On Sun, May 23, 2010 at 4:38 PM, Robert Jordan <forbe...@yahoo.com> wrote: > I have been reading the recent K-7 thread with great interest. > > I have a K20D. From September 2009-March 2010 I took at least 10,000 > exposures at my son's hockey games, shooting from either a penalty box or > behind the bench, using a DA 50-135 2.8, shooting with an aperature priority > setting of 2.8 and ASA of either 800-1600 or 1600 only. I shoot RAW. > > As a friend put it, the quality of my shots was roughly inversely > proportional to the speed of the action. The action shots were a little > soft, or a little blurred as my shutter speeds were not quite fast enough. > The light in these recreation rinks usually leaves a lot to be desired. I > think I need to be shooting at ASA 3200 or 6400. > > To add one more variable to the mix, I've purchased a Sigma 70-200 2.8 with > next season in mind which probably means I need to add to be at least one > f-stop faster just to stay where I am now. I have a monopod and am planning > to use it although I find it awkward. Lastly, although I have become > addicted to hockey photography I use the K20D for all family photography > including soccer games as well. > > My questions are: should I consider selling my K20D and buying a K-x? Can I > shoot at 6400 with a K-x and get quality shots? What would I lose by > replacing the K20D with the K-x? > > I read a lot of discussion about a new, high end Pentax SLR being announced > in September. What is the likelihood of that happening? > > Thanks for your comments, > Robert >
The K-x delivers excellent results at ISO 6400, I don't even use NR anymore unless I need to go to 12,800. In general, the K-x is an upgrade over the K20D, but you do lose a few things. The buffer is smaller (5 RAW, 17 JPEG at 4.7fps, double that at 2fps), it's not weather-sealed, has only 1 control wheel and a smaller and slightly dimmer viewfinder, you pretty much have to stick to either a fixed centre AF point or auto-selection, and you're back to using AA batteries. You gain greatly increased high ISO performance, improved AF, a speed boost to almost 5fps, some significant size/weight savings and a more responsive camera (The K20D feels slow compared to the K-x or K-7 for UI and control response). That said, I'd wait right now and see if Pentax releases a updated K-7 for Photokina, as the K-7 is going to be a better choice than the K-x for Hockey work aside from the high ISO performance and any update will likely be simply an improved sensor in the same basic body. -Adam -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
