Samsung GX-20 at Circuit City

[WVDisGeek]

All, Our local Circuit City is in the final days of its closing and has several Samsung Gx-20 DSLRs on sale for around $850. This camera is essentially a clone of the Pentax K-20. I know the lenses from Pentax will fit the GX-20 but does anyone know about other accessories such as external flashes, battery grips, etc.?????

I have a K200 and would love to upgrade if they drop the price some more...
Thanks!

 

[Groucho]

It is, as far as I know, identical mechanically, with only a few software differences (slight menu changes, supposedly different jpg defaults.)

Hmm... $850 for the Samsung... or Amazon has the body-only K20D in stock for $690!!! Now that's a bargain!

Pentax will be holding their PMA press conference Monday (tomorrow!) afternoon and presumably will be announcing one or more new DSLRs, the suspicion is that both the K200D and K20D will be updated. Possibly just a "Super" model like with the K100D, or maybe a more major update.

 

[WVDisGeek]

$690 for the K20 is a deal. I looked at Amazon while in the store. That is why I didn't buy te GX-20 then!

I am hoping as the final days tick away, they may be willing to negotiate.

As our internet at work is severely restricted, I will likely not be able to read anything about the press conference until I get home. I assume you will be keeping the Pentax faithful posted?

I will be anxious to see what they have to say. I am the only Pentax in a class of about 25 I am currently taking. Rest is split down the middle between Canon and Nikon. I would love for Pentax to announce something that might get a few more in use!

 

[Groucho]

Well, I may post something. If the C/N crowd overlooks the K20D already, that's their own loss - I think that, a year on, it's still a massively compelling camera with superb image quality and resolution (maybe the best of any APS camera? Luminous Landscape declared it to actually deliver better IQ than the full-frame Nikon D700! forgetting high ISO performance of course), fantastic build quality and weathersealing, solid if not class-leading autofocus, and high ISO performance competitive with the best of the APS-sensor cameras. And, of course, image stabilization with every lens including all the fast primes, macros, etc - generally not an option at any price on the C/Ns.

It's not perfect (nothing is), but I think that as long as you don't need a ridiculously fast frames-per-second, it can stand tall next to any camera costing twice as much. I think that one of the hopes for a new DSLR is basically the same camera with a next-generation AF system and faster FPS. The real "dream" is a full-frame DSLR but that's a lot of investment for little (if any) profit, so who knows if they'll do it yet (I'm sure it's inevitable one of these days.) I'm not really clamoring for one; the only thing that I'd personally really like about FF is less purple fringing on extreme wide-angle photos (since you won't need to use as wide of a lens.)

 

[alloyd1170]

Be wary of Circuit City. Compare prices as they've been marking them up to make their sale prices look like you're getting a bargain. Also, I read in the paper yesterday that people are having problems with the items they bought. Circuit City will not refund anything.

 

[oogieboogieman]

Be wary of Circuit City. Compare prices as they've been marking them up to make their sale prices look like you're getting a bargain. Also, I read in the paper yesterday that people are having problems with the items they bought. Circuit City will not refund anything.

Also before you leave the store they have a table set up to open your purchase. I have read posts about people opening up sealed boxes with kit lens missing, as well as other accessories. I would request to open it before you buy!

 

[Jeanne B]

Also before you leave the store they have a table set up to open your purchase. I have read posts about people opening up sealed boxes with kit lens missing, as well as other accessories. I would request to open it before you buy!

I read an article over the weekend that they weren't allowing people to open boxes (may have been just certain CC's)...a couple people purchased large flat-screen tv's only to get them home to find broken screens, this was just a couple of the complaints. At our local CC a guy was told that a floor model cd player was actually a DVD player, got home to find he couldn't play dvd's, CC refused to refund the money since all purchases are final (and of course, they refused any comment to the news media).

I personally wouldn't buy any big ticket item from CC right now, too many shady stories on the news about their liquidation.

 

[WVDisGeek]

Thanks for the heads up, but trust me, I am suspicious of anything that seems too good to be true. Before my money goes down, the box would be opened and EVERY part accounted for. However, since the price is still about $100+ higher than the K20 online, the cash stays in the bank!