24 cameras now pushed and compared for noise on the dark end at all ISOs

[LetTheRightLensIn]

For instance, have you seriously looked at the Pentax K5?...

Yeah, my mum's got one, and honestly, if I didn't already have a 7D, i'd be seriously considering the K-5 instead.

I nearly got a K5 (same sensor as the Nikon d7000) instead of the 60d - but the catch is that lenses are much more expensive because of the limited selection and there's a much smaller market for used ones, not to mention the equipment like flashes etc. That's a good reason to stick to Canon or Nikon, although it's not fair towards Pentax because this results in a Catch 22 and them sticking in the same market niche forever.

all as expected (well D4 looks better than expected) but it's interesting to see it visually

it is impressive - I hope there wasn't some hidden NR feature that I didn't find and turn off! The thing is almost TOO good to believe.

You might not be far from the truth there! I remember back when deciding between the d7000 and the 60d I read a review about the raw files of the d7000 - I cannot find the link because I concentrated on Canon since then. But it said that the d7000 applies more *forced* nr to raw files than the d90 to cover up for the increased noise that goes along with the 12mp->16mp transition. The guy who wrote this was a long-time Nikon insider and obviously really knew what he was writing about since he was able to figure out this at all comparing the raw files of the different models at different iso settings.

But this might be an indication that the Nikons have a built-in nr gimmick that is designed to make them shine in artificial tests just like yours. Maybe Nikon sites have more information on this. Graphics chip manufacturers like ATI or NVidia do this all the time when "optimizing" drivers for specific benchmark suites.

If you suspect something like this, too (and the differences between Nikon and Canon are indeed too good/bad to be true) it's really time for a more real-life oriented test.

The thing is that people have shot the same real-life scene side by side with D800/D7000 and Canon cameras and you could pull so much more nice looking detail out of the shadows, the real world difference WAS there.

 

[LetTheRightLensIn]

I had a good chat with my local Ricoh/Pentax Rep, Bill Gouge, a fantastic fellow who works with tireless enthusiasm to promote their product. He showed me features on the K5 I never even imagined a camera could do; like the GPS-based ability to do astrophotography shots without making star-trails, without needing an equatorial mount. YUP. The camera's sensor stabilizer mechanism is used to maintain relative image stillness as the world turns. Just amazing! And that's just one of many unique abilities on that body.
I was also told that Ricoh is in the process of working up some ads to promote their lines and they do need to increase mindshare.

wow that's awesome

at least some companies are being less than boring


I

 

[dr croubie]

The Pentax followers I do know now are quick to sing the praises of the platform, like the ability to use many old and easily obtained Pentax lenses from WAY back, sort of like Nikon who'd maintained a great deal of backward compatibility.

Well yeah, but canon gets the best of the adaptable-bunch, we can use old Pentax M42 (I do), Olympus OM (I do), more Nikkor lenses than Digital Nikon bodies can, C/Y, and Leica R, plus all Medium Format (I do).
Pentax K bodies can only use M42 through good adapters (i've heard chinese ebay adapters can break lens and/or camera mounts), they should be able to use Nikon F but I don't know.
Nikon bodies get boned by only being able to use some old nikkors (that you need a big table to navigate) and only Medium Format above that.

I've been meaning to buy a PK-EF adapter to try out the weather-sealed 18-55 kit lens from the K-5 on my 7D, see how it stacks up against my 15-85 for sharpness etc (maybe i'll borrow my mate's EFs18-55IS to compare too)

 

[Marsu42]

at least some companies are being less than boring

Indeed, that's just what I was thinking, too when I read this. And it is what I am missing from Canon, e.g. when reading the 5d3 specs. Nikon D800 has face detection and the like, but Canon seems to be quite conservative here except putting in newbie features like the "creative zone" on the 60d. I'm not a pro (yet), and thus I'd like to see more innovation to play with and I like magic lantern - the camera body has a built-in computer, why not use it?