manual and keep taking photos to hone your skill.

After deciding to shoot my “serious” photos in RAW format, my learning curve moved to Photoshop where, although already proficient with its functions related to scanned images, I had a whole new experience learning to process my RAW files. Of course, that’s the subject for a different review!

Features
I was overwhelmed initially by the number of features in the Pentax K-7. But as I climbed my learning curve, practiced with the manual, and experimented on my own, I discovered that I would have been happy with no less. Sure, there are some customization options that I will never use. That’s true of all software (yes, this is a little computer after all). But others will want the options that I won’t use because they all provide alternatives that impact the creative process.

As I said, it only took about four hours to study the manual and try many of the features. Essentially, start by deciding the basic exposure mode by rotating the wheel on the upper left deck. Choose between the “green” auto-everything mode, various exposure setting modes as previously described (aperture priority, etc.), movie mode (high-def video with sound), Bulb, X-synch (for non-TTL flash units), or User-defined settings.

Legacy Pentax Lenses
The reason I chose the K-7 was my long relationship with Pentax cameras and my collection of K-mount lenses. To be honest, this turned out to be poor reasoning. I quickly purchased three new lenses for my K-7, so brand was unimportant with respect to lenses. I do use two of my legacy lenses – a 50 mm A and 135 mm A – but others are not so useful. I’m especially disappointed that my M (manual) Pentax lenses only work at full open aperture (unless I’m missing something, but I’ve tried everything I can think of to get them to stop down). I’ve obtained some great images with my old 50mm, and I love that the camera tells me when focus is achieved (it beeps) and shake reduction works (it’s in the camera, not the lens).

In summary, after two months I’m delighted with my K-7. It fits my hand like a glove, the controls are intuitive, and the feature set is great. Battery life is fantastic; I can fill my 8 GB SD card on a charge. And my photos are at a new plateau.