Pentax K100D SLR Digital Camera w/18-55mm Lens Kit

Great DSLR . . . Excellent value

Posted Aug 27, 2007 - This camera is a great way to transition from SLRs to DSLRs. It has wonderful pre-programmed modes to help the novice photographer get great shots, and also gives the experienced photographer the creativity of many manual settings/combinations (when desired). I've had my K100d for eight weeks and couldn't be happier. You also get a wide choice of lens options since it will allow the use of older (non-digital) lenses, which means you are spared the expense of restocking with all new lenses (if you already own pentax equipment). The best feature is the "shake reduction". Other vendors charge big bucks to get this kind of technology, but PENTAX made it affordable to the "regular joes" of the world. You will not be disappointed if you purchase this product !

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You get more than what you give

Posted Jan 15, 2008 - I would like to start by saying that this camera is definitely worth buying. If photography is your main occupation, you may want to go with other camera. But if you need an SLR for hobby and general photo needs, than freely go with Pentax K100D.

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K100D camera

Posted Nov 27, 2006 - Overall a solid performer, easy to carry, kit lens is better than Canon's, 4 NiMH AA can last 500 shots which is enough for a normal day. If you are on trip, some CRV3s will be a wise choice. How useful is SR? Once you use it, you won't be able to live without it. SR of K100D works better at tele end, at 200mm I can get some decent handheld 1/10 shots which are at least 4 stops better, however at wide end 18mm, there is no way I can handhold a 1/2 shot. Anyway, tele end is where the SR is really needed. Small buffer really makes K100D react slower than you might expect, especially when you are shooting RAW with ~10MB file size. On the other side, the charging of built-in flash is really fast. I would recommend K100D to any one who wants a entry level DSLR.

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Versatile tool for photographers on a budget

Posted Nov 3, 2006 - When I first decided to purchase a DSLR a few months back (after my trusty Minolta DiMAGE 7i gave up the ghost), I spent countless hours comparing the specifications of entry-level offerings from all major companies and speculating how they would affect my future photography experience. Seeing that the agony was not getting me anywhere, I decided to look at my old pictures and see how a new camera could improve their quality. While I studied the pictures, I noticed that quite a few of them are blurry not from bad focusing, but from camera shake. When taking photos at long focal lengths, or when taking photos in low light at any focal length, the relatively long exposure time makes it difficult to hold the camera steady, so the pictures turn out to be a mess. Canon and Nikon offers image-stabilized lenses, but they cost a lot and are most certainly out of my price range. In the end, I chose the Pentax K100D because of good reviews, low prices, and the shake-reduction function built into the camera body (the CCD sensor moves to compensate for the hand movement). I rarely take my tripod with me, and I feel that shake-reduction will be more beneficial to me than all the extra mega-pixels offered by competitors. So, did I make the right choice? After I received the camera, I took it to a local museum which was hosting a Star Wars exhibition. It was dark in the exhibition room, and the models are all behind glass windows (so flash is out of the question). I took a few hand-held shots at 28mm focal length (42mm after 1.5x crop), 1/10s (2 stops slower than typically necessary to avoid camera shake), ISO800, and went home to study the pictures. I was blown away: noise is very well controlled (and the little that is there cleans up well with software tools), and the pictures are all very clear with no signs of camera shake. There is no way I could have gotten those shots without a tripod if I had went with Canon or Nikon. The K100D is, from my perspective, the best of all entry-level DSLR cameras currently available. Of course, my friends told me that I need to go with Canon or Nikon because buying a DSLR is committing to a system. While that may be true for professional photographers who spend thousands on high-quality zoom lenses, I don't see myself going down that road in any reasonable timeframe. What I need is a great tool like K100D so that I can take pictures now, and buying an inferior camera just to be "future proof" sounds quite illogical to me. Finally, the Pentax lens system has it own perks. K100D is compatible with all K-mount lenses that Pentax had ever made (since the 70s?), and there are literally millions of them out there. I picked up a 50mm f1.7 and a 28mm f2.8 for a total of $55 (both are second-hand manual focus lenses in good shape), and they both produce beautiful pictures. Compatibility with old lenses makes it simple to pick up good glass on the cheap, and for photographers on a budget, it is a much better way to grow your photography system. And the kicker is, both of these 70's manual lenses work with shake-reduction! Neither Canon or Nikon offers a 50mm prime lens with image-stabilization functionality. In conclusion: if you need a good entry-level DSLR to take pictures today, you cannot go wrong with K100D.

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Pentax K100D, the best value in all of digital photography?

