It's a great time to be buying a 10 megapixel SLR, as all the top manufacturer's have new, 5-star models. So let's examine: What do we want most? Great photos, a well made camera, and features that well let us achieve our photographic goals. The K10D delivers.

All the top contenders will deliver excellent results that can be made into poster size prints with great color and detail. Although we can point so some shortcomings (like the poor performance of the Sony Alpha 100 at ISO 1600), image quality is something that is still in the eye of the beholder.

However, features are features, and the K10D has loads. The first thing you'll notice is the solid feel in your hands. It feels robust, and the shutter has been tested to 100,000 shots (same as Canon's bigger brother 30D). But to this, we add something else not found in any other camera in the class: weather-proofing. The body contains 72 seals to help keep dust, dirt and moisture on the outside (the optional grip has 38 seals).
When you put on the optional grip, it really does feel like a part of the camera, not a wiggly thing that might come off.

To get those great photos, the K10D has all the standard feature set, plus a few new ones (like "sensitivity" mode), which will come in hand for some people, but of more partical use to many will be the ability to define what "Auto ISO" range the camera can use. Want the camera to be able to use 1600? Done. Pentax's metering systems have always been well thought of, but you'll get center-weighted and spot metering as options, too. Their "digital preview" can be very handy in setting up the proper white balance.

The viewfinder is the largest in it's class (although the D80 is the smallest fraction behind). When viewing through it, you'll see the 11-point autofocus. What you don't see is that the nine central segments are "cross basis" points, meaning they focus on both vertical and horizontal lines. The other competitors simply have one, the center segment, that is cross-basis. This may not help it focus faster, but it should improve accuracy. Additionally, the focusing mode is easy to change. A switch up front allows you to select manual, single or continuous autofocusing, while a dial on back allows you to change from spot focus (only the center zone), wide (allows the camera to select) or free-floating (you select any of the eleven zones, and can change it quickly with the key-pad on the back of the camera).

The choice of the SD/SDHC cards is great. This small cards avoid the dreaded "bent pin" issue of the compact flash cards, and the SD are compatible with a hugh number of compact cameras as well. Another nice touch is the optional remote control. It can trigger the camera from the front AND from BEHIND the camera, and can store inside the optional grip. I also love the fact they included the .dng standard for RAW images, as this is an open standard developed by Adobe.

And there is one feature that Pentax now leads: Shake Reduction (or VR, or IS, or SteadyShot). First, like the Sony, the SR is built into the camera. So for a most cost up front, ALL your lenses get some stabalization...even older manual focus lenses! And as a side benefit, you get a slight benefit in keeping the sensor clean. But what most people don't understand about Pentax SR system is that it is a THREE AXIS anti-shake system, something that no other maker offers. In-lens, or the Sony rail system, compensate for you shaking left/right & up/done. By combine these two, it compensates for diagonally, too. What they do not compentate is for "rotational" shake. Imagine a line running through the camera lens to the subject, rotating the camera around this axis. The Pentax SR system uses magnets and bearings to allow the sensor to free float compared to the body. Tremendous technology.

Pentax has been a bit light on their lens selection, but keep in mind that this uses every Pentax 35mm lens ever made, and 3 exciting new lenses that they recently announced (16-50 f2.8; 50-135 f2.8; and 60-250 f4.0, all weather sealed with ultrasonic motors) make them very competitive.

Buy the Canon XTi, Nikon D80 or Sony Alpha 100, and you'll get a terrific camera. But for my money (yes, I did buy one), the Pentax K10D is the best.

This is my first digital SLR, I moved up from an extremely capable Panasonic FZ20. I've actually been looking for an DSLR for a long time and checked out the D80, A100, and XTi, but in every model it seemed as though something was missing. The D80 took great pictures, but was more expensive than it's competition, lacked shake protection, and it didn't have any dust removal features. The A100 sounded great since it had everything I wanted, but it ended up taking not so great pictures and it really felt cheap in my hands. The XTi was close, but no shake reduction and it was really too small for me (very uncomfortable).

I really waited a long time to get the K10D and almost bought the D80, but I'm glad I waited. The K10D is perfect for me since I don't have lots of money to spend on lenses with VR or IS. Also, although Pentax does not have as many lenses as Nikon or Canon, the Pentax lenses are cheaper for their optical quality. I personally bought the 18-55 kit lens and the 50-200 lens and both feel really solid, have metal lens mounts, and are optically pretty good compared to the competition.

Another thing that was really important to me was the weather seals on the K10D. Although I wont use them that often (to my knowledge Pentax hasn't released any sealed lenses yet), but I'm glad I have it now. I remember last time I was in Hawaii it was raining during a trip through the rainforest and I was unable to use my camera since I was afraid it might get ruined. With the K10D I hopefully wont miss anymore pictures in the rain and I read that even unsealed lenses are very hard to ruin with water. It's a shame I didn't have weather seals before since I most likely wont go to the Hawaiian rainforest again.

