" UPDATE: A number of readers of this review during the first hours online were update about the above, because, as they rightly point out, "this is only the case if you have the lens aberration and distortion correction features turned on".
Fair enough. When turned off preview is effectively instant. But, I expect that with corrections turned on is the way that most serious photographers will use the camera. And, there are other cameras that have similar capability which do not take as long. A faster processor is likely needed, which I believe would also help autofocus, as seen below."
When shooting RAW, no lens corrections are applied on the K7. Hence, the review is [and should be] instantaneous.
"I'm not sure what to say here. When sitting quietly and testing the camera, whether with stationary or moving subjects, autofocus seems to do its thing properly, whether one is using multi-point or single point. But, in the heat of rapid shooting, when subjects are moving quickly, such as dancers or athletes, I have the impression that the AF hunts more than I'm used to with either current Canons, Nikons or Sonys. It's almost as if the camera is taking a moment to consider what to do next."
Indeed, it does. The SAFOX system is well known to make a double check when autofocusing; being the reason for the apparent -and real- slower responsiveness of it [yet another Pentax quirk]
As with most current DSLRs there is a plethora of menus to wade though to find the various settings, including in this camera a large number of custom settings. But what is missing is any means of organizing these into a custom menu set so that the ones that you need frequently are easily accessible. This is such an obvious requirement on a camera with deep menus that it's surprising that Pentax has omitted it.
I guess that this is another way to see it, but most menu options and tabs have direct access buttons, such as the hexagon on the four way controller.
I guess as well that, due to close competition, Sony,Canon, and Nikon menu systems tend to work the very same way. When working with a Pentax, or an Olympus dSLR, menus seem to be weird. And the reverse happens so that often. Reversing back from an Oly or Pentax menu system to others more cluttered or more structured tends to be a bit of a nightmare.
It's been a long time since I paid close attention to Pentax's lens line up. But a bit of research showed that a couple of the good quality zooms to consider were the SMC Pentax-DA* 50-135mm F2.8 ED [IF] and the SMC Pentax-DA 12-24mm F4 ED AL [IF]. Both of these appear to be very highly regarded by the Pentax user community, and were the ones that I requested for testing. Pentax also has a well deserved reputation for their prime lenses, particular their "Limited" series. So if first rate lenses are your thing (and they should be) there are some really honeys in the Pentax line-up.
I did not shoot enough with these two lenses though to draw and conclusions as to image quality.
You forgot to mention the pristine backwards compatibility of the current Pentax bodies. All K mount lenses ever made will be able to be used as they were designed for [you can not have a lens without A aperture setting be automatically stopped down by the body, or an manual focus lens made Autofocus but for the AF converters], with no adapter required.
The sensor shift image stabilization should be there as well: all the lenses are stabilized.
The hyperprogramme and green button function is a very helpful tool for ANY photographer to get a good exposure.
The K7 tends to underexpose, as all digital Pentax bodies had before. This was explained before on their manuals as a way to prevent highlights from clipping, as sensors work the other way round to film photography [white pixel means no information at all].
This truly is trying not to nitpick on the hands on commentary about the body. Just to show some features worth mentioning that are missing, and can be very helpful to the photographer. Specially for street shooting, where the hyperprogramme and the green button are easily and very fast the photographers best friends.
Cheers.
