My new Pentax K100D

[ukcatfan]

Here are a few pics from my new camera. I ordered from Beach on Monday and it arrived today.

The frog was about an inch long.

Kevin

 

[Groucho]

Very nice! I particularly like the middle one. Was that with the kit lens or a macro?

Looks like it was taken at 55mm, so I assume it was the kit lens.

So I take it that you're happy with the camera?

 

[ukcatfan]

Very nice! I particularly like the middle one. Was that with the kit lens or a macro?

Looks like it was taken at 55mm, so I assume it was the kit lens.

So I take it that you're happy with the camera?

It was the kit, but one of those primes will be in my future. I have seen pretty nice reviews on the old primes, so I might go with one of those to save money. Manual focus is not a big deal to me as I rarely take action photos. All of the above were MF, just for the heck of it. You forget how nice it is to be able to actually use MF when you have been with a point and shoot for sooo long. My S1 IS does have magnification in the electronic viewfinder to help, but it is very pixelated and I think it is awkward to try to use buttons to adjust it instead of a ring.

My only complaint is that it arrived with a couple specks of dust on the sensor. It is always possible that it is my fault, but I took every precaution I could to prevent it. We have a pretty dust free home because of DD's asthma. I have heard that Pentax needs to up their quality control in the dust area. It is not a big deal though. It is not like I am never going to have to clean the sensor. Everything else meets or exceeds my expectations. Oh and BTW, RAW is awsome!! Those colors on my pics are about as true to life as you can get. Sure it takes some post processing, but to me it is worth it.

I hope to get to play with it more this weekend! I will have to try to get my yard work done early. Yes... this is one of the months that everyone else can point and laugh at us Floridians. I will still likely have to cut my grass every week for the next month or so. And it still hits around 90 every day.

If I get any good pics, I will update the thread.

Kevin

 

[Groucho]

My parents own a condo in Cape Coral, on one of the canals, so I'm familiar with the area. It's very nice. I usually come back with a bunch of pictures of small lizards whenever we go down there...

I hear the 50mm 1.4 primes are extremely nice. I'll have to pick up one of those one of these days. Darn that LBA!

 

[mhutchinson]

Very impressive. Right out of the box with the kit lens


Mike

 

[Charade]

 

[JR6ooo4]

So what are you trying to say? There are cameras other than canon and nikon that (by your examples) can also take excelent pictures. Even with a Kit lens! Are you trying to stir something up???

Just kidding, of course. (If you did not reckognize the sarcasm font that I used)

Looking forward to more...
MIkeeee

 

[Anewman]

Very nice.

 

[ukcatfan]

So what are you trying to say? There are cameras other than canon and nikon that (by your examples) can also take excelent pictures. Even with a Kit lens! Are you trying to stir something up???

Just kidding, of course. (If you did not reckognize the sarcasm font that I used)

Looking forward to more...
MIkeeee

To stir things up some more, I am one of those pro Canon guys. Do not get me wrong, if I had the $$$ available, I would have purchased a Canon and some Canon IS glass. The funds are just not there.

I was not able to touch my new toy Friday night or Saturday, but hope to on Sunday. Yard work and family time monopolized my free time. But I do love spending time with the wife and kids, so I cannot complain.

Kevin

 

[Groucho]

If you really want to stir things up , there are several examples in the dpreview forums (and probably the steve's digicams forums as well) of people who own Canon and Pentax DSLRs (much to their surprise) finding themselves ignoring or selling their Canons (including 30Ds and such) for the Pentax because they've found the Pentax to be much more pleasant to use - they've found that the image quality just isn't better enough when they don't like using the camera.

Hopefully I won't have to put on my flame suit - I'm just saying what others have said (and it can be easily found on said sites), so attack those people, not me. Anyway, it doesn't matter what you've got, as long as you're happy with it, and everyone who has one seems to love the K100D.

 

[Master Mason]

I don't get why people feel the need to flame others about comments like yours Grocho...

Here is the way I look at it... I bought the camera I liked and wanted.... Why should I care what others bought, or what they liked or wanted.... Other than to be happy for them that they got what they liked and wanted.... Ukat says he would have bought one thing if he had the money... but he got one that he likes and wanted and is happy with it... isn't that what matters?

 

[Anewman]

I don't get why people feel the need to flame others about comments like yours Grocho...

My guess(without flamming)...

Is that the comment implies "proof" that brand C is better than brand A, based on a few isolated examples, but ignores all sales data that shows that brand A outsells brand C by a 10 to 1 margin in the first place. And maybe some feel that the comments are just as skewed as when brand A users claim their camera is "better" based on sales history.

