Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 14.6 megapixel Excellent JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 9Mb.

During the review, the Pentax K-7 produced photos of very good quality. The built-in pop-up flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and good overall exposure. The night photograph was excellent, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and Bulb mode allowing you to capture enough light in all situations. The 14.6 megapixel JPEG images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting. Image stabilisation via the camera body is a feature that helps the Pentax K7 keep up with its competitors, and one that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. The Digital Filters quickly produce special effects that would otherwise require you to spend a lot of time in the digital darkroom, although some of them are less useful than others. The D-Range options help make the most out of both the shadows and highlights in a high-contrast scene (and it works for both JPEG and RAW files), while the HDR mode greatly expands the dynamic range of a JPEG by combining three differently exposed images in-camera. The multi exposure mode combines between two and nine different JPEG or RAW images into a single photo. Noise is the main issue for the Pentax K-7, starting to appear at ISO 800 along with a noticeable colour shift, and becoming easily detectable at the faster settings of ISO 1600, 3200 and 6400 when viewing images at 100% magnification on screen (particularly in the RAW files).

Noise

There are 7 ISO settings available on the Pentax K-7. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting, with JPEG on the left and the RAW equivalent on the right:

JPEG	RAW
ISO 100 (100% Crop)	ISO 100 (100% Crop)
ISO 200 (100% Crop)	ISO 200 (100% Crop)
ISO 400 (100% Crop)	ISO 400 (100% Crop)
ISO 800 (100% Crop)	ISO 800 (100% Crop)
ISO 1600 (100% Crop)	ISO 1600 (100% Crop)
ISO 3200 (100% Crop)	ISO 3200 (100% Crop)
ISO 6400 (100% Crop)	ISO 6400 (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Pentax K-7 has 4 different JPEG file quality settings available, with Excellent being the highest quality option, and it also supports RAW (Pentax's PEF format and Adobe DNG). Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.

Excellent (9.6Mb) (100% Crop)	Best (5.7Mb) (100% Crop)
Better (3.4Mb) (100% Crop)	Good (1.6Mb) (100% Crop)
RAW (13.1Mb) (100% Crop)

Sharpening

Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images are soft at the default sharpening setting and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. You can also change the in-camera sharpening level to suit your tastes.

Original (100% Crop)	Sharpened (100% Crop)

Flash

The flash modes include Flash On, Flash On + Red-eye Reduction, Slow-speed Sync, Slow-speed Sync + Red-eye Reduction, Trailing Curtain Sync, and Wireless Mode. These shots of a white ceiling were taken at a distance of 1.5 metres.

Flash Off - Wide Angle (27mm)	Flash On - Wide Angle (27mm)
Flash Off - Telephoto (82mm)	Flash On - Telephoto (82mm)

And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting or the Red-eye Reduction option caused any amount of red-eye.

Flash On	Flash On (100% Crop)
Red-eye Reduction	Red-eye Reduction (100% Crop)

Night

The Pentax K-7 lets you dial in shutter speeds of up to 30 seconds and has a Bulb mode as well, which is very good news if you are seriously interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 20 seconds, aperture of f/8 at ISO 100. We've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.

Night Shot	Night Shot (100% Crop)

Shake Reduction

The Pentax K-7 has a Shake Reduction mechanism built into the camera body, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with Shake Reduction turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with Shake Reduction turned on, the images are sharper than when it's turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.

Shutter Speed / Focal Length	Shake Reduction Off (100% Crop)	Shake Reduction On (100% Crop)
1/15th / 27mm
1/8th / 82mm

D-Range

Similar to Nikon's D-lighting, Sony's DRO, and Olympus' Shadow Adjustment Technology, Pentax's D-Range allows you to correct the highlights (On or Off) and/or the shadows (3 different levels) before taking a JPEG or RAW image. Although this option is always at your disposal, remember that it is meant to be used in strong, contrasty lighting at base ISO. Below you can see a comparison between Off and both highlight and shadow correction set to on/full strength; the difference is mainly noticeable in the shadowed areas on the left and right sides of the photo.

Off	On

HDR Capture

The Pentax K-7's HDR Capture option (only available for JPEGs) takes three images with different exposures, and then records a single image that combines the properly exposed parts of each one, expanding its dynamic range. Here is an example which was shot with the three different modes (Off, Standard and Strong). It's important to always use a tripod to prevent camera shake from blurring the HDR image, and it doesn't work very well for moving subjects.

Off	Standard
Strong

Custom Image

Pentax's Custom Images, similar to Nikon's Picture Styles and Canon's Picture Controls, are preset combinations of different sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone settings. You can change the saturation, hue, high/low key, contrast and sharpness for each of the seven options?. They are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences.

Bright	Natural
Portrait	Landscape
Vibrant	Muted
Monochrome

Digital Filters

The Pentax K-7 offers seven different Digital Filters, which allow you to quickly apply an artistic effect to a photo before taking it (JPEG images only). They are shown below in the following series, which demonstrates the differences. Note that applying the Digital Filters slows the camera down somewhat, as it has to process the image for a few seconds after it's taken.

