Pentax K-S1 features
Pentax has made some rather good digital SLRs even if they don’t quite match the sophistication and consumer-friendly feel of Canon and Nikon offerings.
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And on paper, the Pentax K-S1 looks like a perfectly decent alternative, with good basic specifications and some interesting technologies. Which makes it hard to understand why Pentax feels it needs to release it in an array of different colours – including a new ‘sweets’ collection.
At its heart is a 20-megapixel CMOS sensor with a sensor-based shake reduction system – in principle, this will provide an image stabilising effect with any lens, and it does actually work very well.
This system is also used for the Pentax’s unique ‘anti-alias simulation’ modes. The sensor itself has no anti-aliasing filter, which means slightly sharper fine detail but the risk (rare in practice) of moiré, or interference effects with very fine patterns and textures.
This is why most D-SLRs still use anti-aliasing, or ‘low-pass’ filters in front of the sensor. But the Pentax can simulate this effect with microscopic vibrations of the sensor during the exposure. You might never need it, but it’s an interesting solution nonetheless.
The K-S1’s other specs are good too. It can shoot continuously at 5.4 frames per second – not too shabby for an amateur camera – and it has a maximum shutter speed of 1/6000sec. It has a proper pentaprism viewfinder with 100% coverage, where some rivals use a cheaper pentamirror design. The K-S1 also offers a selection of effects modes and a large array of digital filters – you can use these as you shoot, or apply them later using the camera’s in-built raw conversion and image-editing tools.
This is actually one of this camera’s strong points. The back of a camera may not be the best place to experiment with image adjustments, and you need to do this before you’ve transferred your images to a computer and deleted them from the card, but the range of things you can do with your images in the K-S1 is impressive.
No need to be crude
But why oh why does Pentax persist with its crude and horrid 18-55mm kit lens? Canon and Nikon kit lenses have super-smooth, near-silent AF motors built into the lens, but this one is driven by a focusing screw in the lens mount. It’s quick enough, but it’s coarse, noisy and in some situations it will hunt and hesitate.
The K-S1’s SAFOX IXi+ 11-point AF system (with 9 cross-type sensors) is probably very good, but you’re not going to find out just by using this lens.
The controls take a little getting used to, as well. The mode dial has moved from the top of the camera to the back, encircling the conventional four-way controller and, like many of the K-S1’s external controls, it lights up in use. That’s handy for low-light and night photography anyway.
You do get use to this control arrangement quite quickly, but it means the four-way buttons are flush with the dial and not so easy to find by touch alone.
These buttons have two functions – they control the ISO, drive mode, white balance and flash options, but they also move the AF point. It turns out you need to press and hold the OK button in the centre to swap the button functions – this is one camera where it really might be a good idea to read the manual first.
Pentax says the K-S1’s design portrays a ‘sharp and advanced’ feel. It’s sharp all right, particularly the front edge of the grip, which really isn’t that comfortable. The lights on the front of the grip offer a countdown for the Face Detection, Remote Control and Self timer modes, while the main switch glows green for stills and red for movie mode. The rear mode dial displays the current mode in green, and when the OK button glows blue, the camera is ready to shoot.
The results seem good. Colors look rich and natural and the exposure system did a good job with little intervention needed during our early tests. Some of the detail didn’t look that sharp, though, and suspicion must fall on the K-S1’s low-rent kit lens – though the camera can automatically correct the lens’s chromatic aberration and distortion.
The rear screen is bright, contrasty and clear, and Pentax’s new graphical user interface is efficient and easy to navigate.
The K-S1 is disappointing, nonetheless. Pentax has designed some rather nice camera bodies in the past, but this one feels like a step backwards for the sake of novelty. It lights up like the spaceship in Close Encounters, it comes in more colors than the desserts at a fast food joint and you just wish Pentax would spend more money on its lenses and less on novelty camera designs.
Sample images
The K-S1’s Vivid mode produces good contrast and dense but natural-looking colours. Click here for a full resolution version.
This bold black and white effect gives monochromatic images some real punch. It’s almost like using black and white film! Click here for a full resolution version.
The sensor-shift anti-shake system works really well. This was shot handheld at 1/4sec to blur the spinning wheel but keep the centre sharp. Click here for a full resolution version.
You can combine filter effects when you’re using the in-camera editing tools. This was produced by combining the bold black and white effect with a subtle, rich sepia tone. Click here for a full resolution version.
The 18-55mm kit lens feels cheap and delivers lots of chromatic aberration (left) – but the camera has in-built distortion and chromatic aberration options which work pretty well (right). Click here for a larger version.
Another rich and punchy shot from the Pentax K-S1’s Vivid mode. The meter didn’t need any help getting the exposure exactly right, either. Click here for a full resolution image.
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