Pentax K10D vs Canon 1D mark3
Japanese blogger Digital1gan.com has made two shots - one with Pentax K10D + DA 16-45mm F4, and one with Canon 1D mark3 + EF 24-70mm F2.8L. As clearly seen on the 100% cropped images above, 1.5x CCD sensor of Pentax K10D gives a way better details and overall resolution than Canon’s 1.3x CMOS. While Canon’s picture is more contrasty, grass and thin branches of the tree at the forefront are significantly blurred.
If you wish to compare this pictures by yourself, try to download 1Dmark3’s .CR2 RAW and K10D’s .PEF files.
June 7th, 2007 at 11:53 am
I like my K10D as much as the next guy, buy you have to admit that this is kind an apples vs oranges comparison. Different lenses, presumably at different focal lengths, RAW converters and settings… it’s interesting anyway, but I think it’s fair to say that there’s nothing much blurry about a $5,000 SLR body.
June 7th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Well, yeah. But it’s close to impossible to compare two completely different cameras with different bayonets, different sensor sizes and technologies, different ideology at last.
June 7th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
The only fair comparison is to take the same shot at the same time with the same lens. Anything from Sigma, Tamron or even Tokina will do, although to be really fair you would need to try a range of lenses too just in case certain lenses favoured certain sensors.
June 7th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
different lenses? one that cost 300 euro and one 1000? YDiffernt ideology? raw is raw? here the pentax show a lot more details. We are comparing only images, not the all camera. it’s clear that the mark3 is a camera on its own, a great tool for sport and photokournalism, with high noise control extremely impressive. But in my opinion it’s also impressive thaat pentax wins here in images comparision.
June 7th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
We are talking of a 24-70L lens not a cheap kit lens. It’s hard to admit but here the pentax images are better. The shots were taken i think with not great delay of time. Similar lenses? come on, we are comparing a great pro lens from canon with a consumer zoom from pentax.
June 7th, 2007 at 1:46 pm
As much as I love Pentax and the K10D, I would really have to question testing methodology that would yield results as different as these. Was the wind blowing? Were the cameras tripod-mounted with mirror lock-up? Focussed on the same object? Was the Canon’s lens faulty? I think it is pretty safe to say that the Canon with that lens can render this scene better than this; there has to be a hardware defect, photographer error, or environmental disturbance at work here.
The DA 16-45 is a very good consumer upgrade lens, and while it is a stop slower than the Canon L-glass, I would expect reasonably comparable results at F/8. There should also be a minor depth-of-field advantage for the Pentax’s somewhat smaller sensor, but probably not enough to cause this drastic a difference in the image at F/8 unless the focus point was substantially different.
What I take out of this is a reminder that any modern SLR body can compete with the big boys and it largely remains the photographer’s responsibility to yield optimal results.
June 7th, 2007 at 3:49 pm
(I think maybe my reply was too long, so have divided it in two)
Part 1
Real life tests are always difficult. The new 1D Mark III has gotten some impressive feedback.
I think these input are fine, but I need to know more about the tester and the test, to know how much weight I lay in it.
It just means that Pentax came out with a very capable camera in the K10. Can’t wait to see the K5, or possibly the 645D.
In the first image, I like the Canons better. (Just seeing it, on these small cut-outs on this site. In the Japanese site, I realize that it is all from one big picture). In sample 2 and 3, did a gust of wind influence the outcome ? Was the picture taken at exactly the same time ?
Was the Pentax camera situated right next to the Canon, so a little more FOV might play a small factor ? Until I read a translation of the comparison, I really can’t put too much emphasis on it.
This commotion resembles a little bit, this review :
http://pentaxlife.com/one-more-k10d-review-from-impress-watch
June 7th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
The only place the Pentax is actually winning here is the corner sharpness. There is no discernible difference in detail or sharpness in the first two examples, and, more importantly, the color on the Pentax is absolutely horrendous. Like, unusably bad. Look at how bright and fake and “green” those greens are, and the complete dullness and lack of life in the grey grating. Yuck!
And, as others have said, this is a lens test more than a body test.
June 7th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I think image # 3 definitely looks better from Pentax,
# 1 and # 2 better from Cannon.
I own K10D and istDS and like both a lot.
