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Tomorrow is the official announcement of the new Pentax K200D and K20D, but some foreign press releases are coming out now... Pentax Japan and Germany have brochures on line, so we finally have details.
The K200D looks to be much closer to the K10D than the K100D - with the 10mp sensor but also stuff like shooting in DNG, 22-bit processing, a 2.7" LCD, dedicated raw button, etc. The K100D's small buffer seems to be somewhat bettered - my German is pretty rusty so I can't tell for sure, but it looks like it has a hi/lo mode, where lo mode will be continuous JPGs while the hi mode is only 4. I believe that the K200D will also have weathersealing!
The K20D is what I've been really anticipating, and it sounds like it exceeds expectations! Yes, it can do 20 FPS! But to be fair, that's a "burst" mode. Normal is 3 fps, which is kind of surprising (I expected 5+.) But then, the files are big - this is brand new, Pentax-designed, 14.6 mp CMOS sensor. A few photos taken with the camera have been released over the past few days - the detail is astonishing (you could easily get away with 1:1 crops) and the noise levels are extremely low, on par with the D300, while retaining a ton of detail. (Several have compared it to the Canon Mk3 in IQ.) Shake reduction is improved (claimed up to 4 stops), faster AF, quiet shutter, PC sync connection, 2.7" LCD, live view (pretty standard nowadays) that works with shake reduction, bracketing for all sorts of things like WB, color settings, etc, etc... more details will no doubt come out over the next day or two as English press releases come out and the first reviews appear. Oh, and some dynamic range controls, as well. Price will probably be somewhere around $1,200.
Some new lenses too:
200mm F2.8, 300mm F4.0, 35mm F2.8 1:1 macro, 55-300mm, and an updated 18-55mm kit lens. No mention of the 60-250mm F4, but hopefully that'll be along shortly.
Availability should be mid-February for the K200D and early March for the K20D - in time for my WDW trip in April. I can't wait!
So much for Pentax rolling over and dying after being bought by Hoya!
For those who can read German, you can take a look at the brochures here:
K20D and K200D.
The K200D looks to be much closer to the K10D than the K100D - with the 10mp sensor but also stuff like shooting in DNG, 22-bit processing, a 2.7" LCD, dedicated raw button, etc. The K100D's small buffer seems to be somewhat bettered - my German is pretty rusty so I can't tell for sure, but it looks like it has a hi/lo mode, where lo mode will be continuous JPGs while the hi mode is only 4. I believe that the K200D will also have weathersealing!
The K20D is what I've been really anticipating, and it sounds like it exceeds expectations! Yes, it can do 20 FPS! But to be fair, that's a "burst" mode. Normal is 3 fps, which is kind of surprising (I expected 5+.) But then, the files are big - this is brand new, Pentax-designed, 14.6 mp CMOS sensor. A few photos taken with the camera have been released over the past few days - the detail is astonishing (you could easily get away with 1:1 crops) and the noise levels are extremely low, on par with the D300, while retaining a ton of detail. (Several have compared it to the Canon Mk3 in IQ.) Shake reduction is improved (claimed up to 4 stops), faster AF, quiet shutter, PC sync connection, 2.7" LCD, live view (pretty standard nowadays) that works with shake reduction, bracketing for all sorts of things like WB, color settings, etc, etc... more details will no doubt come out over the next day or two as English press releases come out and the first reviews appear. Oh, and some dynamic range controls, as well. Price will probably be somewhere around $1,200.
Some new lenses too:
200mm F2.8, 300mm F4.0, 35mm F2.8 1:1 macro, 55-300mm, and an updated 18-55mm kit lens. No mention of the 60-250mm F4, but hopefully that'll be along shortly.
Availability should be mid-February for the K200D and early March for the K20D - in time for my WDW trip in April. I can't wait!



For those who can read German, you can take a look at the brochures here:
K20D and K200D.