Pentax K10D (body only)
Manufacturer: Pentax Part number: 19091
- More product information:
- Editors' review
- User reviews
- Specifications
- Product series
- Accessories
- Manufacturer info
- Bottom Line:
- A great feature set for the price, pro-level customization, and excellent photo quality make the Pentax K10D a bargain amateur dSLR. Only unremarkable performance holds it back from joining the pack leaders.
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Where to buy
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| Amazon.com Marketplace |  | In stock | Enter zip code to get total price: Price +Tax +Shipping =Total price | as of 11/08/2009 |
CNET editors' review
Pentax K10D (body only) price range: $899.99
- Reviewed by: Lori Grunin
- Reviewed on: 03/01/2007
- Released on: 09/13/2006
The good: Excellent photo quality; well-designed and solidly built body; premium features for its price class; nice kit lens.
The bad: Occasional autofocus hunting; Shake Reduction only buys you a little over one stop.
The bottom line: A great feature set for the price, pro-level customization, and excellent photo quality make the Pentax K10D a bargain amateur dSLR. Only unremarkable performance holds it back from joining the pack leaders.
If you're looking to start afresh with a dSLR system but don't have a lot of cash to plunk down, the Pentax K10D may be your budget's dream come true. True, there are a lot of sub-$1,000 dSLRs out there today, but the K10D offers features that you don't normally see in this price range: a 10-megapixel CCD with integrated lens-shift Shake Reduction technology; a solidly built dust- and weather-resistant body; a full set of exposure modes, including Bulb and external sync; interchangeable focusing screens; and an 11-point selectable autofocus.
As part of a system, the K10D remains reasonably cost effective, as well. Pentax offers an inexpensive, nicely designed battery grip and a decent, not-too-painfully priced array of amateur and pro KAF2-mount lenses and flashes. At 1.8 pounds, the K10D's body feels substantial, and every door, button, dial, and switch feels high quality, another rarity for its price class. It may be the same fundamental camera as the Samsung GX-10, but small differences in design make me prefer the Pentax to its Samsung fraternal twin. (Check out this side-by-side comparison of the two.)
Though aggressively priced, don't mistake the K10D for baby's first dSLR, unless baby's last camera was a midrange film model. Unlike similarly priced entry-level models, the K10D lacks the step-up automation, such as scene modes and verbose help, that assists newbies making the snapshot-to-SLR transition. In fact, a beginner confronted with the six pages of custom setting options--including a dizzying number of configuration combinations for the front and back dials--might run screaming for the nearest Kodak.
There's not so much a learning curve with the K10D as there is a comfort curve. If you've shot with a dSLR, it's immediately obvious what the controls do, but getting into the rhythm of using them quickly and fluidly may take a bit of time. For instance, Pentax uses a very point-and-shoot-like Fn menu to adjust ISO speed, white balance, flash mode, and drive mode; it's easy to know and use, but hard to break the habit of looking for an on-body control while shooting. (For a detailed listing of the K10D's features, I suggest you download and scan through the PDF version of the manual.)
I was also quite impressed with the K10D's photo quality as well, from its broad dynamic range to first-rate color reproduction. Photos had an excellent noise profile up through ISO 800, and at its maximum of ISO 1600 still fared well for its price class.
On the other hand, though the K10D performs well for its class, it doesn't really stand out. Its time to first shot and typical shutter lag of about half a second come in around the average, and difficulty autofocusing in dim light results in a 1.6 second lag in suboptimal environments. At half a second, JPEG and raw shot-to-shot speeds also fall in the middle of the pack, though its 3.1fps continuous-shooting clip elevates it a bit above the budget crowd. Occasionally I ran into focus lock issues--usually during close-ups--where it would rock back and forth quickly for a few iterations, as if trying to decide whether or not it was satisfied. Most of the time I fell into a rhythm with it, as you do with any good camera, but occasionally missed a shot waiting for it to catch up.
As with most LCDs, the color and exposure reproduction on the K10D's 2.5-inch screen can't be trusted; it's so contrasty, in fact, that I couldn't really judge whether the flash was operating the way I wanted. You just have to close your eyes and trust the histograms.
If you're looking for a first dSLR or a no-brainer kit, the Pentax K10D may be too much for you, as in too much power and too expensive. But if you want to buy into an inexpensive system with a really good amateur dSLR at its hub, the K10D hits the mark.
