Pentax K10D 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with Shake Reduction (Body Only) by Pentax
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Digital camera reviews of Pentax K10D 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with Shake Reduction (Body Only)
Digital camera Review: pentax 10m pix
Summary: 5 Stars
Nice light but not too light. Camera uses sd flash cards and regular AA batteries. No hunting for oddball batteries like others!
Anti-shake works slightly but not as good as hoped. Would still recommend trypod as with all other digital cameras. (Digital cameras still cannot duplicate a fast shutter speed due to the amount of light needed to make the image.)
Overall this is the best digital I have come across. It offers the option of picture format choice of raw or jpg that others do not. It also has a wide varity of lenses that can be used to take many different kinds of pictures.
Digital camera Review: very good camera !
Summary: 5 Stars
A million words have been written about this thing, and this is not an attempt at a comprehensive review, so look above or on dpreview-com for complete info.
I looked at Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony DSLRs. The Sony makes sense if you already have a bag full of Minolta lenses, which I don't. Canon and Nikon put their image stabilization in the lens, which makes their 'good' lenses significantly more expensive. Canon EOS is not backward-compatible with their old FD lenses, of which I -do- have a bagful. Pentax is backward-compatible with all K-mount lenses made since the 1970s, and will even take 645 and 6x7 lenses, with adapters.
Sooo, I set out to ease into DSLR ownership with a K100D, then started reading the reviews, and it was a bunch of little things that made me want the K10D. The viewfinder has an actual prism, not a mirror cage like cheaper cameras, the displays are backlit, and the low-res mode (1800 x 1200px) is exactly what I want for certain applications. With 10 Mpx, I can point & shoot if I have to, and crop (somewhat) more later. And the controls are more 'classic' camera-like than the 'scene modes' on beginner cameras. Not to say this would be worth the price difference to everyone, but I bought the K10D, and the Pentax 12-24mm / 4.0 lens, and am very happy with both.
Digital cameras use less of the image projected by the lens, so your lenses are 'longer' than they would be on a film camera. Downside: for a 'journalist lens', had to buy the 12-24mm, which is equivalent of 18-36mm on a film camera. Upside: my old 50mm / 1.4 is now equivalent of that top-of-the-line portrait lens I never felt I could afford. Pentax plans to introduce in 2007 a 16-50mm / 2.8 and a 50-135mm / 2.8, which sound fantastic - but let's see what they cost before we get too excited. Meanwhile, Sigma, Tokina, and Tamron offer some very adequate alternatives.
Camera and lens together are pretty heavy, just like an older SLR, and the LED screen cannot be used as a live viewfinder - no image gets to the sensor while the mirror is down - so you have to hoist the camera to your eye to compose a shot. No problem, I'm used to it, and it's common to all DSLRs.
((My personal feeling is that the SLR platform is just about done. It's hard to see the need for the mirror box in a digital camera, which can use the actual sensor to compose the shot through the lens and display it on the back. Future top-end digital cams will probably be a lot flatter, like the old rangefinder cameras. Look at the Olympus E330 or Panasonic DMC-L1 to see what direction I think we should be headed.))
Having said, I am very happy with the Pentax K10D, it behaves as it's supposed to, and an affordable (barely) 12-24mm rectilinear lens was unthinkable just a few years ago. This camera has a ton and a half of features and capabilities, and I am still sorting them out. There is definitely a learning curve if you are to get the most out of the camera, but there are also two full program modes, including 'green zone', so you can start shooting right away with good results. Pictuers come out great. Colors, brightness, and contrast need almost no adjustment or photoshop-ing, which has not been true of any other digi-cam I have ever owned. Happy with this, until the next big thing comes along.