I have about 2700 shots taken so far-It shoots as well today as it did in Nov. 2006. The only down side is auto-focusing in low light & only 3 to 4 frames in a rapid fire situation. After the K200D has been out for say 8 to 10 months or so I will consider it as a compliment to my arsenal-I am an avid amature and enjoy shooting landscapes & wildlife-The battery life using E2 Lithium batteries is 650 to 700 photos-I use the built in fill flash about 40 % of the time. Value wise for someone breaking into DSLR & if you have a few Pentax lenses laying—You could not spend your $$ more wisely...........In my humble opinion .

PRO

- Shake Reduction
- Built well it can take a beating makes nikon d40 seem like a fisher price toy.
- you can use old sigma/pentax lenses.

CONS

- Slow buffer

Auto pic is ok but when use manually it kicks d40 out of the planet.

Words can't describe how good this camera is. "You deserve it"- it screams. Simply amazing! I knew that most old lenses would work with it, but so far every single one works like a charm. eBay is loaded with cheap and not so cheap lenses- around 800 used film,and 150 digital for Pentax alone- all the others combined have grand total that's few times lower. So far I got 4 prime lenses(A50/2,M50/1.4,A28/2.8,M135/2.5+35/3.5 screw mount, but still no adapter) 3 zooms(FA100-300,kit lens,A80-200),asahi tele-converter, remote, 3 asahi macro tubes for a total of around $350 all from eBay. Got the camera for about $550 (and I'm waiting on $50 MIR), so everything costs less than k10d body...AA batteries are nice but don't last- NiMH Energizer 2500 mAh do around 500-600 shots- not sure if I want the lithium rechargeable CR-V3 now, but people say it does shoot quicker. The kit lens is sweet- manual focusing is a little wobbly, but that's normal with AF lens.You can adjust focus manually on-the-fly after it stops AF-ing. The camera auto is pretty intelligent- it picks the scene automatically; it under exposes about 1/3 of a stop which is what I would do as safety- this way I can restore the shadows manually. Manual used to scare me, but know I almost feel the right numbers- awesome feeling! SR is a dream- it does make almost 1 second long hand held exposures possible. Works on all lenses I got- with the manual lenses it will ask the focal distance and BAM!- 50/1.4 becomes a night-time monster, +2x tele-converter turns it into 100mm/2.8 w/ shake reduction- so glad I didn't go with Canon- after HAVING this I don't think it's possible to look another way. Pentax made incredible choice to put SR on such a cheap model- it's amazing to see 20 years old piece of glass work on this modern marvel. I've used the *istD few years ago, and it was nifty camera, but just another SLR that you can't pronounce the name, so you can't even brag to your friends...this time around the name is just as classic as k1000, and the camera is going to be classic too. So far I've recommended this to anyone I know- after all everyone deserves to be a good photographer.

BACKGROUND

I’ve owned SLR’s for 30 years starting with screw mount lenses and moving to Pentax K mount. In the last 5 years I became interested in digital photography owning a Canon A200 and Konica Minolta Dimage Z3. We’ve also got 5 other digital compacts in the household including new Samsung and Fuji 6MP models.

The KM Z3 is a great camera with a 12 times optical zoom and anti shake sensor but I was a little disappointed with noise in the dark areas of some pictures. This could be kept to a reasonable level if ISO was fixed at 50 but this limits flexibility when the sun isn’t shining.

I’d thought about buying a digital SLR for some time but couldn’t really justify the expense over what seemed to be minor benefits. However, when I discovered that the K100D would work with my old K mount lenses and my manual flash guns and it had shake reduction I became very interested.

COMPARISON WITH OTHER SLR’S

Before purchase my local dealer (Jessops) ordered a K100D from their warehouse for me to look at. I had already checked many reviews and downloaded sample images for a number of cameras. These are my opinions;

Nikon D40 – Pleasing, well saturated images but a tendency to slightly over expose
Pentax K100D – Pleasant and well saturated but a tendency to slightly underexpose, very low noise. Surprisingly sharp for a 6MP camera and much sharper than the *ist models.
Olympus E500 –softer images than the Pentax and Nikon which are 6MP
Olympus E400 – No better than the Pentax so to me not worth the very high premium. Just shows that the number of megapixels is only part of the story.
Sony Alpha – Very good but the difference to me isn’t worth the extra money
Canon D400 – Very good but the difference to me isn’t worth the extra money

