Pentax K-5 II Performance

Camera Reviews / Pentax Cameras / Pentax SLR i Review

Navigate Review Jump to review page...

Pentax K-5 II Performance

Timing and Performance

Generally good performance for a prosumer DSLR, though buffer clearing is sluggish and AF speed is slower than the K-5's.

Startup/Shutdown
Power on to first shot	~0.6 second	Time it takes for camera to turn on and take a shot.
Shutdown	~0.5 second	How long it takes to turn off.
Buffer clearing time	18 seconds* after 28 L/P JPEGs	Worst case buffer clearing time. -- This is the delay after a set of shots before you can remove the card. Some cameras won't shut down until the buffer is cleared. See Cycle-Time table below for more buffer clearing times.
	31 seconds* after 22 RAW frames
	41 seconds* after 22 RAW + L/P JPEGs
* Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I SDHC card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Startup and shutdown times were about average for a prosumer DSLR. Buffer clearing times were a little slow for the class of camera, though buffer depths were good. (Unfortunately, the Pentax K-5 II doesn't take advantage of increased performance offered by the newer higher-speed UHS-I compliant card we tested with.)

Mode Switching
Play to Record, first shot	~0.3 second	Time until first shot is captured.
Record to Play	~1.6 seconds	Time to display a large/premium JPEG file immediately after capture.
Display recorded image	~0.3 second	Time to display a large/premium JPEG file already on the memory card.

Play to Record was very fast as was displaying a recorded image, but switching from Record to Play was a touch sluggish.

Shutter Response (Lag Time)
Full Autofocus Single Area (center) AF	0.225 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture. (All AF timing measurements taken with Sigma 70mm f/2.8 prime.)
Full Autofocus Single Area AF, Flash enabled	0.245 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture. Auto Flash enabled.
Full Autofocus Auto Area (11-points) AF	0.242 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture.
Continuous AF	0.225 second	This mode is release priority so subject may be out of focus; we have no way to measure performance with moving subjects.
Manual focus	0.204 second	For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "pre-focused."
Pre-focused	0.091 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.
Live View
Full Autofocus (Phase-Detect AF) Live View mode	1.27 seconds	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture.
Full Autofocus (Contrast-Detect AF) Live View mode	1.25 seconds	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture.
Pre-focused Live View mode	0.403 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

The shutter lag numbers above measure time from shutter button press to image capture, with the lens already set to the correct focal distance. This largely removes the issue of differences in lens focusing speed, and measures how fast the camera can measure and act on focus information. In this metric, the Pentax K-5 II was a touch slower than average for a prosumer DSLR, and noticeably slower than the K-5 which was about twice as fast in our tests. The K-5 II required 0.225 second for full AF when using Single-point (center) AF mode (our default full AF lag test). Enabling the flash in this AF mode increased lag to 0.245 second, which isn't much of a speed penalty. Full AF shutter lag in Auto area AF mode was a bit slower than single area at 0.242 second. Continuous and Manual focus lag times were 0.225 and 0.204 second respectively, which are also slower than average. When prefocused, shutter lag was 0.091 second which while fast, isn't as fast as some competing models.

As expected, the Pentax K-5 II's Live View mode was much slower to focus. Full autofocus shutter lag was approximately 1.27 seconds using phase-detect AF mode. This decreased slightly to approximately 1.25 seconds using contrast-detect AF mode. Prefocused shutter lag was good for Live View mode, at 0.403 second.

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance. We also use the same Sigma 70mm f/2.8 macro with every camera (on all platforms except Four Thirds/Micro Four Thirds and Nikon consumer models lacking an in-body focus motor), to further reduce variation, and because our tests showed that focus-determination time with this lens was close to the fastest, across multiple camera bodies from different manufacturers. Being an older design with a non-ultrasonic motor, it wouldn't be the fastest at slewing from one focus setting to another, but that's exactly the reason we measure focus determination speed, which is primarily a function of the camera body, vs focus adjustment speed, which is primarily a function of the lens.

Cycle Time (shot-to-shot)
Single Shot mode Large/Premium JPEG	0.38 second 7 seconds to clear	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, with no signs of slowing down.
Single Shot mode RAW	0.39 second 22 seconds to clear	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, with no signs of slowing down.
Single Shot mode RAW + L/P JPEG	0.39 second 35 seconds to clear	Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots, with no signs of slowing down.
Early shutter penalty?	No	Some cameras refuse to snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.
Continuous mode Large/Premium JPEG	0.15 second (6.65 fps); 28 frames total; 18 seconds to clear^*	Time per shot, averaged over the buffer length of 28 shots, then slows to an average of 0.36 second (2.76 fps) for subsequent shots, with about 21% variation in cycle times when buffer is full.
Continuous mode RAW	0.15 second (6.69 fps); 22 frames total; 31 seconds to clear^*	Time per shot, averaged over the buffer length of 22 frames, then slows to an average of 0.9 seconds (1.11 fps) for subsequent shots, with about 24% variation in cycle times when buffer is full.
Continuous mode RAW + L/P JPEG	0.15 second (6.69 fps); 22 frames total; 41 seconds to clear^*	Time per shot, averaged over the buffer length of 22 frames, then slows to an average of 1.9 seconds (0.53 fps) for subsequent shots, with about 45% variation in cycle times when buffer is full.
Flash recycling	2.1 seconds	Flash at maximum output.
* Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I SDHC card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Shot-to-shot cycle times were good, at 0.38 second for Large/Premium JPEG and 0.39 seconds for DNG or DNG + L/P JPEG files.

Continuous mode was very good for a prosumer DSLR, at about 6.7 frames per second regardless of file type. That's a little faster than the ~6.5 fps we got for the K-5, however a bit slower than Pentax's rating of 7 frames per second.

The Pentax K-5 II's buffer depths were also quite good for a prosumer DSLR, considering the burst rates. The K-5 II managed 28 L/P JPEGs, 22 DNGs and 22 DNG + L/P JPEG frames before slowing down. (You'll likely do better, as the target image we use for our tests is designed to be difficult to compress.)

The Pentax K-5 II's flash took 2.1 seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, which is quite fast.

Download speed
Windows Computer, USB 2.0	11,984 KBytes/sec	Typical Values: Less than 600=USB 1.1; 600-769=USB 2.0 Low; Above 770=USB 2.0 High

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, downloads were very fast.

Bottom line, the Pentax K-5 II's performance was generally good, however autofocus speed was a touch slower than average for its class and noticeably slower than its predecessor. Burst speeds were quite good, but buffer clearing times were a bit of a disappointment as the camera does not appear to be UHS-I compliant. Still, buffer depths were pretty good, so you likely won't lose too many shots unless you need to take long bursts back-to-back.

Battery

Battery Life
Average battery life for a semi-professional model SLR.

Operating Mode	Number of Shots
Optical Viewfinder, (CIPA standard)	740
Live View LCD, (CIPA standard)	Unknown

The Pentax K-5 II uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Battery life is about average for a semi-pro model (better than average compared to most consumer models), but if you plan to use Live View or shoot movies much, you'll definitely want to have a spare battery to bring along.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on either a fresh set of disposable batteries or a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))