I have had some problems with the K10D though. The noise is pretty bad at high iso (800-1600), but less than pictures I've seen taken with the A100. The 18-55 lens has some vignetting at 18mm and also the aperture is not constant it's 3.5-5.6 on the 18-55 and 4-5.6 on the 50-200. The lens cap is sort of tricky to take off with the hood on. My K10D also front focuses sometimes (rarely) which can be annoying, but I read that this happens with most other DSLRs, and it also has some problems focusing in low light. I really haven't used it enough to see if the dust system really works, but so far I've had zero problems with dust.

Overall I'm extremely happy with the K10D and I can't imagine using a different camera. It feels extremely solid and if I dropped it I doubt it would break. The TAv mode is priceless and I'm set to that 90% of the time. I can't believe no other companies have that feature. Anyway, I can't give the camera 5 stars since it does have some flaws and I will no doubt find more after using it longer since I've only had mine for about a week (I've taken about 500 pictures).

Just got mine this week, replacing my Canon Digital Rebel. I got the kit with 18-55mm lens, and also got a 360Z flash and 50-200 lens. Very happy with it, though TONS to learn on how to use it well. It's solid, works well in 21 degree (F) weather as well as inside, and gives gorgeous pics. The Shake Reduction helped me get some good dusk pictures at our local train museum. Only word of warning, is that it is NOT a point and shoot. By just doing that, I managed to get some blurry pics and some nicely focussed pics of the back of someone elses head instead of my wife, due to not figuring out the Autofocus yet. But I love the ISO sensitivity features (adjust aperture and speed, ISO changes to match) and the shake reduction really does work well. The lenses and flash unit work great too.

I spent weeks doing research into what "prosumer" dSLR I was going to purchase this year, and this one definately came out on top. It is solidly built, and takes remarkable photos. I opted to get the body without the kit lens, although I've heard that the kit lens for this camera is good. I bought the body through Amazon, along with a Tamron 17-35mm DI lens, and a 75-200mm DI lens. Even with a 28-80 Pentax lens that was from a film SLR, the photos come out great.

Pros:
- Incredible image quality, even at ISO's of 800 or more.
- Solid body. Feels like it will last longer then the others I looked at such as the N80 and D20.
- The shake reduction is an added plus. There is not need to spend extra $$ to get this feature in lenses.

Cons:
- Selection of lenses is limited. Tamron and Sigma have limited availability of Pentax mounts.
- A bit bulkier then expected. None of the photo shops around me had the K10D in stock, but it was described as being about the same size and weight as the K100D's that they had to play with. The K10D is a bit heavier, and the form is a bit different from the predecessor.
- I read in another review on a photo site that there is a thud heard when you move the camera side to side while it is off. Mine does the same thing. I now know that it's the orientation sensor.

This is my 3rd dSLR and will probably be my last. I can't see where it can be improved. I know, all cameras have flaws and can be improved, but this one is so near perfect it is hard to believe.

From the moment I handled it and played with the focus i was hooked. It locked on focus fast, very fast even in very dim light. You always (well almost always) knew exactly what was going on and how well the shot would be. Playback of just shot images is good, expecially with the ability to blow it up to 20x to check focus.

So lets look at a few of the cameras important features.
1. It has 11 point focusing, 9 of which are cross which means it easily grabs focus on difficult objects. And the viewfinder shows you what part of the scene is the focus point. With two adjustment wheels you can easily switch settings.
2. shot to shot time is fast and in JPEG you can shoot until you are out of memory without slowing up.
3. switch to RAW and back to JPEG without moving your eye from the viewfinder. And you can control how the button responds, i.e., just one shot or all the rest until you turn it off.
4. weatherproofing so that you can keep shooting even when it gets misty
5. solidy built, plastic over a stainless steel case. It will survive most hard knocks.
6. In camera shake reduction which means that any lens becomes image stabilized when mounted on the camera
7. the ability to set shutter and aperture and have the ISO automatically adjust for the shot
8. easily moves from a beginners camera (when in the "green" mode) to a pro camera with almost all the features a pro needs.
9. four channel histogram to better evaluate your shots
10. long battery life. 300+ on a charge.
11. very wide selection of lenses going back to the 1970s that are usable and are image stabilized when used on the camera.
12. wireless remote both front and back.

There are a lot more very nice features and a few that are not, but nothing that makes my question my purchase even the slightest. As is so typical, the manual is not the easiest to navigate. Even after a month there are some features I still haven't gotten comfortible with but am getting there. I like the backlight for the top LCD and would like the numbers in the viewfinder to be a little bigger or brighter or both.

Summary
During the 2 + years i have been teaching a digital photography course (Intro to Digital Photography at Emeritus college in Santa Monica, CA) I have owned 3 dSLR and at least 12 other digital cameras. This one is far superior to anything that I have tried, researched, or finally bought. It is hard to put it down, both figuritively and physically.

