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Pentax K2000

Digital Camera Review
April 17, 2009 By Steve Morgenstern 0 Comments (add your own)

Previous: Page 10

Noise Reduction

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Low Light
Page 11

Dynamic Range

Dynamic Range (8.62)

The Pentax 2000 performed well in our dynamic range testing. Four out of five cameras in our comparison suite scored within a hair’s breadth of one another in this test and, while the Pentax was statistically the lowest of these four, the difference is inconsequential in real-world effect.

Our tests for dynamic range are conducted by shooting a standard 20-patch Kodak Gray Scale chart under controlled 3000-lux illumination, shooting at each available ISO at a range of aperture settings. The resulting images are analyzed using Imatest software to determine how well the tested camera can maintain detail in dark areas and reproduce highlights without blowing them out.

Dynamic range inevitably decreases as ISO settings increase, but for the K2000 the effect is smooth and gradual. The camera starts out at ISO 100 with over seven stops of dynamic range, barely dips below 6 stops at ISO 400 and still produces a respectable result into the noisy realm of ISO 3200 shooting. More on how we test dynamic range.

Dynamic Range Across ISO Levels
ISO 200
6.73
ISO 400
5.96
ISO 800
5.45
ISO 1600
4.48
ISO 3200
3.81
1
3
5
9
Dynamic Range (f-stops)

Aside from the Olympus, the others all display very similar dynamic range performance at ISO 200.

The Olympus had noise problems across the board, and at extreme ISOs produced photos which were simply unusable, which explains its poor performance. The scores each camera received in each section are shown below; a longer bar indicates a higher score.

Dynamic Range Score Comparison
Pentax K2000
8.62
Canon EOS Rebel XS
7.92
Olympus E-30
2.89
0
2
4
6
8
12
Dynamic Range Score
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Pentax K2000
Digital Camera Review
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Previous: Page 10

Noise Reduction

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Low Light