My conclusion was that Olympus made a big mistake using the four thirds sensor. With current technology it’s too small to cram in so many photo receptors all receiving proportionately less light than the equivalent APS-C sensors on other cameras. Consequently they have to turn up the amplification which increases noise then apply heavy noise reduction to hide it but that just softens the image, so what’s the point in having 10 megapixels if you soften it down to the resolution of 6 megapixels? The Sony and Canon are very good but quite a bit more expensive. The Pentax images could be blown up to A4 and it would be very difficult to tell the difference from a 10MP camera. At A3 the images would still be very pleasing and useable. So for my uses it’s not worth paying the extra. The Nikon D40 is very appealing but can occasionally burn out highlights (adjusting the EV compensation would probably cure this). It also doesn’t have anti-shake (unless you spend a lot on lenses). So for me the K100D with it’s image quality, lens compatibility and anti shake for a comparatively low price was a no brainer.

HANDLING

If you are upgrading from a digital compact then you will find a significant difference in size and weight. Digital SLR’s are big, even bigger than my film SLR. However, the K100D is small to medium size for a digital SLR. At first I was unsure that I would like this but after using it you get used to it. On the positive side the K100D is very sturdy being made from a steel chassis and a strong plastic body. The battery compartment is shaped to provide good grip with a rubberised coating. The mechanical operation of the lens (18-55mm) is also good and on the whole the camera/lens package feels as though it will stand up to a fair amount of rough treatment and hard work. The controls are well positioned and easy to get used to.

SHOOTING MODES

There are a large number of shooting modes, the ones likely to be used the most are on the control dial. The fully automatic mode selects what it believes to be the most appropriate scene mode. I tried this and always got a decent picture but I prefer to use Program, Aperture priority or Manual. Aperture and shutter speed are adjusted using a thumbwheel on the rear of the camera. I like the viewfinder. It displays a useful range of info including the number of stops + or – adjustment required in manual mode.

I have a number of earlier Pentax K mount lenses ie open aperture metering and no ‘A’ setting. These will work in aperture priority mode but only at full aperture ie the lens isn’t stopped down. That’s fine for my 80-200mm which is f4.5. I still get an acceptable picture. I also planned on using my Chinon 50mm for portraits which is f1.9. To use the full aperture range you need to use manual mode (set the menu to allow use of aperture ring and depth of field preview to stop down the lens). When you use the depth of field preview (on the on/off switch) the camera stops the lens down and gives you a meter reading. You can adjust the exposure with the thumbwheel (or aperture ring) while stopped down. Not bad once you’ve got used to it and it allows you to use all those lenses you have.

DISPLAY AND MENUS

The 2.5 inch LCD is excellent. Pictures can be set to display for varying periods following capture. It will zoom up to 12x. The play mode has all the usual features including capture info and histogram. Despite some reviews criticising some of the menu texts their meanings seemed obvious to me and anyway they are easy to check out in the user manual which is pretty good.

All the controls you’d expect can be set in the menus but one feature I really like is the auto ISO range. You can set this at any single ISO (200-3200) or set a range for the camera to select from. Image noise is very low on this camera even up to ISO 800 so I tend to use a range of 200 to 800. This in combination with the shake reduction sensor allows you to take photos in low light without flash. I have been surprised at how good these pictures are.

BATTERIES

That large LCD does eat your batteries so keep it’s use to a minimum. You can get a set of 2600 NiMH rechargeables from ASDA for a tenner.

SHAKE REDUCTION

I’ve tested the shake reduction with 50mm, 18-55mm, 80-200mm and 80-200mm with a 2x converter (that’s 200x2x1.5 = 600mm equiv. on a film slr). My Minolta has anti-shake with a 12x zoom so I had something to compare against. For older K mount lenses the camera asks you to confirm the focal length when you switch on. Shake reduction is definitely worth having, I have taken shots at ¼ of a second and got a usable picture. Obviously, your shutter speed needs to match your subject but with people for example you can easily take shots indoors without flash (auto white balance doesn’t cope that well with indoor lighting, make sure you switch it over in the function menu). I also tested the 200mm zoom with 2x converter taking a picture of tree in the distance at 1/60th handheld. This picture is really sharp even blown up quite a lot. In conclusion, it seems to be as effective as the Minolta. The big plus is that the shake reduction uses a floating sensor in the camera body, it works with any lens, even my old manual focus ones. You don’t get that with Nikon and Canon.

