Pentax K1 Pixel-Shift Close-Up Detail

[Michael Erlewine]

This shot of a spider on a Gerbera flower was taken with the Pentax K1 and the Sigma 35mm f/1.4 ART lens. This lens is not a macro lens and, as you can see from the full-frame, this is just a normal shot. The crop shows a kind of detail I can’t get with my Nikon D810. I would like to see how some of the Zeiss Otus lenses do on the Pentax for close-ups, with perhaps a bit of extension.

The purity of the color, without any real processing, is remarkably clear IMO.

Sorry for the poor photo, but this is just a snapshot to see what kind of detail the Pixel-Shift option picks up. Answer: quite a bit. Imagine if we really devote some time to this kind of work.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

Colours look great. However, there are a disturbing number of hot pixels in this crop - did you use a long shutter time?

[Michael Erlewine]

Colours look great. However, there are a disturbing number of hot pixels in this crop - did you use a long shutter time?

Not on purpose, however, the ISO was 100 and it was f/10. Now, in Pixel-Shift Mode, which I am playing with, the camera takes four successive photos, with a bit of a pause in between. This always seems long for me. It then combines them into a single photo. Could this have produced the effect you are noticing. It is a lousy photo to begin with.

This camera is new to me, very frustrating compared to a Nikon interface, and missing crucial amenities that I have grown accustomed to. Still, that being said, this concept of recording each photosite (RGBG) via four photos is a different approach to detail than the Bayer interpolation.

I keep thinking I don't need to learn another camera, but then... I am such a gear-head that I keep seeing noteworthy progress, something I am waiting to hear more of from Nikon.

Here, at last, perhaps, is a powerful camera at a price almost anyone can afford. Unless I find something really horrible about it, we have a better mousetrap, even if only for those of us who like still life.

[charlie]

I don't know Michael, I feel like I've seen better quality images from your other cameras and I don't mean from a composition, DOF/stacking, lighting stand point. In the 100% crop the flower pedals have that long exposure noise reduction look to them, some of the tips of the flowers appear to be doubled and other edges have a grid like pattern going on, and the back leg of the spider looks like an RGB grid of some sort. All artifacts of combining 4 photos into one I would suspect.

[Michael Erlewine]

I don't know Michael, I feel like I've seen better quality images from your other cameras and I don't mean from a composition, DOF/stacking, lighting stand point. In the 100% crop the flower pedals have that long exposure noise reduction look to them, some of the tips of the flowers appear to be doubled and other edges have a grid like pattern going on, and the back leg of the spider looks like an RGB grid of some sort. All artifacts of combining 4 photos into one I would suspect.

Yes, you can look at it that way, but I was trying to show folks the spider and not the flower. What is important, IMO, is this new way of approaching detail by purifying color, which may (or may not be) apparent in these small files.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

I like the experimental attitude. This information can only be to the benefit for the greater audience in the longer run, whether the camera fulfils expectations or not.

[Akira]

I've always been fascinated by the color rendition of your images, Michael, pure or otherwise.  So, no complaint or criticism about that.

That said, I also see some double images of the petals (the one on the farthest right is the easiest example).  I suspect that the ever-so-slight camera shake caused the double images.

[Michael Erlewine]

I do (I think) notice that the highlights with the Pentax K1 are more difficult to handle than with Nikon, IMO. Of course, it does not have the ISO 64 of the D810, but actually this pixel-shift mode is a whole different kind of color, as I see it, kind of increased resolution by more accurate color. I have yet to learn to handle it. I am still just fooling around, gathering lenses that will work, fiddling with adapters, and making mistakes, of course.

I can't just send this camera back as I have so many others. It would go against my grain, at least at this point. I love color. I am also learning the Sony A7rII, which is another beast entirely, and much more similar to my Nikon D810. The Pentax really is a maverick.

[Michael Erlewine]

I've always been fascinated by the color rendition of your images, Michael, pure or otherwise.  So, no complaint or criticism about that.

That said, I also see some double images of the petals (the one on the farthest right is the easiest example).  I suspect that the ever-so-slight camera shake caused the double images.

Again, that is not the point here, but I have no doubt you are correct. Does anyone see the sharpness of the spider, which is enhanced not by acutance or resolution, but by purifying color? That is the advantage of the Pentax K1.

[Bjørn Rørslett]

This technique undoubtedly puts extraordinary strain on the colour performance of the lens used. I suspect many lenses will not be able to stand up to the requirements.

[Michael Erlewine]

This technique undoubtedly puts extraordinary strain on the colour performance of the lens used. I suspect many lenses will not be able to stand up to the requirements.

Exactly. I now have an adapter for Nikon lenses to fit on the Pentax K1. I knocked out the cheap lens that allows you to go to infinity, which is worthless when you get there, because the image is so poor. I can now mount the Otus lenses directly. I have to decide whether I want to use rails to support the weight of the Zeiss lenses. We will see. The Sigma 35mm (used below) is a pretty nice lens, but not at the Otus level.

[Akira]

Again, that is not the point here, but I have no doubt you are correct. Does anyone see the sharpness of the spider, which is enhanced not by acutance or resolution, but by purifying color? That is the advantage of the Pentax K1.

As I mentioned in another thread, the sharpness feels a bit harsh to me.  Even though the sharpness of this level is achieved by the full color pixels thanks to the sensor shift, the monitor images are still rendered by the combined RGB pixels instead of full color ones.

The fine details you mention look like the iridescence to me, sorry to say...

[Michael Erlewine]

As I mentioned in another thread, the sharpness feels a bit harsh to me.  Even though the sharpness of this level is achieved by the full color pixels thanks to the sensor shift, the monitor images are still rendered by the combined RGB pixels instead of full color ones.

The fine details you mention look like the iridescence to me, sorry to say...

Ah, the night is still young.

[Akira]

Michael, I'm not trying to disappoint you.  But the sensor (pixel) shift technology seems to be abandoned in the world of MF digital back.  There could be some critical reason for that.

[Michael Erlewine]

Michael, I'm not trying to disappoint you.  But the sensor (pixel) shift technology seems to be abandoned in the world of MF digital back.  There could be some critical reason for that.

Yes, like motion. But I do still life, so I may find this camera useful.