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User reviews
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do not trust CNET reviews for dSLR cameras
by jjjfff on September 1, 2007
Pros: great pic quality with good lenses, compatibility with old cheap Pentax lenses
Cons: none really, except you have to spend some time learning how to use it
Summary: my review is mostly to point out how bad the CNET review was. DO NOT READ THIS SITE FOR CAMERA REVIEWS.
why do I think this review is bad? it'...Summary: my review is mostly to point out how bad the CNET review was. DO NOT READ THIS SITE FOR CAMERA REVIEWS.
why do I think this review is bad? it's simple, this statement in the CNET review bottomline:
"Only unremarkable performance holds it back from joining the pack leaders" and yet the rate is 7.7
If you think the performance is unremarkable, then don't give the camera a good 7.7 rating! picture quality is 90% of the quality of a camera, so either the picture quality is bad and you give this camera a 4, or it's good and then you can give it a 7.7.
It takes different skills to review a dSLR and a USB Key, so go to the right sites for dSLR reviews.
OK, now my opinion about this camera.
What should be anybody's keypoint in deciding whether to buy this camera is, in my opinion, the possibility to use older Pentax lenses.
If you own some old (as old as 1970's or 1980's), some non-autofocus good quality lenses like some Pentax 35mm 1:2 or 50mm 1:1.4 then you should buy this camera.
The kit zoom is OK, but the camera really comes to life when you use high quality lenses. Pentax has made some superb quality lenses, that rival nikon or canon counterparts, and mostly, old lenses (even manual focus, non A aperture priority) are fully comptible and very easily usable with this camera. My father gave me is old late 70's MX with a set of lens and they all work and make great pictures.
As far as I know, compatibility with old lenses is much less good for nikon and canon. Plus old pentax lenses can be bought cheap.
Bottom line:
- if you have some old Pentax material, get this camera
- if you don't care about autofocus and would consider using high quality, manual and affordable used lens, I think you should also get this camera
- if you must use autofocus, hence only recent lenses, then try this camera against its nikon+canon competition
Other pro:
- solid built
- numerous useful and well placed buttons
One con:
- it takes some time to master all the right settings, but it's worth it3 out of 3 users found this user opinion helpful.
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For the money, a great DSLR
by okipedro on April 29, 2007
Pros: Shake reduction, good image quality, solid build
Cons: None I have found
Summary: For $900 street or less, this is one heck of a DSLR. CNET says the shake reduction buys a stop or so; in my real-world use, how about 1/4 ...
Summary: For $900 street or less, this is one heck of a DSLR. CNET says the shake reduction buys a stop or so; in my real-world use, how about 1/4 sec shooting with a 50mm lens? Tack sharp. The instant histogram and/or highlight-shadow review is a must-have once you use it. The display is bright, the hyper-program mode super-flexible, and the camera has two LCD screens (one on top), in keeping with its pro-oriented design. It will work with old, current and future Pentax lenses, too. Highly recommended.
1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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World-beating camera at bargain price
by jbarnhart on March 4, 2007
Pros: Construction, features, image quality
Cons: Built-in flash
Summary: The Pentax K10D sets a new standard for sub-$1000 cameras. With dust and weather sealing, shake reduction, and 22-bit A/Ds this camera breaks all records in quality construction ...
Summary: The Pentax K10D sets a new standard for sub-$1000 cameras. With dust and weather sealing, shake reduction, and 22-bit A/Ds this camera breaks all records in quality construction and image quality. I have used many film and digital cameras in my day and this one has me cheering.
I find Shake Reduction helps a lot with hand-holding images at less than "recommended" shutter speeds. This camera has a 1.5x crop factor, so the slowest recommended handheld speed would normally be 1 / (focal lenth x 1.5). for a 100mm lens, that is 1/150 sec. With the K10D I find I can easily handhold that lens to 1/30 or even 1/15 and get sharp images.
The built-in flash is one weak point. It has a high infant failure rate. But the external flashes for this model are excellent.
But what I really can't get over are the rich, detailed textures and colors produced by this camera. It looks closer to film than any digital camera I've owned. Shots up to ISO 560 are flawless. ISO 800 is very pleasing, with a light film-grain look, and ISO 1600 is even quite good.
If you are looking for an advanced SLR, you must look at this camera. Pentax does not have the advertising budget of Canon or Nikon, so don't look for lots of reviews on this product -- go out and look at it for yourself. You will be amazed.1 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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This is a "Pro" Camera!
by benjikan on March 4, 2007
Pros: Excellent Image quality in RAW and that is all I ever use.
Cons: Absence of Flash X Synchro cable input.
Summary: I have been a Pro Photographer for about 25 years. I am a Canadian based in Paris, France.I have worked in New York, London, Paris, Milan and LA and ...
