Pentax K100D Super 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Shake Reduction (Body Only) by Pentax
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Digital camera reviews of Pentax K100D Super 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Shake Reduction (Body Only)
Digital camera Review: The Best Value For Your Money in Photography
Summary: 5 Stars
First of all, I would like to start with highly recommending this camera to ANYONE who wants premium image quality with expandability, power and flexibility.
Pentax is one of the only companies out there that is driven entirely by photography and NOT by a marketing department that makes outrageous claims. To this end, even this, their lowest-end camera, is PACKED with premium features. Let's take a look at them:
1. Dust Reduction: Dust WILL get into your camera! This keeps it off of the sensor and increases the time inbetween cleanings.
2. Shake Reduction: It's good for a couple of stops of shooting leeway and you get it with every lens you use. Other companies build their systems into the lenses, meaning ONE lens can cost as much or more than the camera, itself! Lens-based anti-shake systems are more effective at long zoom than body-based systems, but unless you're rich, you won't be able to afford a suite of good lenses! With this camera, you can use ANY Pentax lens and get anti-shake.
3. AA batteries: Proprietary battery packs are NO GOOD. Hmmm, if you're on a shoot and your pack dies, you're not taking ANY photos unless you get a spare, right? With this camera, pick up some 2500mAh Ni-MH AA's and you can afford to get three sets. However, the power drain is so small, you might not need more than one set.
4. 6 MP sensor: Don't EVER get trapped in the megapixel hype. Megapixels mean nothing in the DSLR game, except for noise issues. Let me explain. The sensor sizes on almost all DSLRs (except for $5000 full-frame pro cameras) are APS-sized, meaning the sensor size on this camera and the Nikon D300 are very nearly the same dimensions. This means that photosensors on the chip have to be made smaller to get more pixels...meaning that the closer together/smaller sites are LESS light sensitive and they will also interfere with each other. 6 MP is a perfect sweet spot for noise and image sharpness. You get a base ISO of 200, meaning your camera is TWICE as sensitive to light as one with a base ISO of 100! This camera records color accurately and makes prints up to 8.5"x11" with no problem.
This camera has huge features and, even with the release of the K20D and K200D cameras, still maintains a good feature/image quality set with a proven CCD sensor and a suite of easy-to-learn features and settings. I LOVE this camera and even though I have a K200D for the weather sealing and larger burst capacity, the K100D super is the camera I ALWAYS take with me in trips. You're better off getting this camera plus a really nice lens and a 360FZ flash than a more expensive camera with a base kit lens and no external flash.
Believe me, this camera's quality will not fail to impress you and it will grow with you. It can use ANY lens its bigger brothers can and it uses them effortlessly.
A superb camera and one for the record books!
Digital camera Review: Excellent starter DSLR
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fantastic starter camera. It really takes excellent photos. The built-in flash is a bit weak for dark environments, but that's a characteristic of all built-in flashes. It was a toss-up between this camera and the Nikon D40. Both are excellent. This one has a better user interface and a nicer feel. It's a bit heavier than others, but I find that the extra weight provides a bit more stability. The only advantage the Nikon may have is the availability of accesories, but Pentax makes some wonderful add-ons for this camera. Oh, and you can use any Pentax SLR lense ever made on this camera...big selling point if you have an older Pentax.Digital camera Review: K100D Super - Great for getting into DSLR photography
Summary: 5 Stars
I've never owned any SLRs, just little point and shoots. I was looking for a DSLR that would help me with that next step and would accommodate my needs as my skills improve. I considered the entry level DSLRs from Canon, Nikon, and Pentax. You'll find a lot of websites that give you great reviews of all of them.
I decided to go with the Pentax K100D Super. I didn't like how the Canon's felt and thought the Nikon D40x was just too expensive and didn't have the shake reduction feature in body. I also have a lot of rechargeable AA batteries that I am able to use with the K100D Super.
I've owned it for almost two months now. I am not disappointed. The shift from point and shoots to DSLRs is a big one. You'll have to learn the basics of exposure no matter what camera you decide to purchase. My biggest challenge with the K100D Super was setting the white balance. The Auto White Balance feature doesn't work as well as my point and shoot. I find that you have to set it manually and can't rely on the automatic setting. It's something I never had to fiddle with before, but I found a lot of help on pentaxforums.
PROS:
-Price
-Features
shake reduction
lots of automatic settings for amateurs
lens system (you can pretty much use any lens thats made for a pentax slr)
-build quality and ergonomics
-uses AA size batteries.
CONS:
- auto white balance doesn't work well
I'm amazed at the quality of the images from the camera. I've already ordered another lens (1.4 50mm pentax prime lens) and look forward to many years of use out of this camera.
Digital camera Review: Stop searching and just buy this one - you won't regret it!
