SuperRes Mode with Pentax K1: Sunset from White Mountain Road
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.
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.