Image Quality

Pentax K-x review – Image Quality

Pentax K-x – Tone & Exposure

Pentax models have something of a reputation for slight underexposure, and that trait shows on the K-x in certain situations. Typically this will be when faced with highlight detail in a scene, though setting the camera to one of the Shadow Correction settings does a good job to counter this, lifting darker areas while keeping them detailed and free from noise.

Pentax K-x – White Balance & Colour

verall, the various colour settings are sympathetic with the intended subjects, with images straight from the camera displaying a pleasing neutrality. The default colour setting is Bright, which produces lovely colour without being too vibrant. Likewise the Vibrant mode does well to lift the greens of foliage, without oversaturating skin tones should any people also be
in the shot.

Pentax K-x – Image Noise

There’s a slight texture in images typically from around ISO 400, though I was pleased to see images at ISO 1600 with just a little noise. Noise itself is finely textured and not too destructive. At ISO 3200 and above, images are quite soft as the camera attempts to smooth out noise.

Pentax K-x – RAW/JPEG

JPEG images show slightly less chroma noise than RAW files, though sharpness doesn’t seem to suffer because of this. Chromatic aberrations are also effectively removed from JPEGs, and there’s also a slight but noticeable boost in terms of exposure and vibrancy in comparison with Raw images.

Chromatic aberrations are well controlled in the cameras JPEGs, while exposure and vibrancy also receive a boost over unprocessed Raw files. 1/800sec @ f/4, Pentax smc 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL II, ISO 200, Evaluative metering, AWB