June 7th, 2007 at 5:14 pm
(Maybe there is a timelock, I couldn’t get to post this last part)
Bjorn Rorslett tested the D2Xs vs. the best from Canon, with the exact same lens. Results were interesting. State of the Art quality in a crop sensor, can yield very fine results. (Thom Hogan was also commenting on this in his review of the D2Xs)
http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html
(Go to reviews in the left paragraph, and find :
Nikon D2X: The New Digital Flagship from the Land of the Rising Sun )
Just like the 1D Mark III has been tested to have less noise than the bigger sensor in the 5D e.g. by Luminous-Landscape. Progress folks; the industry keeps getting better; and get more and more performance out of the base material.
Another discussion of evaluation on the best from Canon and Nikon, can be found in this thread :
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=22720528
But thanks for showing BTW. This Pentax Life is a very interesting site.
(Jesper Ekvall that I mentioned earlier used his EOS 1D MKII for tests)
June 7th, 2007 at 5:37 pm
I’m a big Pentax fan and like the K10d, but as a Canon shooter for decades I know something isn’t right here and you guys should know it too.
This looks more like a provocative post than anything else, but since I can’t read anything on the page I can’t tell what the in-camera settings are for each camera. The Canon doesn’t look focused properly and without understanding all the foundation stuff guaranteed to make and apples-to-apples test this is meaningless to me.
June 7th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
I’ll do you a favor and trade you a Pentax K10D for your extra Canon 1D mark3.
I mean c’mon…
June 7th, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Jonson PL,
Sorry, Akismet software ate your second comment so I had to approve it manually. Thanks for the good words about PentaxLife, appreciate that.
June 8th, 2007 at 1:04 am
I like my K10D a lot. I also think Canon makes a great product. Before buying the Pentax I had nothing and what stopped me from going Canon was the price. While the Canon is a professional camera by definition, and the Pentax technically is an “advanced enthusiasts” camera, I think the photos at least indicate that the Pentax could be used on a professional level. Canon really impresses me when it comes to noise and Pentax cannot compare…but in bang for the buck side by side comparisons, the K10D holds it own quite well. Check out my flickr site and see wha the K10D can do for yourself…
June 8th, 2007 at 1:11 am
.PEF 404 not find :)
June 8th, 2007 at 1:20 am
Yes, unfortunately something wrong with .PEF file.
http://www.digital1gan.com/sample/pk10d_001.JPG
This is full size JPEG.
June 8th, 2007 at 11:26 am
hmmm … so the compare in this page canon raw vs pentax jpg :P
June 8th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
mactrash, nope. Both source images for this crops are JPEGs from digital1gan.com.
June 8th, 2007 at 3:03 pm
Big Pentax fan (and user) here, but I can’t agree with the premise. More detail, yeah, maybe, a little; but color, contrast, and general overall representation of subject are better from the Canon to my eye. Of course it’s nearly impossible to judge from little web JPEGs. Are these crops or original size? If crops, how do the originals compare in size, FOV/focal length, etc?
One Q I’d have is whether the K10D shots were taken on “Natural” or “Bright” color mode. This might account for the oversaturation esp. of the greens and blues.
June 8th, 2007 at 3:26 pm
BR,
These are crops from full size JPEGs converted from RAWs. As I’ve understand from an automatic Japanese to English translation, PEF was converted with “vivid” (bright?) settings. That’s explains the oversaturated greens.
June 9th, 2007 at 10:17 am
The full size images with exif intact can be downloaded from the originating site.
Interestingly the Canon was set to AWB and the Pentax had a manual WB. Also the full size image from the Canon is pretty soft on the right hand side which to me suggests a problem with the sample of the lens that was used.
June 13th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
It is very easy to have a better picture with Canon. I opened the RAW file with Digital Photo Professional (the Canon software for working on RAW files) and I only set the Sharpness to 6 (in a 0-10 range):
Test1: http://i7.tinypic.com/6b2m52g.jpg
Test2: http://i15.tinypic.com/66ouh4n.jpg
Test3: http://i10.tinypic.com/4y0iiqb.jpg
June 20th, 2007 at 2:23 pm
i have to say it is a fair competition, actually a little bit not very fair for pentax, with a 1/4 priced lens to compete with a pro canon L lens.
and a 1/6 priced camera body to compete with a canon high-end body as well.
August 11th, 2007 at 3:29 am
Haha, sigh.
I dislike Canon, and I love Pentax.
That said, this is ridiculous. The Canon images are leaps and bounds better than the Pentax images. The blur looks like it’s focus or motion related, and other than that virtually every aspect of the Canon images appear superior. (As they should be, given the camera they were taken with)
Very interesting comparison and test, but what a strange conclusion.
August 11th, 2007 at 3:34 am
Also, comment #6 is dead on - the last sentence in particular.