DoctorJerry

The marriage of Pentax camera expertise, and Samsung's bottomless R&D war chest ("SamTax"), has spawned the great-leap-forward K10D DSLR that promises well-earned laudits for a camera maker inexorably squeezed by wealthier competitors. Pentax' first entry into the DSLR world (the oddly-named *istD), although a fine performer, failed to compete pricewise with comparable Canon or Nikon entries. The smaller and better market-positioned 6MP *istD-S (which I own) arrived too late to give the hugely successful Canon Rebel a serious run for its money; and Pentax eventually retrenched with cheaper penta-mirror products just to keep a foot in the US market (ironically, the digital Rebel series had cut costs from the start with a seldom-mentioned penta-mirror).

The tradeoff for any low cost DSLR, as against the costlier pro models, was the substitution of menu-driven operations for the latter's simpler and faster buttons and dials -- a maddeningly tedious and unintuitive cost-cutter, made all the more frustrating in bright light on small LCD displays. Even selecting the focus point (grid, spot or select) meant a trip through pages of menus, not aided at all by the infamous penchant for inscrutable abbreviations. In effect, the time lost in flipping the camera to scroll through on-screen menus all too often meant either photo opportunities lost, or just reverting to a digicam's one focus mode fits all. Moreover, adequate as 6MP might be for most, the megapixel race to 8 (then 10) MP sensors left Pentax bringing up the rear of the pack.

But no more! The K10D is an altogether different beast, a handsome sturdy 10MP workhorse, with enough racing blood to lead the current (Dec 2006) DSLR pack. I shan't repeat here the praise for its fine quality pictures, but instead focus on the more arcane issues that affect purchasing choice between 2 or 3 finalists such as sensor dust removal, image stabilization, solid glass pentaprism, and retrograde lens and accessory compatibility. The exposure mode dial now is all professional, with just a single intelligent automatic setting - gone are the smiley face and jogger icons - while adding a novel mode selection for ISO-sensitivity priority.

Pentax has tackled the bugaboo of dust attracted by the electrostatically charged CCD sensor -- a gotcha when changing DSLR lenses -- on 3 fronts: a new dust-repellant sensor coating; sensor vibration at startup (employing the sensor stabilization mechanism) to shake off dust; and -- a laudable first in the prosumer field -- a fully dust and splash sealed body that lets you take `clean' pictures in the desert as readily as in the rain forest [just don't change lenses in the open!].

Image Stabilization (IS) counteracts the problem of muscle tremors and pulsatile blood flow that destabilize the hand-held platform, by moving either a lens element or the camera sensor mount in the opposite direction -- allowing longer exposures (extra `stops') without incurring motion blur -- an impressive advantage when shooting fast action or in low light. There are two approaches to IS: In-the-lens IS (as used by Nikon and Canon) builds a gyroscopic element into the lens assembly, offering speed and specificity, but adding front-end weight, expense and complexity; the pro is that in-lens stabilization is fast and can be transferred to same-make camera bodies (with matching power contacts), the con is that you pay dearly for the IS mechanism each time you purchase a new lens. In-camera IS (as used in the K10D and Sony alpha), conversely, moves the sensor so as to counteract platform instability -- once you purchase the camera body, you'll always have IS, whatever lens is mounted. This makes for full backward compatibility so that you can attain IS with your older lenses. The con is that the sensor's counter-movement must be matched to the lens characteristics, thus is slightly slower than the in-lens system. The in-camera sensor-moving mechanism, moreover, performs double duty as a sensor-shaking dust removal feature. The K10D further refines IS by floating the sensor electromagnetically, adding rotational to linear stabilization. Oversimplifying: if you need to shoot sports, races, or wildlife for a living, go for the Canon/Nikon in-the-lens stabilization; if your requirements are less extreme, stick to in-camera stabilization for a wider choice of less-expensive lenses to expand your system.

On paper at least, the K10D's 22-bit A/D converter sounds attractive, but realize that even RAW images still remain at 12-bit depth; the claim of enhanced color rendition remains to be proven by benchmark testing. Contacts are in place to accommodate forthcoming lenses with hypersonic focusing motors, speeding autofocusing towards the Canon/Nikon range. Indeed, other than for slightly slower auto-focusing, PopPhoto benchmarking rates the K10D's resolution and image quality as Excellent, and noise from Very Low to Low at ISO 800-1600.

In sum: The Pentax K10D (and its GX-10 Samsung sibling) emerges as a company breakthrough, in that it offers outstanding image quality, very low digital noise, and image stabilization inside a dust & splash sealed body -- all that with some of the highest-rating metal-mount kit lenses around. The well illustrated manual too has benefited from the new regime. Unless you require ultra-fast auto-focus in low light, the slightly slower autofocusing should not deter you; better yet, new USM lenses are on the way. In-camera IS makes the K10D a windfall for Pentax lens owners; its innovative features are a challenge to the "big guys".

