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reduction circuitry keeps the signal-to-noise ratio low, it increases visual noise over the entire ISO range as a result. Visual tests resulted in even more noise than our lab tests led us to expect, with an obvious drop-off in texture sharpness and detail rendition at ISO 400 and upward, and complete disappearance of some textures above ISO

Severe luminance noise appears and
edges begin to blur above ISO 1600, and
additional increases in ISO value produce
intense loss of detail and additional color
noise. Adequate 100% views can no longer be
produced above ISO 200, and even full-screen
images show a lot of weakness above ISO 800.
For less ‘clinical’ outdoor shots, these values
all move up one step, with textures
reproduced adequately up to ISO 400 and
other details up to ISO 800.

Pentax K-01

The philosophy behind this camera seems to involve taking an SLR body, removing the mirror box and viewfinder while retaining the full-frame lens mount and adding a sensor shift CMOS sensor with ultrasonic dust-off for continuous live view shooting. The whole package is then fitted into a heavy aluminum ‘designer’ body. The result is the K-01 – the

first system camera to offer a mount for an existing range of legacy (and current) SLR lenses. In principle, this is a great idea, but does mean that the flange depth (i.e., the distance between the rear lens element and the image sensor) has to have SLR dimensions, making the camera body much more bulky than many of its competitors. The camera’s 16-megapixel sensor positions it between the Pentax K-30 and the much cheaper 12-megapixel K-r SLRs. The menu system will be familiar to Pentax users. It is quite colorful, but easy to navigate using the main dial, or ‘E-dial’, as Pentax calls it. You can also change various settings directly on the monitor using the INFO button. The monitor is fixed, but bright and detailed. There is no optional accessory viewfinder available. The lack of a mirror box also means that the camera does not have phase-detection autofocus sensors and has to rely on contrast- based AF performed via the image sensor. This produces audible focus seek, especially in low light, and we measured focus times of up to 1.7 s in our lab tests! On the plus side, the 81-sensor AF system is flexible and can be set to use a single AF area with variable size and position. The K-01 delivered 4.7 fps sequences for 16 shots in the lab, while real-world tests

produced shorter sequences at up to 6 fps. The shutter is relatively loud, especially when you consider that it has no mirror that has to be raised and lowered. For an APS-C camera, the K-01’s noise levels are good up to ISO 3200, and maximum contrast remains pleasantly high up to ISO

White balance and dynamic range
results were some of the best we measured in
this test. Starting at a very good value of 86
percent at ISO 100, resolution for our test lens
decreased quickly with increasing ISO values.
Visually, our test images were fine up to ISO
400, but began to show coarse luminance
noise above ISO 800, the threshold value for
for satisfactory 100% viewing. Edge detail
began to fray and additional color artifacts
began to appear above ISO 1600. This is also
the usable limit for full-screen viewing, and
obvious sharpness and texture drop-off sets
in thereafter. The pancake test lens produced
obvious fringing effects down to f11, but
delivered very good detail and sharpness
when stopped right down.

Olympus OM-D E-M5

Physically, the new Olympus flagship camera represents an update of the company’s classic OM series analog SLR cameras, though its lens mount breaks with tradition. The E-M5 makes no technological compromises, offering a very small weather-sealed body, a 16-megapixel Four Thirds format LiveMOS sensor and a standard kit zoom with optional motorized zoom. It also has extremely advanced five-axis image stabilization built in. The camera is almost completely customizable, and has an 86-line setup menu to prove it! However, some of the buttons are a little too small for reliable operation and the vertically tiltable OLED monitor has only rudimentary touch-screen functionality that makes everyday shooting a somewhat menu-driven process. The 1.4-million-dot viewfinder is sharp and switches on automatically when needed using a proximity sensor. Olympus doesn’t use color sequence technology to generate the viewfinder image, making it more pleasant to use than the Sony. The E-M5 focuses extremely quickly (0.22 s in bright light) and left the rest of our test models standing in low light too, in spite of its contrast-based AF system. Continuous shooting of up to 8.5 fps in JPEG and RAW mode was second only to the D4, although sequences max out at 15 shots. ‘Live bulb’ mode is an exciting innovation that updates the monitor display in real time to reflect changes to the image data captured during long exposures.

Camera Test | SLR and System Cameras

Contrast range/subject range, ISO 400 [in f-stops] better >

Contrast range/subject range, ISO 12 800 [in f-stops] better >

Contrast range/subject range, ISO 25 600 [in f-stops] better >

Real subject range [# of tonal values] better >

Color Checker SG (ΔE) ISO 100

<better

1 Measured at ISO 200 minimum sensitvity setting^2 The unique architecture of the three-layer Sigma Foveon sensor
makes measured resolution values greater than 100% possible.
The measurable limit of 120 % was exceeded at all ISO values.

9.3 9.7 9.0 11.3 10.0 11.7 9.7

9.7 9.3 8.7 9.7 9.0 10.0 9.3

9.3 9.0 8.3 9.0 8.3 9.0 8.7

8.7 8.7 7.7 8.3 8.0 7.0 8.0

8.7 8.0 7.0 7.3 7.0

7.3

7.3
7.0
6.7
6.0

7.0

255 252 255 254 256 255 256

12.2 9.8 9.0 9.4^1 6.5 12.3 9.3

Visual noise OECF20 ISO 3200 <better

Visual noise OECF20 ISO 6400 <better

Visual noise OECF20 ISO 12 800 <better

Visual noise OECF20 ISO 25 600 <better

Startup time [s] <better

Shutter lag (wide-angle) at >1000 lx in LiveView [s]^2 <better

Shutter lag (wide-angle) at >1000 lx [s]^2 <better

Shutter lag (wide-angle) at 30 lx [s]^2 <better

(^1) Measured at ISO 200 minimum (^2) Measured with the following lenses: Canon EF 24-70mm f/s.8, Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8,
sensitvity setting Olympus M.Zuiko 12-50mm F/3.5-6.3, Pentax SMC-DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6,
Sigma EX 17-50mm f/2.8. Sony SLT-A57 measured using a Zeiss Vario-Sonnar 24-70mm f/2.8.
1.5
1.9
2.4
1.9
1.8
4.0
2.3
2.2
2.3
3.1
2.5
2.5
8.1
2.6
2.3
2.7
3.8
3.6
3.7

3.7

3.2
4.9
5.0
5.8

0.5 0.2 0.2 1.8 1.7 3.0 0.8

1.8 0.9 0.9 0.2 0.8

0.3 0.3 0.2

1.2
0.3

0.5 0.2 0.3 0.3 1.7 1.6 0.4

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