The Pentax 20 sensor has roughly 14 stops of dynamic range. ACDSee’s proprietary tool is superior to standard shadow sliders. It uses an intelligent curve that lifts the Pentax shadows without introducing noise (luminance noise is a common issue at ISO 1600+ on Pentax sensors).
Pentax is unique because it allows photographers to shoot raw files in two formats: the proprietary native (Pentax Electronic File) or the universal .DNG (Digital Negative). acdsee for pentax 20
If you happen to have the original CD-ROM (often labeled S-SW56), the installation process was straightforward: The Pentax 20 sensor has roughly 14 stops of dynamic range