Well, I've been holding out on making the switch from film SLR's to DSLR's mainly because I can get higher quality digital images with film and my halfway decent film scanner. I've adored Pentax since beginning with the K1000. I decided, finally, to make the switch when I heard Pentax would be coming out with their own advanced amateur DSLR, something to rival the Nikons and Canons out there.

I ordered my K10D over the weekend and got it 2 days ago. I've take it out in and havve taken around 300-400 images so far, mostly testing out the various modes and settings and trying to get a feel for all of the settings. Even in the less-than-ideal conditions brought on by overcast skies and low-lighting conditions, the camera has performed outstandingly. The images come out sharp and with great color. The Shake Reduction(SR) is an amazing feature to have built into the body. It is a wonderful feature when using my new telephoto lens, particularly on these low-light days that I've been contending with.

I'm impressed with the white balance modes, though I have not been particularly impressed with the Auto WB with the low-lighting conditions. I find that have to manually adjust the white balance in certain conditions, but these auto features aren't ever completely perfect.

The layout of the camera is well designed and I have bee very happy with the controls. The camera feels solid and reliable in every respect.

As I get more practice with using the camera, I'll happily update this review with what I've learned and any extra pros or cons I discover.

Excellent overall. For an experienced SLR user, the Pentax is easy to learn.
Setup and Use of features are well explained in the Manual. Becoming familiar with available features and programs will take practice.
I recommend buying the Body ONLY and purchase an after market lens. The standard 18-55 Pentax lens DOES NOT do the camera justice.

Clearly everyone loves this camera. I've been using mine now for a week. Everything people say is true: fast, maneuverable, excellent images, big fun factor for gadget freaks like me. I was waiting to upgrade to the next compelling Nikon DSLR because I still have my old FE; foolish loyalty. The specs of the Pentax K10D and the memories of my Grandfather's old screw mount Pentax convinced me to go for it.

I can add this.... it would be cool if the extra memory storage slot in the grip was connected as addition capacity or add a compact flash slot. There's a lot of empty space inside the grip. What else can be fit in there? Wireless? Cosmetically the lens hood for 18-55 could have better lines into the lens but I am all for form fits function.

I have only owned or used Pentax cameras for the past 23 years From P-3, to SF-10 to PZ-1, 645 and then the ist D and have been published with everyone of them. I know the K10D is taking my photography to a new level. This camera deserves the pro grade label vs the "advanced amateur" label of prior products by the photography elite. Having shot near 500 frames since this month, I am very impressed with the AWB accuracy and the antishake. I shoot alot of manual focus macro and recently was late day on the backside of Mt Hood and could shoot snow crystals hand held at 1/25th of a second without a tripod. Could never do that with any other camera. They claim 3 frames a second, but I clocked mine at 4 frames per which is plenty fast. One other item is the extended autobracketing to a total of 5 frames. Though I need to work with this more, I am very impressed with the ability to also bracket on white balance. Gone are the days of filters, now you can add the equivalent of the old 81B warming filter within the same sequence of shots. I still need to add the vertical grip, to give better vertical control but this camera is quickly become a value added enabler to my creativity. The amount of control I can exercise is pro level, yet if you are a first time buyer, the program function user interface will enable anyone to take great shots right out of the box. Firmware is stable and I have not had a single issue with this product. Well done Pentax!

Pentax has been knows for the finest glass in the industry, but after the 1960's or 1970's their professional gear has all been medium format.

Well, the digital revolution finally woke them up. Many pros have been using Pentax 35mm cameras because of the glass, and the *st D was a good holder for the lenses.

So now they finally came out with a pro-spec digital (too bad about the failed MZ-D years ago) and it's not the 645D, it's the K10D!

The camera is solid, robust, uses a high-voltage power supply, and with the battery pack is one mean machine. Plus, it natively saves in DNG format so pros don't have to wait for Thomas Knoll at Adobe to profile the camera - native DNG goes right into Adobe Bridge!

The shake reduction feature makes ALL your lenses IS lenses, not just the $[...] monsters. The 300/2.8 and 600/4 are still available, should you want them and have the money to spend.

The most impressive part to me is the fact that it automatically senses the orientation of the photos. Portraits don't have to be rotated after the fact, which saves time in post-processing. For a working photographer, that means a lot!

Over all, for image quality and features, you can't match it until you get up to the hyper-expensive Canon 5D, at which point you're better off going medium format digital. The 645D will be the one to look for.

But for the regular photographer, this is one serious machine!

The Pentax K10d is not a simple camera. It has numerous features that would be important to a serious photographer. It may not be the best choice as the
first move up from a point and shoot camera. However, it appears to be the state-of-the-art for a 10 megapixel DSLR for those people desiring such a camera. I was looking to move up from a two year old K-M A200 which I think is excellent in good light conditions. I paid twice as much for the Pentax as I did for the A200 and the improvement in images does not justify the money. However, my quality curve has flattened a lot, which is to say I will
need to work harder to improve my images significantly and I think the K10d can help me do that. I understand that the next issue of Popular Photography will have a comparison of the K10d's rivals and would recommend anyone looking to buy such a camera to review the article carefully. Except for the K10d's anti-shake, probably the Nikon D-80 would be hard to beat, on a tripod. Do not expect a quantum leap in image quality from the serious cameras the level below the 10 megapixel DSLR's.
The build quality appears to equal my friend's Nikon D-70, but the kit lens is not impressive. I bought the extra handle/battery holder. When
attached with the Pentax flash, it is an impressive looking rig. Probably
buying a new DSLR is like buying a new car, one can read all the specs and
opinions, but nothing beats a test drive, because they are all pretty good.