Summary: 5 Stars
I searched for 3 months reading review after review, I found myself up too late in the evenings scouring the web looking for the perfect combination of features and cost (overall value). I have owned point and shoot digicams for years, in fact own a nice Canon SD800 now and am thrilled with it - the last SLR I owned was a fully manual Minolta 35mm made in 1962!
For me it came down first deciding upon one of the new SuperZoom (15x or higher) digicams (Panasonic FZ18, or Canon S5 IS), or going for a full DSLR (Nikon D40 or Pentax K100D Super). I eliminated the SuperZooms eventually because I didn't feel they were different enough from my Canon P&S to justify the purchase. This was a tough call because the SuperZooms were at least $200 less than the cheapest SLR. My gripes with the SuperZoom's I played with were that they felt like toys, very lightweight, and were small in my hands to hold. The other concern I had with the SuperZooms was that at their maximum zoom they weren't very 'fast' - meaning that unless you were taking pictures outdoors with a lot of light the pictures would come out dark or not at all. I needed a camera that had a great zoom but could be used indoors during sporting events. The Panasonic FZ18 does seem to be the king of the hill in the SuperZoom segment, but I decided to just bite the bullet spend the extra dough and go for a DSLR.
I played with both the Nikon D40 and the Pentax K100D in a local mall Photo Store (big chain), and they were both nice to use. The Nikon had an edge over the Pentax in terms of focusing time (just barely), and it could fire off continuous shots better than the Pentax. But everywhere else I thought the Pentax was better. What clinched the deal was the rebate offered through Pentax which will save me hundreds over the Nikon. I ended up ordering the Pentax online because the Mall Photo store wouldn't price match. Oh well, their loss - I would have bought it from them if they just would have matched.
Right out of the box I started taking pictures, I glanced at the instructions but mostly I just started taking photos. I popped in the 4 AA's that came with it, a recently purchased class 6 4gb SDHC flash card and away I went taking great pictures. I've since poured through the manual and absorbed much of it (but it'll need several more reviews for it all to sink in). I also purchased a 70-300mm Sigma Zoom lens which matched to it nicely.
I put the package to the test this weekend at a swim meet (indoors), previously with my P&S I could never zoom in close enough and it was always too dark to get a picture that wasn't blurry. Well with the Pentax I was able to boost the ISO all the way up to 3200 which resulted in a fast shutter speed and even at this high of an ISO the pictures didn't look grainy at all. In fact they looked fantastic! I was shocked at how well the camera performed, I had a blast taking picture after picture - without any shutter lag and with each picture looking great! My only disappointment is that I didn't buy this camera sooner.
If you are on the fence like I was, take my advice and just buy this camera. If you have kids like I do the pictures you'll take will be priceless and will far outweigh the investment you'll make in this camera.
Congratulations to Pentax for building such an amazing camera, one that is solidly constructed and enables amateur photographers like me to produce pictures that look great!
Digital camera Review: Excellent camera at a bargain price
Summary: 5 Stars
I am an serious amature photographer who has used Pentax 35mm, Canon 35mm, Zeiss medium format range finders, Panasonic Lumix and Sony digital cameras. In all I've been in love with the art of photography for over 35 years. I really enjoyed the durability and handling ease of the old Pentax SLR's (K1000, ME and P3...). The K100D Super is the digital evolution of those great Pentax film cameras which I'm sure many of us have been missing. While billed as an entry level DSLR, it posesses all the manual features any experienced film shooter would be familiar with and will instantly comprehend. In addition, it can be used in complete auto or scene modes for point and shoot users who are graduating to the SLR experience.
This is really a serious piece of gear at a great price. It is built very solidly with a metal frame and proper access doors instead of those cheap rubber flaps other manufacturers are using. It feels natural in my average size male hands and all the controls are where they should be. Menus are easy to navigate and it takes minimum time to orient around the displays to make a variety of custom settings. Kudos to the engineers who made things so ergonomic and user friendly for both novice and veteran photographers. The pentamirror viewfinder is bright, uncluttered and all 35mm users should be right at home with the quality of the display. Dust removal, anti-shake, 11 point focus, excellent metering... it has all the useful features desired of a high quality DSLR.
Some reviewers have panned this camera for its 6.1mp sensor. Unless you plan on making poster size prints, this is really a non-issue. Don't fall for all the pixel packing marketing hype. Pentax is to be congratulated for using a proven, excellent quality APS-C sensor which undoubtedly factors into keeping the price down (and the ISO noise down too!). The photo processor is also proven over a couple of previous models and is top notch. The utility of using commercial AA batteries is underrated. I often take my cameras traveling abroad and if I happen to need power in a pinch, any semi-civilized place will have batteries I can use. Likewise, SD media is the world's most widely used mass storage format and available just about everywhere - brilliant!
Oh yeah - the photos this camera are capable of taking are simply spectacular! And after all, isn't that what we are ultimately trying to achieve from this art form?
Go ahead and get off the fence. All the features you will need are in this little gem. K-10D shooters - buy one as a backup.