Pentax K-5 II Performance

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

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.)

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

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.

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.

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

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))