Wow! I just opened the box, and I'm in love with this camera already.

I decided to get serious about photography about three months ago and have been shopping for a dSLR since. I've owned Sony, Nikon, Minolta and Canon Point & Shoot cameras. My heart has always been with my Canon S1 and S2, so naturally I looked at the Rebel XTi; I also looked at the Sony A100 for it's in-body shake reduction.

I wanted four features: in-body Image Stabilization, 10MP, a tough and durable body, and under $1000.I looked at the Sony hard, but in the end declined because it felt cheap. I never liked my Sony or Minolta P&S camera's so I didn't trust the A100.

I love Canon cameras because the are easy to use, take great photos and are solid. However, the XTi felt cheaply made and was too small for my hand. Besides that, no IS in the body and IS lenses are too pricey for my tastes.

Enter the Pentax! I never considered the Pentax K10d until a week ago when I read a review in Popular Photography and did some research on Pentax. Like Canon, Pentax focuses on imaging products only. Somehow, I believe quality is compromised if you have a wide range of products, i.e. Sony.

Right out of the box, you can feel the quality in the K10d. The body is solid and heavy; rubberized plastic in all the right places. The menus and buttons are thoughtfully arranged and placed and operation is smooth.
I love this camera! I'm an amateur photographer but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know this is a great dSLR.

More later after I take a few shots over the weekend.

Good kit lenses, low noise till 800 ISO
User friendly design and user interface
Shake Reduction realy works

Thats right folks...I've owned em all...the Canon XT, Nikon D70 and D50, the Sony, Canon S3 IS, ect.

This camera has the ergonomics and features to appeal to the professional and prosumer photographer equally...plus it takes all the OLDER manual focus Pentax lenses as well!!

The Shake Reduction feature is worth the price alone but the new shooting modes, the high dynamic range RAW files, the professional film look and feel give, and the great price push this camera over the edge and give it the advantage over all the competing DSLRs in it's range and even higher!....
Welcome back Pentax!....what took yoa so long!?
Now simply come out with a firmware upgrade/patch to fix some of the niggling issues such as the inferior Jpeg quality and the noise banding in high iso images

I've waited a long time for this camera. Have several Pentax film camera's, but the prwvious batch of DSLR couldn't compete against film. Glad they have finally reached 10 megs. Haven't used all menu options yet. Too many? We'll see.
Only negative to date, Camera heavier then fil cameras. This was Pentax claim to fame over the other major brands- lightness.

I do photography as a hobby for over 20 years. I love Pentax cameras because the lightness and for the lens compatibility and this is the best SLR I have ever had. I still need to test some of its features. But I am very happy with the quality of the pictures. I upgraded from istDS that I got two years back. The shake reduction come very useful when I take pictures of my 2 year old son who can not stay at one place. I used to get many blurred images with ist DS at low shutter speeds and this camera handles that very well. The colors are very natural and I like the fact that I can save images in both RAW and JPEG at the same time. I usually use RAW to store my images and JPEG for the web and email. The image processor may not be as good as what u may find in Nikon or Canon but the RAW images are very impressive. I think I finally got the right camera to really replace my older film based Pentax SLR and still I can use all those expensive lenses I have without having to spend more money. If u are an owner of Pentax SLR with many lenses and wants to go digital, there is no better choice than K10D unless u have a lot of money to invest on a camera and new lenses.

I owned a *ist DL for about 8 month and bought this upgrade. I don't have any experience with Cannon or Nikon. So my review is mostly based on a comparison to *ist DL. Hope this will help those in the same situation.

I am not a Pro and will not be a Pro. So I only need a decent but inexpensive camera with a handful choice of lenses. I bought K10D mainly for (1) shake reduction (2) dust removal (3) RAW button (4) 10MB CCD. Of course, there are plenty other features to expect. At this pice level, I think K10D beats Cannon and Nikon and any others. Plus, I have had a DA 50-200mm and a couple of K and M42 Takumar manual lenses. Sticking to pentax is the best for me.