Summary: I have been a Pro Photographer for about 25 years. I am a Canadian based in Paris, France.I have worked in New York, London, Paris, Milan and LA and have used everything from Bronica to 'Blad's to Sinar to Fuji 680 to Pentax 6-7 and 645 and Canon. I was sponsored here in France by Canon. I had been quite curious about the new direction of Pentax and their affiliation with Samsung and Tokina/Hoya. I always loved Tokina lenses especially their 80-200 f2.8 lens. Most of my work gets published in magazine and on occasion as PLV's and catalogues. In almost all cases I used my 8 MP Canon camera's for all of my magazine work.
As of about two weeks ago, I decided to go with Pentax and am now sponsored by them. I was not approached by them and was not offered any financial remuneration for doing so. I made the decision to switch because of the fine reputation has had with all of the pro studio photographers. I just think that the K10D does 80-90 percent of all of the things I would expect from a camera. I am also using all of their pancake lenses as well as their 12-24, 16-45 and 100 macro. I will receive the 16-50 and 50-135 when they come out in March.
I will use the K10D for an up and coming editorial in "Issue One" magazine UK.
http://www.issue-one.com.
I really think Pentax DSLR's have come of age
http://www.pressbook.com/homebook.asp?langue_id=2&owner_id=51441 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Outstanding camera - everything one could desire for under $1000
by tom10i on December 7, 2007
Pros: Fully adjustable for different appature, ISOs, speeds, et al., and, weatherproofed & works in a very intuitive manner.
Cons: Could use more storage areas in grip
Summary: This is the digital SLR which I have been waiting for and it fulfills my needs to produce film-like work with a moderate priced digital SLR. I have the ability ...
Summary: This is the digital SLR which I have been waiting for and it fulfills my needs to produce film-like work with a moderate priced digital SLR. I have the ability to work all the way from fully automatic to manual and in many useful modes in between in a most intuitive manner that shows that the designers of this camera are obviously photographers in addition to being engineers. I could not be happier! This camera is recommended to serious enthusiasts who do not want to be spoon feeded and enjoy experimenting. It totes like a real camera, not like a toy (such as the Canon Rebels) and really has a wonderful feel as one uses it.
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best value for money DSLR
by -4EV on March 3, 2007
Pros: In body stabilization, compatibility with older lenses, weather sealing
Cons: need to use RAW to get best results,
Summary: My opinion is that Pentax hit a home run with this camera. For less than $1000 you get a camera with in-body stabilization, weather sealing, great handling abilities, and unlike *...
Summary: My opinion is that Pentax hit a home run with this camera. For less than $1000 you get a camera with in-body stabilization, weather sealing, great handling abilities, and unlike *any* other DSLR manufacturer Pentax as always provides backward compatibility with virtually every lens that they have ever made.
While Pentax sometimes deservedly gets ripped on for lack of system accessories and lenses, they do have some truly excellent lenses, such as the 'pancake' series of lenses, it's almost worth looking at Pentax just be able to use these lenses I like them so much, oh and Pentax will be releasing a series of pro zooms in a few months that should fill the lens gap that many complain about.
I have issues with cnet's testing of the SR (in-body stabilization), I've found it excellent, and have been able to hand hold photos at half-second on a regular basis, certainly much better than the one stop advantage that cnet claims.
The one caveat with this camera is that you will really want to use RAW mode when shooting to bet best results, but if you are at all serious about photography you will want to use RAW mode for most anything but snapshots.
I don't care how many people on the street have heard about Pentax, if you want to get a camera to impress people you should get a Canon or Nikon, if you like taking photos with a well made, well thought out camera, then take a look at the K10D
I give it a 10 rating becuase it is perfect (for me). -
Awesome Camera!!!!
by mdc6969 on December 17, 2007
Pros: Makes excellent pictures
Cons: Absolutely NONE!!!!
Summary: This is a wonderful camera. I have a Pentax SLR and a Cannon digital camera. I trust Pentax. I have never had a problem with my SLR! Pentax has gone ...
Summary: This is a wonderful camera. I have a Pentax SLR and a Cannon digital camera. I trust Pentax. I have never had a problem with my SLR! Pentax has gone above and beyond for this camera. Once you learn the settings, your good to go. I would buy it again if I didn't already have one!
0 out of 1 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Doesn't meet Pentax's marketing machine promises!
by Heebee Jeebies on March 3, 2007
Pros: Nice build construction. Good menu and control layout. Good set of features. DNG and PEF support.
