These test results were
provided by Betternet, TIPA’s (Technical Image Press Association) affiliated
testing lab. Edited by George Schaub, a member of TIPA’s Technical Committee.
Camera Handling
The K-1 is Pentax's first full
frame sensor DSLR. This compact camera has a width of 137mm and is smaller
than, for example, Fujifilm’s X-Pro2, although the depth of the body is larger
because the camera needs a little space in its body for the reflex mirror
system.
The K-1 offers a lot of function
buttons and setup dials: one dial is located near the shutter release button;
one is on the back; and a third wheel is located on top. The dial on the top offers
direct access to additional functions and parameters, such as changing HDR
modes, activating Wi-Fi settings and selecting Crop modes when using lens
systems which where designed for APS-C sensor cameras.
The large mode dial on the
left hand side on the top offers standard exposure modes as well as additional
automatic modes and five user-defined modes. All this makes for a very
configurable camera.
The camera has a large and
bright optical SLR viewfinder and offers live preview on the LCD screen. This
screen has an innovative swivel mechanism which allows the user to rotate the
screen 90 degrees upwards, 45 degrees downwards and 35 degrees to each side. The
swivel mechanism looks a little strange but is actually quite robust. Actually,
the whole camera has a very robust feel to it. It is sealed and can be used
outdoors even under heavy rain or in the snow.
The Pentax K-1 has an
integrated image stabilizer that will work with every lens attached to the KAF2
mount. It is a 5-axis stabilizer that worked very well during our test. Pentax specifies
a 5 EV stop capability, which we feel is a little optimistic, but we shot
images with 1/5 and 1/6 second exposures without a tripod and got very good
results (Note: Tests where done with the 43 mm lens). The sensor shift
mechanism is also use for dust removal and for the “pixel shift” images.
The new Pentax uses a fast AF
system which showed a very good performance in our tests. It uses 33 AF sensors
(including 25 cross type sensors) and is highly configurable. Three center AF
sensors are used for high-speed lenses with f/2.8. For manual focusing the
camera offers a magnifier function and focus peaking.
The camera offers additional
photo modes and special features. “Astro Tracer” is used for long time exposure
shots of the sky and stars. An integrated GPS system can also be used to record
geo data and to integrate this information into the EXIF data of the images.
Another special feature is
the “HDR Capture” function. The camera can record several images with varying
exposure settings and create a combined image with high dynamic range. The user
can set up the exposure differences and the camera will align and combine these
images to HDR images. With “Pixel Shift” the camera offers a special mode to
shoot 4 images with a slightly moved sensor during this sequence and combines
these images to a high-resolution image. However, this is done to prevent moiré
effects; the resulting image is still 36MP instead of the higher res “pixel
shift” images taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M5 II.
The Wi-Fi function is very
helpful. It can be used for wireless image data transfer or for remote shooting.
It is also very useable and Pentax offers apps for Android (4.4 and higher) and
iOS for free.
Image Quality Tests
Color: The Pentax K-1 showed a nice performance in the color
tests. Like nearly all Pentax SLRs, the default setting for colors is “Bright”,
so the camera creates highly saturated JPEG images. Our tests are done in
default settings so the Pentax reproduced the GretagMacbeth chart with a
saturation of 107.8 percent and some exaggerated nuances. These boosted colors
are the reason for the slightly higher color error level, while all other
colors are reproduced very well. Skin tones are very realistic. Changing color
setting to a more natural or standard setting will reduce this higher
saturation look.
Sharpness: The camera showed an excellent performance in the
resolution tests. The very high sensor resolution is translated into visible
image details. The test chart was reproduced with 4403 of 4912 lines per
picture height, which is a very good result. (Note: Using the pixel shift mode
offered by the Pentax K-1 we got results that were higher by 150 lines per
picture height).
Images have a sharp and crisp
look. The camera assists with a little sharpness filtering, but the result is
not at all exaggerated.
Noise: Up to
ISO 6400 the Pentax showed a very good performance in the noise tests. The
luminance noise stays below 1.0 percent and color noise is very discreet.
Starting at ISO 12,800 the luminance and color noise rise drastically. The
highest ISO speed settings of the K-1 should be called or indicated as
additional “High ISO modes” or similar, because the color noise gets really
extreme. At ISO 204,800 mode the luminance noise factor is 9.17 percent (very
high). The color noise spectrum in these images is extremely smoothed by filter
processes and image details get really blurred.
The dynamic range results are
similar to the noise results. The camera achieved a maximum of 11.3 f-stops and
keeps this high level in lower ISO settings up to ISO 3200. In images taken
with higher speeds, dynamic range drops drastically to as much as 2.9 f-stops.
In these higher modes the test software ImaTest isn't able to detect the single
pattern of the gray scale pattern due to the smoothed and blurred images.