FLASH

The inbuilt flash was a pleasant surprise. It generally gives excellent pictures. You can set it to pop up automatically if the exposure requires it or leave it as manual and decide yourself when to use flash. It can get fooled by reflective objects which tend to make it underexpose a little but on the whole it provides well exposed pictures without redeye (and that’s without redeye settings on). It’s quite powerful and due to the camera’s low noise you can use an ISO setting up to 800 giving you a very effective tool.

You can get the flash to work with your manual lenses in manual shooting mode. The flash will fire at full output so set the appropriate aperture. I soon got used to guessing the correct aperture based on the distance although you could work it out based on the guide number.

I have 3 flash guns from years gone by including a Chinon zoom head, a Chinon bracket mounted and a Cullman CX 35 which I wanted to use rather than buy a new one. The switching voltage must not be more than around 30 volts or you’ll damage the camera. I managed to find this data for the Chinon zoom and the Cullman on the web. You must also ensure that any dedicated contacts don’t work. I unscrewed the foot on the Chinon and snipped the wire for the single dedicated pin. The Cullman uses an interchangeable foot which slides off. Using my manual slr to fire it and through a process of elimination I taped over all the contacts between the foot and the base of the flash to leave just the ones that trigger the flash (You can switch the foot to manual but I still got a very low voltage across the contacts).

These flashes are automatic thyristor types you just set the camera’s shutter speed/aperture in manual mode to the auto setting on the flashgun (eg f8) and away you go. These flash guns work extremely well and I’ve saved myself a bundle of cash.

FOCUS

Auto focus with the Pentax 18-55mm is quick and even works well in low light. It might hunt on the odd occasion if it’s a low light low contrast scene but it always focuses. I believe the flash can provide strobed light to assist but I haven’t needed it so far. My Minlota Z3 would just give up in these situations. You can turn the manual focus ring at any time. The camera does use it’s 11 focus zones and gives you a red marker on screen where it chose to focus. Manual focus was a dream with my old K mount lenses as the matte viewfinder is very effective and the camera’s own focusing system gives you both audible and visual focus confirmation.

IMAGE QUALITY

My original plan was to buy the K100D body and use my old lenses until I had saved up for a top quality 18-200 zoom. However, I could get the package with the Pentax 18-55mm for only £20 more than the body only, a no brainer. So how good is this bundled lens. My main concern was that it might provide a resolution lower than the sensor could capture. I also tested the 50mm Chinon and 80-200mm Vivitar. The review sites generally agreed that around 1500 lines per picture height was available and that ‘s what I got with all three lenses. In other words all 3 lenses are capable of resolving detail to the sensor’s limit. The 6mp sensor in this camera delivers far more lph than either the Fuji or Samsung 6mp compacts.

I have left the camera at the delivered settings except for image tone which I set to natural rather than bright.

I shot using raw and jpeg with no difference between the level of detail resolved. However, the jpegs do display some very minor colour moiré which isn’t there in raw-until you apply the camera settings. I haven’t had time to check out what causes this but suspect it could be the sharpening. In any case this is so minor it won’t impact on ‘real’ pictures.

I’ve tried the multi segment and centre weighted metering and found both to be good although I think the centre weighting area is too small. My only other comment would be that there is the occasional slight under exposure from both which was hard to predict. I thought maybe half a stop compensation might cure it but it’s not consistent. This camera uses the same sensor as the Nikon D40 which I checked out before buying the Pentax. Image samples from the Nikon I found on the web were very good but there was the occasional burn out of highlights. The Pentax is maybe geared to avoiding burn out, the darker detail can be recovered using editing software. The dynamic range of the sensor could be a factor but you have to pay considerably more to go to the next level.

What pleases me the most about the images from this camera is it’s very low noise. It seems as though the camera doesn’t have to apply much noise reduction or sharpening. This leaves pictures which are detailed and natural. Compared to say a 10mp Olympus I’d take the Pentax every time.

If you submit pictures to agencies then the images respond well to interpolation (although of course this doesn’t pull out any extra detail). I don’t know what algorithm is used but the Pentax Raw converter software will save at larger image sizes and produce really good results. I’ve also tried interpolating jpegs using various algorithms (cubic etc) and the results are ok.

The RAW processing software seems pretty good but I haven’t used it much to be honest as the jpeg’s are really good straight from the camera (natural image tone setting). Contrast is very realistic and adjusting with levels or curves isn’t really needed in most pictures.

