Pentax K-70 review

The Pentax K-70 is without a doubt the best midrange DSLR the company has ever made, and it offers incredible value when compared to comparable products from other manufacturers. It produces images with image quality on par with the flagship K-3 II, and in some ways even competes with the full-frame K-1, in large part due to its new 24-megapixel sensor. Although we wouldn’t advise K-S2 owners to upgrade, the K-70 is the obvious choice for those new to the Pentax system or replacing an older body because ergonomics, image quality, and interface have all improved over that body in some way.

A new 24.24 megapixel mid-range DSLR camera is the Pentax K-70. The camera key features include a 24 megapixel APS-C sensor with an anti-aliasing simulator rather than an optical anti-aliasing filter, a vari-angle LCD screen, an 11-point SAFOX X Hybrid AF system, weather-resistant construction, an ISO range of 100-102400, Full HD 1080p video at 30, 25 and 24fps, 6fps continuous shooting, Pixel Shift Resolution System, an AA (anti-aliasing). also, you can check our article on Pentax K-70 review.

Pentax K-70 review: Design

Compared to many rivals, the body is larger and heavier. The boxy design might not be to everyone’s taste, and because the grip unusually extends beyond the side of the camera, the handling is also likely to cause disagreement. Even so, the grip is nice and deep, and the thick rubber used here feels incredibly soft to the touch. It is simple to accidentally overshoot the On position on the power control and enter movie mode. The mode dial is nice or long for easy turning, and it’s great to see two command dials on a camera at this level.

Otherwise, buttons press positively. However, since it can be challenging to turn the rear dial with your face to the viewfinder, customization is advised here. With almost 100% scene coverage, the viewfinder is undoubtedly better than those on competitors, though its high magnification of 0.95x makes it a little challenging to see everything without moving your eyes around. However, the LCD screen’s high contrast and variable-angle design increase its suitability for awkward compositions.

It’s a shame that it lacks touch sensitivity like the displays in many competitors. Although an 11-point AF system is a little out of date at this level, it is very capable for everyday shooting due to the nine cross-type points and -3EV sensitivity. For static subjects, the SMC DA 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 ED AL (IF) DC WR kit lens typically focuses quickly. However, due to the relatively large point spacing, the K-70 can’t quite be used for continuous focus to the same extent as some competing models.

Features

The camera’s body houses a 24.2MP APS-C sensor, which is the highest pixel count for an APS-C format camera and does not have an anti-aliasing filter at the front, improving the rendition of fine details even more. When photography delicate textures or patterns with a digital sensor’s rectangular array of photosets, anti-aliasing filters are used to prevent the moiré interference patterns that can occasionally be observed. These filters work by slightly obfuscating fine detail before letting the camera digitally sharpen it once more. The fine detail should be sharper when the filter is removed, but you run the risk of moiré in some images.

Pentax has a clever fix for this in the form of an original “AA Filter Simulator.” This simulates the impact of a “actual” anti-aliasing filter by applying microscopic vibrations at a sub-pixel level during the exposure. Even if you don’t need it, it is available. The 5-axis Sensor Shift (SR) system from Pentax is just one of the tricks it can perform. Pentax claims a gain of up to 4.5 shutter speed steps. Its most obvious use is to reduce camera shake when using slower shutter speeds. you can read our article on Pentax K-70 review.

That is comparable to the best lens-based stabilization systems, but stabilizing the sensor instead of the lens has benefits because it allows for a wider range of correction movements and should function with almost any lens. It goes further than that. With its clever Pixel Shift Resolution mode, which improves color rendition and definition in ultra-fine detail, Pentax also makes use of this sensor-shift technology. Pentax has now added a Motion Correction feature, which detects and corrects for any moving objects. This technique combines four separate shots taken quickly, so it works best on a tripod with static subjects.

Pentax K-70 review: Image Quality

We tested the image quality the sensor produces at each full-stop ISO setting using Imatest. From 100 to 102400 is supported by the K-70 in JPG and Raw formats. The camera maintains noise under 1.5 percent when shooting JPGs at default settings up to ISO 6400. A side-by-side comparison of images from our test scene reveals that the Pentax is able to squeeze just a little bit more detail out of photos at that setting when compared to the Rebel T6s, which is also a 24MP camera and exhibits about 1.8 percent noise at ISO 6400.

Although you can change the K-70’s noise reduction settings, it does a respectable job of shooting JPGs right out of the box. Through ISO 800, images are clear and packed with detail, and through ISO 12800, there is only slight blurring. At ISO 25600, pictures become noticeably grainy and lose their fine details. ISO 51200 and 102400 should only be used in emergency situations due to their extremely blurry quality. to organize and tag photos, but serious photographers may also use Lightroom to process images.

But in Raw images, particularly those taken at higher ISOs, you can see more detail. Beyond ISO 12800, the camera is still being put to a lot of strain. Images captured at ISO 25600 are coarse and grainy. The grain overtakes the detail at ISO 51200, but not in the same blurry way as JPGs. ISO 102400 is hardly usable for photography; it’s only there so Pentax can boast that it has a camera that shoots at that setting.

Video Quality

In our video resolution tests, the Pentax K-70 displayed a disappointing level of performance. 626 of the 1080 lines in the test chart were replicated, which is a very low number. Even though the video clips have a very low resolution, they appear slightly over sharpened and blurry. The color test chart was reproduced very accurately, with few colors deviating significantly from their assigned values. also, you can learn our article on Pentax K-70 review.

Our “live” clips revealed some issues even though the test chart displayed positive results: the blue sky was reproduced with an extremely high cyan rate, and the majority of other colors are slightly boosted. The results of the noise tests in the video were excellent. The luminance noise factor is lower than in still images taken at the same ISO speed setting because of the reduced image resolution and downsampling. The camera was able to record video clips with a maximum f-stop of 10.6 with excellent dynamic range results.

Pentax K-70 review: Performance

Because of the Hybrid AF system, Live View focusing is incredibly quick. However, since the camera’s ability to recognize and focus on important subjects can’t always be trusted, it’s worth choosing the focusing point rather than letting it analyze the scene. The Pentax K-70 has additional image modes in addition to a variety of scene modes for beginners. For instance, in HDR mode, it captures three images with various exposure settings and then combines them to create the desired effect. Additionally, it provides a number of tone mapping HDR image presets.

Additional features of the sensor shift stabilizer system include: A slanted horizon line can be automatically detected by the Pentax K-70 camera, and it can be automatically corrected by rotating the sensor in the opposite direction. The main menu has a button to turn on this feature. The Pentax K-70 also provides “pixel shift” images. One picture is created by combining four images, each of which has been shifted by one pixel. In contrast to Olympus cameras, this technology produces images with a very clean appearance because the camera records all of the RGB data for every pixel and prevents the “color interpolation” effect.

Conclusion

The Pentax K-70 is a vast improvement over both the more recent K-S2 and the three-year-old K-50. It improves upon an already excellent midrange DSLR that inherits the majority of the K-feature S2’s set with clever software adjustments, practical new features, and a superior 24-megapixel sensor that competes with the chip in the APS-C flagship K-3 II.

Although K-S2 owners might not feel the need to upgrade, anyone switching from an older Pentax body or who is new to the Pentax system will find a lot to like in this midrange model. With the addition of weather sealing, in-body shake reduction, and clever features like Pixel Shift mode and a user-configurable control panel, the K-70 offers everything the competition from Canon and Nikon can muster. The dated autofocus and the subpar video quality are the only real drawbacks.