Welcome back to the DPNow.com editor's blog. Last year I used my blog to publish all sorts of subject matter, from off-topic observations to fairly in-depth tutorials. For Now, I'm going to concentrate on more regular updates, reflecting the many interesting anecdotes that I experience as a photography magazine journalist.

Today, I reflect on a chance encounter with a specialist Pentax journalist at the recent PMA trade show in Anaheim, California.

I was exploring the wares on offer at the PMA pre-show press event called Sneak Peek. This is a chance for exhibitors to get close up and personal with journalists on the day before the show opens. Each exhibitor has a modest sized table on which to lay out their goods and to chat over lunch with hungry journos.

I was at the Pentax table and was trying to work out why Pentax was in the exhibitors list when they didn't have a booth on the show floor when someone sidled up and asked one of the Pentax reps if the rumours of a "sensor upgrade" for K20D and K7D users was true.

It turned out that this was a rather obtuse piece of sarcasm; although the Samsung 14MP CMOS sensor used in the Pentax K20D and K7D top of the range DSLRs has been widely well-regarded, the newer and cheaper Pentax K-x DSLR model has a 12.4MP sensor from Sony, and testers have noticed that it's rather better still than the Samsung sensor.

This was confirmed by [URL="http://dxomark.com/index.php/eng/Image-Quality-Database/Pentax/Kx"]DxOMark.com[/URL] a few days ago when they released their technical test results for RAW file quality from the Pentax K-x, which is substantially better than not only the K7D and the K20D, but all Sony DSLRs apart from their two full frame models.

So, while Pentax would argue that the K7D is their best DSLR, its underlying RAW image quality is not as good as one of its budget stablemates. And this is a trend not limited to Pentax. With sensor design continuing to improve in leaps and bounds, and high volume lower priced models being replaced and updated more frequently than their higher-end siblings, the surprising-but-true fact is that the 'best' model in the range doesn't necessarily offer the best image quality.

Don't for get that you can publish your own blog here at DPNow.com, or you can respond to this blog and others:
[LIST][*][URL="http://dpnow.com/forum2/blog_post.php?do=newblog"]Post your own blog[/URL][*][URL="http://dpnow.com/forum2/blog_post.php?do=comment&b=128"]Respond to this blog[/URL][/LIST]