Chris Buhlmann
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Update Feb 2018 - Added a couple shots of a scrub jay and black squirrel in thicket. Scrub jay was cropped to 60% or original. Squirrel in thicket was cropped an amazing 80% and still looks this good at iso 640 Update November 24 2017. My business travel takes me many places across 2017 and the KP has been flawless. I have added a few shots from Iceland , France and Poland and some HDR images. This is the most versatile camera I have ever had and my 5 star recommendation stands maybe it should even get a 6th star. Is it durable yes. In Iceland I got confused with to many things to carry and I dropped it to the floor a couple feet. No damage or issues. Update May 3rd. Since I wrote the below late March, I have had more time with the KP and I also added the DBG-7 vertical grip. Adding the grip has made this the most comfortable camera to hold vertically, of all the Pentax cameras. The dial placement is perfect. Pentax D-BG7 Battery Grip for KP I would highly recommend it. The camera continues to perform flawlessly. The Depth of Field Bracketing is an exceptional feature for macro work One ease of use feature that has been of great value has been the "info" display selections. I rarely have to go into the menu anymore to change things. I included a floral picture below shot at ISO 65,000 in "Radiant" setting. It is intriguing and the high ISO may allow for some unique creativity. Love the HDR abilities of this camera. I am a true Pentaxian, having bought the following D series Pentax bodies; ist D, K10, K20, K7, K5 (bought secondhand) , K5iis, K3ii and now the KP. Why the KP. Well my 1 year old K3ii was stolen during a business trip 4 weeks ago and I really enjoyed that camera. The KP just came out and I am glad I now own the KP. Great features. Built in Wifi that that works well with the iPhone Ricoh app. The deployable screen (now you get real low shots without laying in the mud) and the new knobs; I was a bit wary, but within a day I realized the easy utility of the additional top knob and I do not miss the LCD screen that has been their prior. Easy things that I have done now include HDR images and Pixel shift. I do not miss the K3ii GPS as I rarely ever used it and its nice to again have a pop up flash. Regarding SD card. My backup body is now my 4 year old K5iis and I got along fine with just one SD card, but I did enjoy the K3iis ability to have 2 slots and put RAWs on one card and Jpegs on the other. Ergonomically, I have big hands and am using the largest provided grip with the KP. I have vertical grips on all my Pentax and I will add that for the KP as soon as it is available as it will improve the hold. One item that I used routinely in my other Ks was the DOFP (Depth of field preview) which was on the on /off dial. Not so on the KP. You need to use one of the 3 customization FX buttons. I have replaced the RAW button as my DOFP button. That works very well for macro .As for improved ISO Here is reality. This camera allows you to shoot at ISO 25,600 at a noise and resolution quality I had at ISO 4000 w my K5iis. THE IMAGE QUALITY is SUPERB. This camera is at least 2 full ISO stops better than the K3ii and 3 full ISO stops better than the K5iis. Last usability point. The KP autofocus is superior to the K3ii. I tracked a dog today at full gallop and every shot in a sequence was dead on sharp. Never used to happen with K5iis or K3ii. I think the KP is a better action camera even down one FPS from the K-3ii. Here are my only notes that you should know that are not negatives just reality. Regarding the ISO 819,000 buzz. It is useless or maybe only for a grainy artistic style B&W. Those of us you were used to the battery horsepower of the larger D-LI90 of the earlier K5, K3 will see that the D-LI109 battery in the KP is half the life. Buy an additional battery right away. All the images attached were taken by me and were shot with either Tamron 90mm F2.8 macro, Pentax 300mm F4 Tamron 70-200 F2.8, Tamron 17-50