Posted Nov 28, 2006 - The K100D is my second digital SLR (first one was an Olympus E-500 which is also an excellent camera). The K100D has all the important features an entry level DSLR should have and can go head to head with the best from Canon and Nikon. There are 2 key advantages with the Pentax that smoke the Digital Rebel and the D50, AS and a gorgeous viewfinder. I switched to Pentax because of availability of great and inexpensive vintage prime lenses. In fact, lens compatibility is awesome for all Pentax DSLRs, all K mount and even screw mount lenses can be used with this body (screw mount with an adapter). The sensor shift anti shake works with ALL lenses. Given the premium Nikon and Canon charge for their IS/VR lenses, the K100D has to be the best value in class bar none. AS also means one can stop down any lens that's on the camera to the sweet spot (most lenses are rarely the best wide open) and shoot at slower shutter speeds without worrying about blur. This camera makes ALL lenses BETTER. The other key advantage is the big/bright viewfinder. The viewfinder is the primary human interface to the camera and the Pentax has absolutely the best in class viewfinder. One should definitely check out this Gem from Pentax when in the market for an entry level DSLR.

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K100 dlsr review 12/30/06

Posted Dec 31, 2006 - The k100 does very well for outdoor photography. The antishake feature works well and several hand held photos taken at 1/4 second were pretty sharp. Some users complain about slow focusing in low light... mine searches a bit, but about the same as my film slr so it's something I'm already used to. The optional 360fgz flash has IR assist which helps. What I was not expecting was the new flash system uses p-ttl exclusively, meaning that my old 500ftz flash is now obsolete except for operation in manual mode. What's worse is the new p-ttl dedicated flash (the 360fgz) has a pre-flash that causes blinking in certain subject. In my family, it is a very real problem as 1/3 of flash photos (32 out of 100 taken over the last week) had closed or partially closed eyes of subjects. I've figured a workaround by operating the camera in Av mode and using the flash in auto mode, but I really wish somebody would have mentioned this to me before the deal was made. Other than that, it seems very well balanced and intuitive. Build quality is good. The skylight filter to protect the lens causes dark corners of photos taken at 18mm (vignetting), but the addition of the filter was my choice, not pentax's. I would buy the k100 again, but knowing that p-ttl and the associated pre-flash cause blinking would have prevented a lot of frustration over photos taken with default settings.

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Amazing camera with SR magic; all your Pentax lenses are Image Stabilized!!

Posted Oct 18, 2006 - I've had the camera for about two days now, taken some 290 pics and I'm pretty excited about it. Its price is pretty competitive and it offers Shake Reduction CCD (which means all Pentax lenses are now image stabilized!! even the oldest Pentax lenses are compatible with this camera!!) Canikon's offerings are more expensive; they're bigger companies and want you to pay for the brand name, Pentax offers more for less $. Nikon D50 is more expensive and perhaps the only things where D50 wins are the AF speed, larger memory buffer and faster fps shooting. Same goes with Canon Rebel 300D and Rebel XT 350D (though it's 8MP). I would always get the "best bang for buck", which in this case was Pentax, I earlier bought a Pentax *ist DL when it was dirt cheap but then sold it on ebay without using much to get this Pentax K100D (it has better image processing, faster AF, 11pt AF sensors vs 3 pt for DL and more). DSLR is a new world altogether for a person who has shot using only point&shoot cameras for years (i.e. me)... I've been trying to get used to the menus etc... The camera is amazing... but greater control over everything means there is a steep learning curve if you're coming from a point & shoot camera. Grip is another issue, I'm so used to handling the lighter Panasonic FZ15 (35-420mm ultrazoom, IS) that I'm having some trouble getting used to this new size and shape. Plus, I have bigger hands and the camera probably doesn't fit best (or I don't know how to best handle an SLR yet). I'm using a Patriot 133x 4GB SD memory card with this camera and it has no problems dealing with 4GB. Speed is pretty good, but I can't compare with other cameras because I haven't used any other DSLR extensively. Test shots: You can find many sample images at dpreview.com's Pentax SLR forum and also on pbase.com's camera database. I will upload pics from this camera on my pbase gallery (pbase.com/waqas...) later on.

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PENTAX K100D

Posted Feb 6, 2007 - 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 my manual 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

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Pentax K100D 6M with shake reduction DSLR

Posted Aug 19, 2006 - Pentax K100D is my first DSLR camera. It is very well constructed.(not cheap plastic) It is not too bulky or heavy. I picked this camera because of its SR and faster focus compared to the Pentax DL and DS. I shot some graduation pictures with this camera, it did not fail me. The pictures came out sharp and natural without much need of modification. I like pentax's color. With all the features came with K100D and its moderate price, I would recommend this camera to others!