Cons: Poor Auto-White Balance in doors. Shake reduction doesn't seem to be as good as Pentax Promised. JPG images very soft, in camera controls don't help. Raw output however is very good.
Summary: I think Pentax made a lot of promises about what this camera could do and I think many of those promises they didn't keep.
They promised 4 stop improvement ...Summary: I think Pentax made a lot of promises about what this camera could do and I think many of those promises they didn't keep.
They promised 4 stop improvement with the shake reduction. However, I get more blurred shots with the K10D than I ever did with my Panasonic FZ20 or FZ30.
If you shoot in JPG mode the images are just horribly soft almost to point you wonder about focus issues. However, I have been told that is because Pentax went for a film look and so they do detail sharpening and not edge sharpening. Even turning in camera sharpening up to maximum doesn't help and neither does switching to bright mode from natural mode. Pentax should have added an edge sharpening option and just left it off by default.
I have to applaud Pentax for supporting both DNG and PEF Raw files. Giving the user a choice is always a good thing. This is why I don't understand the lack of an edge sharpening option. Speaking of sharpening Raw files from the K10D come out just fine. I suspect that this is because the RAW file is not demosaiced by the camera but by your reprocessing software which would mean the K10Ds demosaicing routine is flawed.
Pentax as a company I think is very poor. They put out a weather sealed body but no lenses, not even the kit lens is weather sealed. People have informed them about the problems they are having with the K10D and their responses have been we know about it but we don't plan to fix it.
Add to all of this the fact that Pentax can't seem to supply enough lenses (try finding a 50mm f1.4 any place in stock) or enough flash units (try finding a 540 flash unit instock) the flash unit becomes a big issue since Pentax decided to us P-TTL for flash instead of the industry standard which would have mean a lot more flash units could be fully utilized with the K10D.
I have an investment in this system, however I would never buy another Pentax product. I don't like the company, I don't like their support ethics and I don't care too much for their products. There is a reason why when you ask 1,000 people on the street to name 5 camera makers less than 1% would say Pentax.
Robert1 out of 4 users found this user opinion helpful.
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Great specifications; broke down in a week
by willem_4 on January 15, 2007
Pros: Great specificatiosn - when it works, that is. Working, I'd give it a top rating. My low rating is because of its malfunctioning!
Cons: Aperture mechanism broke down after about 100 indoor test shots.
Summary: I bought the top of the range $918 dollar pentax k10d camera from Beach Camera, and was very happy with it - for less than a week. I'd give ...
Summary: I bought the top of the range $918 dollar pentax k10d camera from Beach Camera, and was very happy with it - for less than a week. I'd give it a top rating for the time it worked. My low rating is because of its malfunctioning! It soon broke down. The aperture mechanism did not function, and the lens was fully stopped down to f22, continuously. This probably tells you a bit about Pentax's quality control....
Beach camera were totally unresponsive when I reported this. The initially slow customer service suddenly stopped replying at all when enquiring what to do with the non-functioning camera. Pretty poor for a $900+ camera.
They had been very quick though to take my money (and really fast pointing out that my card bounced - the credit card company apparently regarded Beachcamera as possibly fraudulent?). A minor niggle compared to this all is that I paid extra for fast shipping, ie. guaranteed to arrive before Christmas, but it came in after. Still, annoying, and I lost another $15 on it.
All in all, a waste of time, and money. It's been three weeks now and I am still trying to sort it out, now with Pentax themselves.
I can say only one thing: be warned. I will certainly NEVER use Beachcamera again, and if Pentax falters too, I will revert to proper Canon or Nikon ....1 out of 5 users found this user opinion helpful.
Specifications
- Manufacturer: Pentax
- Part number: 19091
- Description: The PENTAX K10D digital SLR features an array of PENTAX innovations including 10.2 effective megapixels and a PENTAX-developed Shake Reduction (SR) system that effectively offers a 2.5 to 4 stop advantage for sharp, blur-free images even under difficult shooting conditions, such as macro and telephoto photography or low light settings without a flash. Also featured is a newly developed Pentax Real IMage Engine (PRIME) designed exclusively for PENTAX digital SLR cameras to produce well-balanced, true-to-life images. PENTAX also incorporated a new high performance 22-bit A/D converter to quickly transfer images with accurate color tones and richer gradation from the CCD to the imaging engine. The new Dust Removal (DR) system incorporating PENTAX-original Special Protect (SP) coating helps keep the CCD surface dust-free, and adds a shift mechanism to shake dust off the CCD. All this is housed in a dependable dust-proof, weather-resistant body construction featuring 72 seals throughout the camera to allow photographers to continue shooting even in dusty or rainy environments.