After about 150 test shots, I can share you some of my opinions:

Pros:
-- Shake reduction is great (but it has its limit)
-- dust removal comes handy
-- RAW button is very useful
-- manual choice of any one of 11 focus points, great for composition
-- faster focus than *ist DL
-- rich functions, e.g. SV mode, program line
-- support ISO 100

Cons:
-- Weather-seal does not mean too much if you don't get weather-sealed lenses
-- 10M is not much bigger than 6M (*ist DL), it is good to have but don't expect a big difference (but this is not Pentax or K10D's problem)
-- Battery meter drop from full to empty without stopping at a half-empty status
-- PentaPrism viewfinder is not brighter than the pentamirror of my *ist DL (at least no noticable difference)
-- shutter release is not as crispy as *ist DL (just a personal feeling)

It's bigger and heavier than ist DL. Great ergo design. I am happy with K10D. I take one star off for the cons listed.

PS: the ccd/stablizer slides inside (even power off) when you flip the camera. a little scary when I first got it. But after some reading I think it is "normal".

I was pleasant surprised with K10D as it combines built-in image stabilization, self-cleaning sensor, easy-to-use image controls and sealed body. It's just fills right in my hands. I'm not going to repeat all good pints that can be found in previous reviews. But I want to comments on some "Cons". Yang from MI point out that: "10M is not much bigger than 6M (*ist DL), it is good to have but don't expect a big difference..." More pixels isn't give you better image. You wouldn't see a difference on 5X6 or 8X10 in print. But if you want to print 24X36 in print this when you need more pixels. Overall it's a GREAT camera and a big step forward from istDS/K100 series cameras. I like that K10 has more controls on the body that before was bared in menus. I like RAW button big time. What hold me from give K10D five stars it's AF. Even AF much improved from DS still not as fast as Nikon D70S. Highly recommended.

I AM NOT A VERY GOOD PHOTOGRAPHER BUT I WANTED A DIGITAL SLR THAT I COULD USE MY EXISTING SLR LENSES WITH AND THAT IS WHAT I GOT> THIS CAMERA IS VERY EASY TO USE EVEN FOR SOMEONE WITH LITTLE EXPERIENCE> AND MY OLD PENTAX LENSES WORK WELL ON THE CAMERA> I WOULD RECOMMEND THIS CAMERA TO ANYONE WHO IS WANTING TO UPGRADE TO DIGITAL SLR< AND THE SHAKEREDUCTION FEATURE IS AN ADDED BONUS>

A million words have been written about this thing, and this is not an attempt at a comprehensive review, so look above or on dpreview-com for complete info.

I looked at Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Sony DSLRs. The Sony makes sense if you already have a bag full of Minolta lenses, which I don't. Canon and Nikon put their image stabilization in the lens, which makes their 'good' lenses significantly more expensive. Canon EOS is not backward-compatible with their old FD lenses, of which I -do- have a bagful. Pentax is backward-compatible with all K-mount lenses made since the 1970s, and will even take 645 and 6x7 lenses, with adapters.

Sooo, I set out to ease into DSLR ownership with a K100D, then started reading the reviews, and it was a bunch of little things that made me want the K10D. The viewfinder has an actual prism, not a mirror cage like cheaper cameras, the displays are backlit, and the low-res mode (1800 x 1200px) is exactly what I want for certain applications. With 10 Mpx, I can point & shoot if I have to, and crop (somewhat) more later. And the controls are more 'classic' camera-like than the 'scene modes' on beginner cameras. Not to say this would be worth the price difference to everyone, but I bought the K10D, and the Pentax 12-24mm / 4.0 lens, and am very happy with both.

Digital cameras use less of the image projected by the lens, so your lenses are 'longer' than they would be on a film camera. Downside: for a 'journalist lens', had to buy the 12-24mm, which is equivalent of 18-36mm on a film camera. Upside: my old 50mm / 1.4 is now equivalent of that top-of-the-line portrait lens I never felt I could afford. Pentax plans to introduce in 2007 a 16-50mm / 2.8 and a 50-135mm / 2.8, which sound fantastic - but let's see what they cost before we get too excited. Meanwhile, Sigma, Tokina, and Tamron offer some very adequate alternatives.

Camera and lens together are pretty heavy, just like an older SLR, and the LED screen cannot be used as a live viewfinder - no image gets to the sensor while the mirror is down - so you have to hoist the camera to your eye to compose a shot. No problem, I'm used to it, and it's common to all DSLRs.

((My personal feeling is that the SLR platform is just about done. It's hard to see the need for the mirror box in a digital camera, which can use the actual sensor to compose the shot through the lens and display it on the back. Future top-end digital cams will probably be a lot flatter, like the old rangefinder cameras. Look at the Olympus E330 or Panasonic DMC-L1 to see what direction I think we should be headed.))

Having said, I am very happy with the Pentax K10D, it behaves as it's supposed to, and an affordable (barely) 12-24mm rectilinear lens was unthinkable just a few years ago. This camera has a ton and a half of features and capabilities, and I am still sorting them out. There is definitely a learning curve if you are to get the most out of the camera, but there are also two full program modes, including 'green zone', so you can start shooting right away with good results. Pictuers come out great. Colors, brightness, and contrast need almost no adjustment or photoshop-ing, which has not been true of any other digi-cam I have ever owned. Happy with this, until the next big thing comes along.

