Jewel in the Crown. Pentax K-5ii s

I wrote a blog post a year or so ago about the Pentax K3. I extolled its virtues and talked about how criminally underrated it was in the vast world of digital cameras. It is a great camera but there was another one that had a legendary status in the Pentaxian community. I have been on the lookout for a Pentax K-5ii s for over two years. They rarely come up on the secondhand market especially with minimal wear and a low shutter count. Two months ago, I found one that fitted the bill and swooped before anyone else spotted it.

I had a few Pentax lenses and got a couple of newer inexpensive autofocus lenses to try on the camera. My first outing was a trip to Leeds and I was instantly hooked. It operates and behaves like the K3 and pretty much every other Pentax DSLR. The images it creates however are on a different level. They are sharp, full of detail, with loads of dynamic range. It’s a 16mp model but unlike its brother the K-5ii, it lacks an anti aliasing filter so it creates sharper images.

I’ve gone through many cameras in the last few years but I can definitely say this one is an absolute masterpiece and a definite keeper. I mainly shoot with Nikon full frame cameras now which are magnificent but the Pentax offers a different experience partly as it’s a DSLR. It’s highly weather sealed and rugged as anything. It is simple to operate and works quickly and precisely. The readout is slow and the lcd screen fairly low resolution but the magic is in the raw files it creates. You have to trust the camera rather than rely on the instant playback a mirrorless camera produces. I can’t get the joy of using a DSLR out of my system; it’s almost my way of shooting film without the cost of film stock. This is probably blasphemy in the camera world but I’ve been a film shooter and for me, digital is my preferred method of creation. The K-5ii s isn’t an analogue experience but it is different to shooting mirrorless.

Pentax have recently discontinued nearly all their current models and some people think they are clearing the way for a new generation of cameras. I really hope they stay with DSLRs as they are the only manufacturers that have a dedicated range. They could learn a thing or two from their back catalogue and the dedicated army of Pentax users who have a vast knowledge base on their cameras. On Pentax Forums, the K-5ii s is the highest rated camera in their entire K Mount DSLR collection. It outranks the current K-3III and the monochrome version. It even rates higher than the two K1 and K1 mkii. For a 14 year old camera, that is quite something. Every camera manufacturer will always have an iconic model in its back catalogue and the K-5ii s is the Pentax jewel in the crown. I hope you like the images shown and if you’re ever in the position to get a decent one, jump at the chance. You’ll love what it can do and how it does it.