Sorry for a delay in returning to the thread I have just packed up the Pentax for its return.
gavincato, thanks. I will be keeping budget low for the moment and will be looking at the used market or the odd hire as needed, until budget and CC recovers.
Ken R, for me the flash sync is not a huge deal although it would be good to see Pentax release a new LS lens. I did play a little with my Nikon, Yongnou flash along with wireless triggers and as expected (hoped for) works fine in manual mode only - therefore no problem.
I think there are ways around the slower flash sync well only compromises. ND filter to balance daylight exposure to flash or perhaps better a third party HSS flash trigger which will allow sync up to the camera maximum speed. Disadvantage of course is losing flash power with HSS.
leeonmaui, I have come to the same conclusion. I just love this camera, the handling, the provision of mainly button controls without too much menu mining. So many things that I like that I can turn a blind eye to those things that I prefer on the Nikon.
Having it for the weekend allowed at least some time to try and evaluate, although family matters did intrude somewhat
and the weather was foul just giving time for a couple of hours walk in a very overcast grey park.
Set the camera to TAV, auto ISO to 6400 max and shutter to 1/125 around f/5.6/-f/6.3. Pretty much treating the camera as a point and shoot to see how well it handled and how I could manage with it being strapped on the shoulder and how usable for me handheld. Expecting to use it mainly on tripod to get the very best.
Was going to attempt some comparison shots D800e to 645z but realised that this would not really tell a great deal about the sensor but would be more revealing of the particular sensor glass combination. So unless the same glass used on both cameras and care taken to assure that image size comparable perhaps a wasted effort.
Anyway just did one comparison that seems meaningful to me at least.
I am not particularly keen on the 35mm aspect ratio of 3:2 much preferring 5:4 or 4:3 (accepting that aesthetics and image needs dictate final crop). So setting the Nikon to 5:4 crop seemed a sensible comparison and compared close enough to the 4:3 aspect of the Pentax. So really I would say that under these circumstances a 36 MP sensor becomes 25 MP and therefore the sensor area difference is 2x approx (not the 1.7x quoted). With good glass I believe that this should yield dividends in IQ when printing large or printing subjects where either 600 ppi or 720 ppi image would show benefits - assuming that we will all walk up to a print as close as our belly or nose permits
After all this I was so sad to let the camera go that I ordered one including the 55mm lens that appears to be included at the same price - at least to the end of this month.
Thanks again to all.