I've had it for several weeks now and it seems like a great camera. I am still learning new features. I would highly recommend it.

First, let me state that I just received this camera and only took a few hundred pictures to test it. Second, given how little choice one has in Pentax lenses nowadays, the only reason I can conceive for buying this camera today is to use discontinued Pentax lenses. In my particular case, I had a 28-70 f2.8, an 80-200 f2.8 and a 28-200 f3.8-5.6, all of them for 35mm SLRs. I consider the 28-70 and the 80-200 by Pentax second to none in their respective categories in terms of pure image quality, although they are heavier than their Nikon and Canon counterparts, and they are superbly built. By all means, should you come upon a perfectly kept used one, do consider seriously buying it! (just know that the power zoom function will work, but not the auto zoom).
As for the 28-200, it is the perfect lens for an expedition, because it is extremely compact and fits all your needs in terms of focal range.
Of course, as for all lenses designed for 24x36 film SLRs, they exceed the requirements for APS-format digital SLRs. The only inconvenience is the you end up a little short ond the wide-angle side, on the other hand you now have a super-tele zoom at 300mm 24x36 equivalent.
Going back to the K10D, I must stress again that it would be a waste to use it with the cheap lenses available in Pentax's current line-up. The upside on this unfortunate state of affairs is that Pentax has to price this camera very aggressively compared to Nikon or Canon (the recently launched Nikon D80 costs around 100$ more than the K10 and is inferior to it both in terms of construction and features).
A second caveat is that if you are going to shoot in RAW format -and you should-, Adobe does not support yet the PEF format for this camera. Luckily you have the choice of using DNG, which works wonderfully. Picasa users will have to wait to view their RAW pictures, though, since Picasa doesn't support the RAW PEF or DNG files created by the 10 MP sensor on the K10. I have to make an update about this: if you shoot RAW DNG and import your files through Adobe, the imported DNG files(weighing around 21 MB as opposed to 16.5 MB before importing) are viewable on Picasa.
Function customization is outstanding and the most used functions are accessible through dedicated buttons. Both displays are excellent and the camera really is weather-proof in that all the keys use o-rings as well as all the compartments, which close very tightly.
I have a second update to make, and it concerns the sensor-based image stabilization: I was a little skeptical about it in the beginning, but when I took some pictures with a focal length of 105 to 135 mm(24x36) at speeds of 1/40 to 1/50 I was amazed by the results. Although I was at least 2 stops too slow, more than half the pictures were excellent and only about 10% were unacceptable. I take a lot of wildlife pictures and I look forward to trying this image stabilization system when following a moving subject: what happens to the background? (with lens-based VR systems, it is best to turn them off in this situation).

I purchased the Pentax K10D digital SLR about four weeks ago, and am very happy with this camera and the two lenses--18-55mm and 50-200mm. With the shake reduction and anti-dust features, You can`t go wrong. If you went with Canon or Nikon, you would pay through the nose for their lenses. The construction is very solid with seals that help prevent dust and water entering the camera.The features of the K10D make it a joy to use. I would highly recommend this camera to anyone moving up to a digital SLR. I am age 81, so it`s never too late to move up the ladder. W.C.RHYNE

I bought my K10D in Dec 06 after owning a number of Pentax cameras over the years and being very pleased with the engineering. The combination of features, if executed properly, make this camera the best buy in 10MP DSLRs right now. I postponed my review because I wanted to get some real field experience. I just went to Mexico, and panicked because I left the camera instruction manual behind. I can now report on that trip. I did a little fumbling at first, mainly because I didn't have the manual, but I was soon able to find the combinations I wanted, and the camera performed both flexibly and intuitively. The AF button and the exposure compensation button are very well placed. I found myself in difficult lighting situations often, and both AF and exposure metering worked quite well. I also took some hand-held shots that I normally would use a tripod with (such as at 450mm), and very few came out fuzzy because of camera movement. In a few cases, I used bracketing, and was easily able to obtain a good balance of details in one or more of the bracketed shots. Exposure metering worked so well that I stopped bracketing. I particularly liked the display modes: I could boost the brightness to see the display even in bright daylight, and deep zooming gave me a good check of whether a shot was "soft" or not right at the scene. The rechargeable Li Ion batteries, although not readily available in stores, seem to last forever (even using power zoom, and full-bright display, and some fill flash). I believe that I could have shot all week (700 shots in RAW (DNG) + JPEG) with the battery grip attached. In summary, this camera was a pleasure to hold, very easy to use and manipulate, and resulted in a high percentage of crisp photos (even if the percentage of well-composed shots was lower because of the photographer). I bought it because of its compatibility with Pentax lenses, 10MP sensor, shake-reduction technology, larger display, and especially the dust and water seals. But what makes me quite happy about it is its overall ease of use and good results. I am still discovering its features, but I already know that this camera frees me to be creative in ways that other cameras have not in the past. Some of the features on this camera are unique (new program lines) and some are available only on cameras costing several hundred dollars more, making the K10D a good choice and a best buy. Once again for Pentax, the engineering is supurb.

