Looking for some advice...

[tnkr_bell]

Well I had a Kodak EasyShare P712 that I really liked until it got stolen a few weeks ago. So now I'm on the hunt for a new digital camera. I was just going to replace it with the same camera, but I got to looking around and am now looking at the Pentax K100D or K10D.

My main reason for looking at the Pentax is because we have a ZX-7 we bought about 10yrs ago and have a couple of extra lenses for it. It like that I can use my old lenses on the new camera. Plus I really liked the Pentax, it took awesome shots, but it's not digital. Since I was spending about $10 every time I developed a roll of film and got the photo CD I figured it was worth the investment.

My dilema is, I would really like to get the K10D, but I'm not sure I can justify the money. I would eventually like to learn more about photography and really get into it, but right now it's just pretty much used for family pics, sports, dance class, and of course Disney World.

So do you all think the K100D would be just fine, or should we maybe go ahead and spend the extra for the K10D? At least I think our insurance will cover between $550 and $600 for the camera that was stolen.

 

[MICKEY88]

Well I had a Kodak EasyShare P712 that I really liked until it got stolen a few weeks ago. So now I'm on the hunt for a new digital camera. I was just going to replace it with the same camera, but I got to looking around and am now looking at the Pentax K100D or K10D.

My main reason for looking at the Pentax is because we have a ZX-7 we bought about 10yrs ago and have a couple of extra lenses for it. It like that I can use my old lenses on the new camera. Plus I really liked the Pentax, it took awesome shots, but it's not digital. Since I was spending about $10 every time I developed a roll of film and got the photo CD I figured it was worth the investment.

My dilema is, I would really like to get the K10D, but I'm not sure I can justify the money. I would eventually like to learn more about photography and really get into it, but right now it's just pretty much used for family pics, sports, dance class, and of course Disney World.

So do you all think the K100D would be just fine, or should we maybe go ahead and spend the extra for the K10D? At least I think our insurance will cover between $550 and $600 for the camera that was stolen.

You've peaked my curiosity, your old camera sells new for $400, why would the insurance pay 550-600

 

[tnkr_bell]

Sorry, I guess I was thinking between the camera, the extra long life battery, and the couple of memory cards that were in the camera case. Once I started looking around I realized we probably won't get that much, that's just about what we had paid for everything.

 

[ukcatfan]

I have the K100D and I personally do not see the need to upgrade to the K10D. It has more features, but I do not need them. If you need to shoot things like sports, then the K10D is the one you need though for the larger buffer. There should be an upgrade of both announced soon. Compare them and see if there is something on the K10D that you cannot live without. The difference in MPs is not really much of an issue as a 6MP DSLR is very usable up to fairly large prints.

Kevin

 

[gokenin]

The k100 also has better low light abilities over the k10 actually you will get less noise on the k100 to iso1600 which you will not get on the K10. You may want to wait if you can until the end of next month as rumor has it that Pentax is announcing new bodies sometime around the 24th

 

[Groucho]

The noise difference between the K10D and K100D is pretty minimal, I'm not sure that that'd sway me either way.

Last time I checked, Beach wanted an extra $120 or so for the K100D Super w/kit lens over just the body! Amazing. Hopefully that was just a blip (the prices change often), usually the kit lens adds $30-50 or so to the price.

The K10D is a much more advanced camera than the K100D Super, with many more features, sturdier construction, weathersealing, much bigger buffer, etc - but the K100D is no slouch either and is a very nice camera. The K100D Super is also more user-friendly, with an Auto mode and Scene modes - the K10D has none of those as the target market wouldn't use them.

I would lean towards the K100D Super and use extra money for a better lens. Pair the body only with your current lenses and/or a Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 and you're got a great setup. Don't forget the Pentax 50mm F1.4, a stellar lens for a very good price.

Pentax is announcing new cameras in about a month, but I haven't heard much about the rumored K200D (assuming they use that name at all!) From what I gather, it's probably going to be functionally similar to the current K100D Super, but with the K10D's 10mp sensor and maybe a couple other things (hopefully a bigger buffer will be one of them!) The K20D (again, guessing on the name) is the one that has everyone salivating, the rumors are that it's going to be something very special - if it's nearly as good as they say, I plan to pick one up before our next WDW trip in April.

 

[tnkr_bell]

Thanks everybody for your thoughts...I think I'll just stick with the K100D, it sounds like it will be just fine for what i use if for. Maybe when the kids are older and I actually have time to play around with a camera I'll move up.