General
- Product Type Digital camera - SLR
- Width 5.6 in
- Depth 2.8 in
- Height 4 in
- Weight 1.6 lbs
Main Features
- Resolution 10.2 megapixels
- Color Support Color
- Optical Sensor Type CCD
- Total Pixels 10,750,000 pixels
- Effective Sensor Resolution 10,200,000 pixels
- Sensor Dust Reduction Yes
- Sensor Features Special Protect (SP) coating, Dust Reduction (image sensor vibration)
- Light Sensitivity ISO 100, ISO 200, ISO 400, ISO 800, ISO 1600, ISO auto
- Special Effects Slim, Sepia, Black & White
- Image Stabilizer Optical (image sensor shift mechanism)
- Max Shutter Speed 1/4000 sec
- Min Shutter Speed 30 sec
- X-sync Speed 1/180 sec
- Exposure Metering Spot, Evaluative, Center-weighted
- Exposure Modes Bulb, Manual, Program, Automatic, ISO priority, Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, Shutter & aperture priority
- Exposure Range EV 1-21.5 ( ISO 200 )
- Exposure Compensation ±3 EV range, in 1/2 EV steps
- Auto Exposure Bracketing 3 steps in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps
- Exposure Metering Zones 16
- White Balance Custom, Presets, Automatic
- White Balance Presets Shade, Cloudy, Daylight, Fluorescent, Tungsten light
- Still Image Format RAW, JPEG
- Remote Control Optional
- TV Tuner None
Memory / Storage
- Supported Flash Memory MultiMediaCard, SD Memory Card
- Floppy Drive None
- Image Storage RAW 3872 x 2592, JPEG 3872 x 2592, JPEG 3008 x 2000, JPEG 1824 x 1216
Camera Flash
- Camera Flash Pop-up flash
- Guide Number (m / ISO 100) 11
- Flash Modes P-TTL, Auto mode, Fill-in mode, Flash OFF mode, Rear curtain sync, Red-eye reduction
- Red Eye Reduction Yes
- Features AF illuminator, Flash +/- compensation
Lens System
- Auto Focus TTL phase detection
- Auto Focus Points (Zones) 11
- Lens System Mounting Pentax KAF2
Additional Features
- Self Timer Yes
- Self Timer Delay 2 sec, 12 sec
- Flash Terminal Hot shoe
- Additional Features AE lock, AF lock, DPOF support, Direct print, Auto power save, Histogram display, PictBridge support, PRINT Image Matching, USB 2.0 compatibility, Digital noise reduction, RGB primary color filter, Display brightness control, Depth-of-field preview button
Viewfinder
- Viewfinder Type Optical - Fixed eye-level pentaprism
- Field Coverage 95%
- Magnification 0.95x
- Dioptric Correction Range -2.5 to +1.5
- Viewfinder Frames Autofocus frame
- LCD Display Information AE lock, Aperture, Shutter speed, Metering system, Red-eye reduction, Exposure compensation, Flash charge completion
Display
- Type LCD display - TFT active matrix - 2.5 in - Color
- Display Form Factor Built-in
- Display Format 210,000 pixels
Digital Player (Recorder)
- Type None
Microphone
- Type None
Connections
- Connector Type 1 x USB, 1 x Composite video output
- Expansion Slot(s) 1 x SD Memory Card
Software
- Software Drivers & Utilities
System Requirements for PC Connection
- Operating System Support MS Windows XP, MS Windows 2000, Apple Mac OS X 10.2 or later
Miscellaneous
- Carrying Case None
- Included Accessories Eyecup, Body cap
- Cables Included USB cable, Video cable
Power
- Power Device Battery charger - External
Battery
- Supported Battery Pentax D-Li50
- Supported Battery 1 x Li-ion rechargeable battery ( Included )
Environmental Parameters
- Min Operating Temperature 32 °F
- Max Operating Temperature 104 °F
Product series
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Pentax K10D (with 18mm-55mm lens)
Manufacturer: Pentax
Specs: SLR, 10.2 megapixels, 3 x, 2.5 in LCD display
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Manufacturer: Pentax
Specs: SLR, 10.2 megapixels, 2.5 in LCD display
Accessories
Manufacturer info
- Pentax
- Manufacturer profile
- Browse Pentax products on Shopper.com
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- Address:
35 Inverness Drive East, Englewood, CO - Phone: 1-800-877-0155
- Fax: 303-799-9213
- Address:
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