SuperRes Mode with Pentax K1: Sunset from White Mountain Road
Related: Adobe, Adobe Camera Raw, Adobe Camera Raw Super Resolution, Inyo National Forest, peak bagging, Pentax, Pentax DSLR, Pentax K-1, Pentax K-1 Mark II, White Mountains, Zeiss, Zeiss 28mm
See my Pentax K wish list at B&H Photo.
I took a chance on using the Pentax K1 SuperRes pixel shift mode here, the concern being motion artifacts. But kn0wing the contrast was extreme I also knew that SuperRes mode would give me incredibly good shadows—as in superior to any camera on the market—thus giving me considerable leeway in capturing a dynamic range few cameras could manage.
Aggressive contrast control during raw conversion was simply shrugged off by the jaw-dropping file quality of the K1 SuperRes mode, which would been a noisy disappointment with most cameras (D810 would have managed it, but not so well I think). There are some motion artifacts in a few places (most are very hard to spot), but these could be touched out easily in this case.
Wow.
PENTAX K-1 + Zeiss ZK 28mm f/2 Distagon
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Here the bristlecones were basically black. Even the Nikon D810 at ISO 64 would struggle with a scene like this. Who needs HDR when the camera can dish out ultra high file quality which can be yanked on severely to turn near-black into clean detail with good color? Yeah, there is some noise, but your jaw will drop when you see the actual pixels I will post in examples when I’m back from my trip.
The Zeiss 28mm f/2 Distagon may not be anything close to an Otus, but it sure rocks on the K1. I have a Leitax conversion kit sitting on my desk at home for me when I return, and I’ll probably convert the ZF.2 21/2.8 Distagon to K mount, since I have the Milvus version also.
PENTAX K-1 + Zeiss ZK 28mm f/2 Distagon
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