If you are taking a serious set of pictures use RAW, it leaves your options open but as a default the conversion software will apply the camera jpeg settings if you want it to. It’s a good base point to compare against. However, jpeg’s from this camera are really natural (use the natural image tone setting) and don’t lose any detail as far as I can tell.

In my view if you have shot jpeg’s you shouldn’t have to do much processing on the PC. They should be right first time and that’s pretty much how they are from the K100D. Beyond all the measurements you still have to make a subjective judgement and I like pictures taken on this camera, they look as good as you can get at this price.

CONCLUSION

Pro’s

Uses AA batteries
Compatible with most K mount lenses ever made
Works with dedicated and basic flash guns
Controls are easy to learn
Can be used in many modes from full manual to point and shoot
Shake reduction is very effective
Image noise is very low
Minimal in camera processing (my guess) ensures fine detail is retained.
Tough body.
Good inbuilt flash
Great value compared to the competion. Nothing at the price offers better images, then add shake reduction, a good bundled lens and backward lens compatabilty for a well thought out SLR.

Con’s

Small to medium for a digital SLR but (in my view) all digital SLR’s are a tad too big and heavy.
Comparatively speaking a good buy but digital SLR’s should not cost this much.
That’s it..

Phil Leese

I've been hunting for a good DSLR for a while, being fed up with compacts and 'super zoom' cameras. In fact my last camera (and my secondary to this one) is a Kodak P850, which I was very happy with, but it has it's problems.

Jumping into the DSLR family has definatly fixed the problems I was having... more control, faster frames, clearer pictures, better flash, better expandibility.

The choice to go with the K100D was an easy one for me, and almost made considering I inherited my parents old Pentax MX SLR and many acompanying lens. Buying into the system instead of having to start a new system was the biggest thing...

However, for the price I would have gone with the Pentax anyways. With the K100D your getting a very good SLR for the hobbist. The Shake Reduction is a life saver, and the smaller size is great for portability. The flash has a great range, and the included lens (mine came with a 18-55mm) is not all that bad... I'm keepin mine in the box seeing as how I like my old Pentax 55mm lens better.

The K100D has backwards compatibility with all of Pentax's classic K-mount lenses. This includes thrid party lenes, like those from Vistek (did I spell that right?). With a slight modification (taking the black metal ring out of the mount of the lens) made these lens mount with ease.

The buffer is pretty large for this camera, seeing as how I'm using it @ 5mp high quality jpg mode, I can get a lot of shots on there quickly. I normally keep this thing in drive mode since I shoot a lot of Skateboarders and rock bands. its nice that the buffer allows me to get in about 20 shots before it starts jamming up. even then the buffer clears fast enough that frame rates are still better than my Kodak P850.

I find that running in 6mp mode/raw formats is a little much for me. As the higher resolution just makes it more frustrating to work with later on anyways... I find not many people can truley appreciate a 6mp file unless they got a big ass monitor with a decent vid card powering it.

So far my only complaint with this camera is the battery time. Off the initial batterys I got in about 30 shots before the camera died. Oh well...cruddy batteries. I then loaded in some Duracell batteries...but I only got 200 shots out of them.... wtf? I usually keep the camera in standby mode.

I found that by resetting the camera numerous times I could squeeze another ten shots out before it gave me the battery depeleted signal again...I could restart the camera 10 times before the camera actually died.

Since I got me some NiCD rechargeables.

Great photos, amazing sharpness, everything you want out of a camera. It won't fix lack of experiance, but it will definatly get you on your way!

if you have got a job in photography this camera is perfect for anyone on a budget.
packed with a 50-100mm lens it is perfect for portraits or even macros and is extremely durable. while it is ok for these shots i can and will recommend a 100-200mm for landscapes and sport shots (especially motor racing). the flash while good for some shots, i recommend getting a flashgun when going past the enthusiast stage (or if you have enough, an entire setup )
all in all i can recommend this for the body but if you care enough, get an extra Len's straight away its good but there are better lenses that come packed with other pentax cameras so, if any thing, buy for the body, not the 6mp sensor.

I received this camera just a few days before a trip to Japan, Australia, and Hawaii. We took along our 35 mm Pentax Superprogram camera because we did not really trust an untried digital camera. I was rather amazed to find that the first pictures did look good.
I have now taken about 1400 pictures with this camera under a wide range of conditions and am pleased with the results.
I was completely surprised to find that we took so many pictures. Since I saved all the pictures in the raw format that did take lots of disk space; we did copy our sd memories to CD's and DVD's several times along the way.
It was lots of fun to take pictures in museums, in theaters(before the show), outdoors, etc. that would have needed a tripod with the film camera.