Now speaking for myself
on Dpreview there are many examples of persons switching from brand to brand it is not limited go Pentax over Canon type threads. I would not consider it proof of anything. Just look at it this way, whenever a new Nikon Camera is realeased there will be dozens if not hundreds of "thinking of switching" threads, and the same thing happens when a new Canon camera is announced... many of the posters switching have already switched back and forth multiple times.

 

[Anewman]

Back to topic.

UKCATFAN, how effective do you feel the AS function is?

Have you taken any shots in less than good lighting?

 

[Groucho]

I'm not claiming any "proof" of anything. (And sales data is hardly proof of quality in any way - just look at McDonalds.) I've said many times that there is no perfect camera. Each has strengths and each has weaknesses. (In this particular case, price is a strength with one and a weakness with the other.) Everyone has different priorities, and has to decide which priorities are best for them.

In this particular case, I was stating that in the few threads I've read at dpreview (I don't care for their forum software and spend more time at Steve's), I've found a surprising number of comments from people who switched because they weren't happy with the "feel" of the Canon. My point was that there are people who own both who would tell the OP that he has no reason to feel like he's missing out because he didn't buy his usual brand.

The issue is that it's easy to be defensive of one's choice as people think that a bad word said about the product they own is a bad word about them, which is not the case.

I couldn't care less what camera people buy - but I want to make sure that they're aware of all their choices. I freely admit that I evangelize the Pentax a bit just because it's relatively unknown. However, I like it on its own merits - when I purchased, I had no allegiance going in - I did have an old K1000 but was perfectly willing to consider others. Hell, I didn't even know Pentax was making DSLRs until I began my investigations (I wasn't paying much attention because I didn't have the money yet and didn't want to tease myself!) My initial assumption was that the low price would mean a substandard product, which I wouldn't purchase. Fortunately, my research indicated it to be very competent and I've been extremely happy with it. My research also indicated that the competition is also very competent - there's no real DSLR clunkers.

Again - for those of you who skip to the end - no camera is perfect, nearly any modern DSLR is very high quality, and your happiness is the thing that matters most - and people are happy with all the brands out there.

 

[Anewman]

I'm not claiming any "proof" of anything.

No need to defend yourself, I took a guess that those with the need to "bash" your comments feel that there are implications...

The issue is that it's easy to be defensive of one's choice as people think that a bad word said about the product they own is a bad word about them, which is not the case.

I see.

I do not think anyone looks down at the Pentax line, I have recommended it b4 this forum(DIS photo) ever existed and will continue to do so.

 

[Groucho]

I see.

I do not think anyone looks down at the Pentax line, I have recommended it b4 this forum(DIS photo) ever existed and will continue to do so.

Again, I was not being defensive of the Pentax line, either. (Especially since there was nothing to defend it against in this thread! But there are definitely some who do look down on it, sometimes with reason but often without any good reason.) Merely stating that in these sort of debates, people tend to get defensive about their object of choice, in this case, a camera.

Just a general statement, no more. But I think it applies to countless silly debates - Nikon vs Canon, Ford vs GM, Subaru vs Mitsubishi, Mercedes vs BMW, Keaton vs Chaplin, homestyle vs curly, maybe even WDW vs Universal.

 

[0bli0]

Samsung is releasing their own branded version of the K10D, and may do so with the K100D depending on its success

 

[Groucho]

Yes, and Samsung currently have a branded version of the *ist DL2, the GX-1L. (Such mellifluous names!) Someone on the Steve's forums apparently picked up a two-lens GX-1L kit in England for 400 pounds... a very attractive price.

I believe there's also a Samsung GX-15, which is a rebadged *ist DS2.

 

[ukcatfan]

Very unfortunately, my DW hurt her foot Saturday evening so I spent most of my time taking care of her and the three DDs. At this point it seems like just soft tissue damage and inflamation, so we are hopeful.

I took a few pics around the house just to try to get used to the new camera and to play with RAW processing, but almost all are very boring subject matter. I did take one of a frog down inside of a sprouting banana leaf that I will try to get posted. Frogs, lizards, and bugs are about the only interesting things around my house. Hopefully we will have better luck this week and the wife will heal enough to want to venture out. We are kicking around a day trip to DTD and some of the hotels to get our Disney fix as our season passes are expired and we are trying to hold out on buying new ones until next year.

The camera does a pretty good job focusing, even in low light. It has had a few times where it searches for a second or so, but it pretty consistently locks accurately. Macro has had a few times where I go to manual, but that probably has more to do with the lens than the camera. As reported in reviews, I would think that it is not the best pick for action photos, but I almost never take them, so I am happy. Compared to my S1 IS, it is a world of difference in focusing. I have missed a number of shots with it due to the inability to focus and the virtually worthless manual focus. Do not get me wrong though, I still love my S1 and plan to keep it around. The two oldest DDs will use it the most.

I will try to get that frog pic posted tonight.

Kevin

 

[ukcatfan]

Here is the one I was talking about.

Kevin