Toy Camera	Retro
High Contrast	Exract Colour
Soft	Star Burst
Fisheye

Multi Exposure

The Pentax K-7 has a multi exposure mode that allows you to combine between two and nine different JPEG or RAW images into a single photo. Here are some examples:

Example 1	Example 2

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Pentax K-7 camera, which were all taken using the 14.6 megapixel Excellent JPEG setting. The thumbnails below link to the full-sized versions, which have not been altered in any way.

Sample RAW Images

The Pentax K-7 enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files. We've provided some Pentax RAW (PEF) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

As of February 2025, we are no longer providing full size sample images or videos for download.

Please contact us if you have any feedback on our new policy.

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera / Pop-Up Flash

Front of the Camera

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Image Info

Rear of the Camera / Info Screen

Rear of the Camera / Info Screen

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

Rear of the Camera / Live View

Top of the Camera

Bottom of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Side of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera

Memory Card Slot

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Pentax K-7 is the best-ever Pentax DSLR camera and a real challenger to the relative giants of Canon and Nikon. Pentax have seemingly decided to include every "must-have" feature in one camera, with the K-7's specifications reading like a keen photographer's wish list. Thankfully most of those features are very well-realised, with only a few duds to spoil the party.

Bearing an uncanny resemblance to the older K20D, the new K-7 improves on its sibling in a lot of ways that add up to make it a really compelling DSLR camera. The combination of 100% viewfinder coverage and large, high-res LCD screen make the K-7 a joy to use in terms of image composition. Live View is much improved, with the ability to view and change the camera's key settings, new Face Recognition AF mode, and the same 5.2 fps continuous shooting speed as when using the optical viewfinder. Only the painfully slow and often inaccurate contrast AF system detracts from the Live View system. Thankfully the K-7 focuses much faster through the viewfinder - indeed, this is the fastest focusing Pentax DSLR to date, and also finally on a par with the competition.

Making its Pentax debut on the K-7, the inclusion of HD video is sure to generate a lot of interest, especially as its main rivals don't offer this feature. Unfortunately, as with all the other DSLR cameras on the market that offer video recording, it's not the most user-friendly experience, with no handy one-touch recording, reliance on manual focusing, inability to change the aperture or shutter speed during recording, large file sizes that quickly fill your memory cards, and the inherent handling quirks of the DSLR format. On the plus side, there is a socket for an external mic and the K-7 offers the larger 1536 x 1024 pixel format, but if you want to regularly capture successful home movies, you'd be better off with a dedicated video camera instead.

The K-7's image quality is very good. Exposures were generally 1/3rd EV stop under-exposed, perfect for retaining detail in the highlight areas without sacrificing the shadow areas too much, and colours were accurate using the default Bright setting. The HDR mode makes it easy to create images with greatly expanded dynamic range, although you don't have too much control over the final effect and you really need to use a tripod to keep things sharp. The D-Range options help make the most out of both the shadows and highlights in a high-contrast scene, while multi exposure mode is a nice creative addition.

The K-7 produces noise-free images from ISO 100-400 but it starts to become apparent at ISO 800, with progressively more noise and colour desaturation at the highest settings of 1600, 3200 and 6400. Whist the three fastest speeds are certainly usable, they don't compare that well with the Canon EOS 50D and Nikon D300, which are better bets for low-light photography. If you don't require fantastic image quality at high ISO speeds, then the K-7 certainly holds its own against the competition.

But wait - this isn't quite the final story though. According to a recent statement by a Pentax UK spokesman, the camera that we received for review isn't quite the final production version (despite running version 1.00 firmware). Pentax's engineers have apparently "made a minor change to further improve the performance of the sensor on the camera to be included on the final retail version. As far as we are given to understand this will primarily reduce the amount of noise within the image; especially at higher ISO settings." If this version of the camera can significantly improve the K-7's low-light performance as promised, then it will be an even bigger threat to Canon and Nikon - we'll update our review accordingly when we receive another test sample.

Overall Pentax are onto a winner with the K-7, especially if the sensor change in the final, final version improves the noise levels at the higher ISO speeds. Current Pentax owners can be delighted that the best ever Pentax DSLR is has (almost) arrived, with the K-7 being a natural upgrade for both the Km and K20D. Photographers with no vested interest in a particular manufacturers system now find themselves spoilt for choice in the prosumer category, with the K-7, Canon EOS 50D, Olympus E-3 and Nikon D300 all at the same price point. In many ways the Pentax K-7 offers the best overall package out of them all, and is a really serious contender for your cash.

Ratings (out of 5)
Design	4.5
Features	5
Ease-of-use	4.5
Image quality	4.5
Value for money	5

Review Roundup

Reviews of the Pentax K-7 from around the web.

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