Image Quality

All of the sample images in this Review were taken using the 12.4 megapixel Best JPEG setting, which gives an average image size of around 5Mb.

The Pentax K-r produced photos of excellent quality. Noise is well controlled by the Pentax K-r, starting to appear at ISO 1600 and becoming more easily detectable at the faster settings of ISO 3200 and 6400 when viewing images at 100% magnification on screen (particularly in the RAW files). The fastest settinga of 12800 and 25600 look much better on paper than in reality. Colour saturation is commendably maintained throughout the ISO range.

The 12.4 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 great feature that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. An added bonus is that it works with any lens that you attach to the K-r.

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 built-in pop-up flash worked well indoors, with no red-eye and adequate overall exposure.

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

There are 9 ISO settings available on the Pentax K-r. 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)
ISO 12800 (100% Crop)	ISO 12800 (100% Crop)
ISO 25600 (100% Crop)	ISO 25600 (100% Crop)

File Quality

The Pentax K-r has 3 different JPEG file quality settings available, with Best 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.

Best (5.03Mb) (100% Crop)	Better (3.01Mb) (100% Crop)
Good (1.36Mb) (100% Crop)	RAW (11.2Mb) (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 Auto, manual (on/off), red eye reduction, slow-speed sync, rear curtain sync, high-speed sync and wireless sync. 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-r 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 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-r 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)
1/10th / 27mm
1/6th / 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-r'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 six different modes (Off, Auto, On, 1, 2 and 3). Although the K-r can now microalign images before combining them, allowing hand-held HDR shots to be taken, for best results 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	Auto
On	HDR1
HDR2	HDR3

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
Bleach Bypass	Reversal Film
Monochrome

Digital Filters

The Pentax K-r 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	Extract Colour
Soft	Star Burst
Fisheye

Cross Processing

The Pentax K-r has a cross processing mode that replicates the effects of cross-processing film. Here is an example:

Off	On
1	2
3

Multi Exposure

The Pentax K-r has a multi exposure mode that allows you to combine between two and nine different JPEG or RAW images into a single photo. Here is an example:

Example 1

Sample Images

This is a selection of sample images from the Pentax K-r camera, which were all taken using the 12.4 megapixel Best 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-r enables users to capture RAW and JPEG format files in either the PEF or DNG formats. We've provided some Pentax RAW (PEF) samples for you to download (thumbnail images shown below are not 100% representative).

Sample Movie & Video

Product Images

Front of the Camera

Front of the Camera / Pop-Up Flash

Isometric View

Isometric View

Front of the Camera

Isometric View

Isometric View

Rear of the Camera

Rear of the Camera / Image Displayed

Rear of the Camera / Info Screen

Rear of the Camera / Info Screen

Rear of the Camera / Turned On

Rear of the Camera / Main Menu

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

Battery Compartment

Conclusion

The Pentax K-r adds a few new features, most notably the 6fps burst shooting mode and expanded ISO range, to the proven user interface of the cheaper K-x and the high-resolution screen and illuminated AF system of the more expensive K-7, to create a compelling mid-range DSLR. It's also significantly cheaper than its main rivals.

Although to all intents and purposes it looks and feels virtually identical to the year-old K-x, don't let that put you off the K-r. The bigger and higher-res screen, improved auto-focus complete with illuminated points, faster 6fps continuous mode, and ISO range of 100-25600 all add up a camera that's well-positioned between the entry-level K-x and the venerable but still capable K-7.

The small and lightweight design, increased number of creative filters and effects, hand-holding auto modes and the compact-like handling make the K-r ideally suited to first-time DSLR owners. At the same time the extensive range of manual modes, wide ISO range, fastest shutter speed of 1/6000th, 100,000 shutter life-span, long battery life and not one but two RAW formats are music to the ears of more experienced shooters.

Not everything is perfect - the K-r's HD video mode is identical to the K-x and therefore still not the most user-friendly experience. There's no handy one-touch recording, a 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, especially with the non-articulating screen.

On a more positive note, the K-r's image quality remains excellent. The K-r creates noise-free JPEG images from ISO 100-800, only starting to become apparent at ISO 1600, with progressively more noise and colour desaturation at the higher settings of 3200, 6400 and the attention grabbing 25,600 setting. Although the top speeds don't produce very usable results, the K-r still holds its own against the main competition from 100-3200, arguably the speeds that you'll use most often.

In summary the Pentax K-r is a logical fusion of the K-x and K-7, nicely filling the price-gap between the two whilst offering a worthy upgrade to the former and cheaper alternative to the latter. As a very well-specified and crucially cheaper alternative to the Big Two of Canon and Nikon, the new Pentax K-r is a great mid-range DSLR that is a worthy recipient of our Highly Recommended award.

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

Specifications

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