I have been waiting for the release of the Pentax K1, a relatively inexpensive DSLR with 36 Mpx and a SuperRes Mode, a brilliant way of avoiding moiré and obtaining purity of color, per pixel. The idea is to shoot four separate images, shifting the frame by a single pixel, and then then combine the four into a single frame. The use of the word Super Resolution does not refer to making an image larger than 36 Mpx by the combination, but rather making super purity of color.
I have been following the blogs of Lloyd Chambers for some time, which have been totally helpful and worth the investment. Some of his work can be read free at:
http://diglloyd.com/In preparation, I even purchased the previous version, the Pentax K3, in preparation. However, there was some serious vibration (Shutter Shake) observed with this camera, so it was anyone’s guess whether Pentax would fix this for the K1 camera.
Well, there is good news and bad news. The K1 is out and the good news is that if you shoot in SuperRes Mode, this results in a very large file (4x36 MB file), and the EFC (Electronic First Curtain) avoids shutter-shake, while if you shoot Standard Resolution, for some strange reason, the EFC is not invoked, and serious shutter-shake takes place for delicate work, especially with higher telephoto lenses, resulting in visibly shaken images.
This is very sad, because in SuperRes Mode, this camera is a serious contender for less than $2000 ($1796) against Medium Format cameras costing $40K, a price unheard of until till now.
As for me, I have the Pentax K1 on order and will buy it just for the SuperRes Mode, which is what I want anyway. Perhaps they will fix the Standard Resolution in firmware.