K100D with Pentax 16-45 lens.

Outstanding combo.

Better than I had been expecting.

Details in the photos are amazing.

I find the K100D easy to use.
I'm very pleased with the results and very happy with the battery life,... Using the Lithium one use batteries, I'm still on my first set.

(Don't bother with Alkaline batts..)

Compared to my Minolta 7i which would eat a set of these same batteries in what seemed like a few hours. This thing keeps going and going.

I'll leave all the technical reviews for the pros out here.
I will say this camera does a nice job of taking night shots with the shutter open for 30" or more.

Using my old Pentax and Chinon lenses proved no problem.

It's a keeper.....

As a professional photographer I am always looking for the camera that will allow a number of different lens with true color production. Most of my photos are not fast sports action, but lighting ranges and color are of most importance to me. So is compactness and light weight. I still use other Pentax cameras (7 at this time)for other situational assignments but the lens are interchangeable!! So Pentax has a real winner with their new K100/110D models—-buy now!!

I received this camera a few days ago. I've taken a number of shots with it and find that it has excellent detail and works very well. A number of the revies on this site attest to that so I won't dwell on it.

However, I have a set of older K-mount lenses that I inherited from my father. The press release for this camera announces compatibility with all of the older K-mount lenses. BE CAREFUL... they mean Pentax K-mount lenses. None of the lenses I tried (most were from sears) actually worked on the camera and the last one got stuck and can't be removed from the body turning the new camera into a paperweight. I can't say for sure yet whether this is the fault of the camera or the lens (though I'd lean towards the lens). At first estimate it's going to cost half the cost of the camera to remove the lens.

I went from a 3 MP Fuji SLR to the Pentax— what a difference in speed. My break in for the camera was my church picinic— I shot over 400 pics on a single set of batteries. The speed the camera has in multiple exposure mode is impressive. I was used to waiting for the pic to save on my old camera, and the pentax was pretty much instant. The focus was sharp and fast, and the camera is a pleasure to use. I look forward to more usage from this awesome Digital SLR.

Shake reduction works as well as promised and perhaps even better. The camera is good built and the picture quality is superb. Noise levels are fairly low and the dynamic range is one of the best. Highly recommended!

This camera is fabulous. I chose it because I am upgrading from compact fixed lens digital camera to SLR. I love everything about it. It feels absolutely perfect in the hands, it's slightly heavier than some but it has mouldings that help keep it stable and comfy. It looks much classier than it's counterpart Nikon D50 and Cannon 350 - less 'plasticy'. (Even basic things like the camera strap and bag are much higher quality than most of the big names!). The screen is huge, cristal clear, all the menu settings are very easy to learn and remember where they are. The various buttons are really straightforward to learn and in just the right place to reach easily. I have done masses of research on the K100d and it has more functionality than it's counterparts e.g. able to use twice the ISO, has black & white, the anti-shake of course etc, etc. The batteries are triple A which is really handy should you forget to keep the main ones re-charged.

The only thing that has stuck in my throat a little though is that I had the opportunity to compare it side-by-side with the Nikon D50. Physically, the Nikon D50 is a complete disappointment in terms of how it looks, feels and handles compared with the K100d. It's much less intuitive and so trickier to get used to. But the fact stuck in my throat is that, it truth, the Nikon D50 produces betters pictures in every one of my tests. (That is me, a new SLR user using all the camera's settings, not my own). So, if picture quality is paramount, get the Nikon. If fantastic pictures and the best actual camera in terms of physical quality and ease of use etc is what you're after, get the Pentax K100d. You will fall in love with it and it is unlikely that you will have Nikon pictures to hand to nit-pick against!

I have taken many aerial and structural pictures within a limited time of purchase, August 12, 2006. The K100D operates easily and with shake reduction available when needed, the pictures are great!

Pentax has really scored big with the K100D! The camera produces beautiful, sharp images with its shake reduction feature. It has a big bright LCD and view finder. The camera is very simple to use. The autofocus is faster than earlier DSLR's from Pentax. It comes with a new photo browser and raw conversion from SilkyPix that's far better than earlier offerings. Combined with its attractive price tag, anyone looking for a new DSLR should seriously consider the K100D!