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Pentax K100D

Posted Aug 18, 2006 - Pentax K100D makes a very good beginner's DSLR. Good ergonomics. The control settings are not as handy, but for a beginner that is less an issue. If you do not want to invest a lot of money in photography, then pentax is your perfect choice.

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Good First DSLR

Posted Oct 15, 2006 - The ergonomics are very good and the button layout is convenient. It has a nice weight and feel to it and is definitely more comfortable than the rebel xt(i). The kit lens is also very good. The k100d is basically everything you would expect from a DSLR from the increased speed to the higher photo quality. This is a very good camera for the price, but if you need a more advanced camera or faster autofocus, you may want to wait for the pentax k10d, which is due out this winter.

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Excellent Digital SLR

Posted Dec 5, 2006 - This is overall an EXCELLENT camera, especially for the price. I've got several sharp pictures with 0.3 second exposure (without a tripod). if you often take pictures you will immediately understand what I am saying - the shake reduction is one of the kind. I also have a point-and-shot camera which is CANON sd800 IS. The 800 also has a shake reduction function but compared to this k100d, come on, k100d really wins big! Another nice thing about this camera, under iso 800 the pictures always look clean, and the noise level is very low. I think overall this DSLR is really a nice entry-level DSLR. Look at the price tag, under 600 w/ kit lens. For body only it's now only 500. However I'm not saying the camera is problem free. Auto white balance sometimes can be a problem, especially when you shoot indoors. Remember if you are using the SLR indoors, try to use the "Tungsten light" rather than "auto white balance", perhaps you will get a much better picture. There is another problem, the focusing motor is somewhat noisy but it is OK to me, especially when considering the price. in the very low-light condition you perhaps have a hard time to auto-focus but this happens all the time to almost all cameras. I also wish the LCD panel on the top could have a back light. Overall, excellent camera. for an entry-level DSLR I will give it 5 out of 5.

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Great camera at a great price!

Posted Sep 20, 2006 - This is a great camera for the price ($584.00 right now with the 18-55mm lens.) It takes pictures with excellent quality. It has shake reduction built in so you don't need to buy expensive lenses with image stabilization. It uses inexpensive SD memory cards which are relatively cheaper than other media and also uses four AA-size batteries instead of the more expensive proprietary batteries. You can't get a better value for an entry level digital SLR camera. For those of you just starting to get into digital SLR cameras, this is the one to get.

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Pentax K100D

Posted Nov 12, 2006 - I decided on the Pentax because I have several Pentax lenses and have owned 2 Pentax film cameras which I was very happy with. I also thought the price was good and liked the fact that it had image stabilization. The fact that it takes regular batteries and the common SD memory card was also a plus. I've been using it for a couple of days now and it seems to do a great job. The features that I need are available and fairly easy to use. As with most digital things these days, there are a lot of features available through menus that I will most likely never use (not being a professional photographer) but I like being able to control many things that you can't with a regular digital camera. All of my old Pentax lenses work fine with this camera once I got the camera set up to work with them. (Not hard... just had to read the manual.) Picture quality is great. Although a little higher resolution might have been nice, 6 megapixels is fine for me. So far, I'm very happy with my purchase... both the features and the price. I would highly recommend this camera to anyone who already has some Pentax lenses.

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An Excellent Choice for those starting in the DSLR world

Posted Jan 7, 2007 - I upgraded from a digital P&S camera. Had this little wonder for about 3 months now and shot close to a 1000 pics. I am absolutely thrilled with this gem of a camera. I had mind my heart set on a Minolta DSLR, but after Minolta sold its unit to Sony and the new 10MP Sony DSLR does not perform as well at high ISOs as the previous 6MP versions, I started researching the available options and came across the K100D. It had everything I wanted, plus the SR - which is a pleasant surprise - and actually works quite well too. Image quality with the 18-55mm kit lens is very good. But with a prime 50mm lens the image quality is just amazing, even in low-light indoor shots. I get smooth prints at ISO800 with little or no noise reduction. And even at ISO 3200 I get more than decent 4x6 snapshots. Menu is a bit rough, but I got used to it pretty quickly. Ergonomics are excellent. I'd have preferred a true prism viewfinder, but the Pentamirror VF was quite bright and useful - much better than the Canon or Nikon DSLR VFs in the same price range. Tons of cheap used lens for Pentax on Ebay. Very helpful user community. All in all, an very satisfactory purchase. I spent another $700 on Pentax accessories since I got the K100D. I will be sticking with Pentax for the foreseeable future. Cheers.

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