Before I get K10D, I experienced with Olympus E-500, CANON XTI, Nikon D80.
I used Olympus E-500 to take lots vivid color pictures that I love very much, but no water resistance and no second Display window, also only 3 focus point makes it not so enjoyable. Same thing happen to Canon XTi, no water resistance and no second Display window make it little hard to use when you need to change settings. The Nikon D80 is a great camera but also have no water resistance and shake reducer build in on camera, the color tone of D80 isn't the kind that I would love. Finally I bought Pentax K10D, the feeling of the body,the water resistance, shake reducer,auto dust remove,vivid color tone,etc...makes me feel the K10D is the way to go. Only complaint would be the Limited Edition Lens are hard to get. Get it while you can!

I've been upgrading my compact Digital Camera's nearly every year, trying to get a very good and portable camera to take on hiking and kayaking trips figuring if it where to be damaged I'd only be out a few hundred bucks. Even my latest and greatest 5.2 Megapixel does not take the quality of photo I'm looking for. After reading the Specs and Reviews on the K-10 and it's weather/dust ristance I decided it was time to move up. Though $400 more than my last compact this camera has proven to be well worth it's price. Not having to worry about a few rain drops, or the occasional dust devil has emboldened me to get outdoor shots no matter what the weather. This camera is very solid, and fast, just flick the "on" switch and start snapping shots.

I made the transition from point and shoot (Canon S2IS) to DSLR with the Pentax K10D and I am so happy I did! I am a complete novice in the DSLR imaging world, but am quickly learning what it's all about and this camera makes it easy. I was debating between this and the Nikon D80, but chose this camera because it offers the built in Shake Reduction, the weather seals, excellent image quality and much more at less than the Nikon cost. The camera feels solid, it has a nice grip and a Green Button that definitely helps me capture the shot when I need the correct settings quickly.

Camera performs exactly as it should ... image quality is simply stunning. In photoshop, I kept zooming in and zooming in and zooming in, it seemed like it would never pixelate. A couple reviews parroted one review that mentioned slightly soft jpegs ... hogwash. They are fantastic. In-camera image adjustments are there, but I prefer post processing. I have never used a better camera.

As a previous Pentax owner, this was my most logical choice. Even if I didn't have compatable lenses, this camera has all the features and benefits an advanced amatuer could want or need. Highly recommended.

I've searched a lot before choosing the K10D and the camera ended up just as good as expected.
The body is just like any professional equipment, bulk and heavy enough to help the hand shaking not to be transferred to the picture. By the way the shake reduction is just wonderful! You can take a 1/15' picture without any blurry.
And all the settings can be easily accessed using the program mode dial and the two smaller dials available at your fingertips.
The 18-55mm lens & camera body pack is the best you can get! I've looked all around in USA and Canada and could not find a bargain like this!
The lens itself is just enough as a start: really wide and a nice zoom on the same set.
The battery is a warning point: buy a spare one or you may be suddenly in need for a recharge.
One small setback is the computer cable: why not using the usual USB port (at the camera end)? Now I have another cable to carry around.
And another thing: although the body seems to be compatible with any other Pentax lens, I could not get auto-focus with my old 80-300mm one...
But it still deserves a 5 star rating!

15 years go I bought an analog Pentax P-10 along with a couple of good zoom lenses. The camera took -and still takes- outstanding pictures. Then in the late-90'S I discovered digital photography and did more and more with this medium and less with analog. I looked at the dSLR cameras coming from Pentax but was not convinced that the time to buy one had arrived...until the K10D. As soon as it showed up in the stores at the beginning of 2007 (an unfortunate delay by Pentax) I tried it out and was hooked. My old autofocus lenses (FA series) worked smoothly, the camera was the perfect size for my large hands and the ergonomy was pretty good. I received my K10D a few weeks ago and have put several hundred pictures through it on a recent vacation trip.

I have found no weaknesses in the camera yet. Given, the stock DA 18-55 lens, which I did not expect to be perfect, distorts slightly at the edges but is still good for the money. It will take me more time to truly master all the functionality and a thorough reading(s) of the manual is a must. I am very excited about this camera and the creative opportunities it opens. It is a major leap ahead for my photography and for Pentax.

Nothing is perfect in this world: there are two cons that I have discovered so far:
-after the first lens change there was a piece of dust on the CCD and the shake mechanism did not dislodge it (even after multiple tries) and I had to manually remove it (a straightforward task). I hope that it was the nature of the dust and not the coating or shake mechanism that made it so "sticky".
-The low light pictures taken with shake reduction turned on are not good. Perhaps this was a "pilot error" of a newbie.

In summary this camera is more than worth its' (plummeting) price and I look forward to learning all its' fine points over the next few months. Two thumbs up...particularly for those with older Pentax analog cameras. I won't be shooting with the old P-10 anymore.

I have been a Pentax user for awhile, starting with the ZX-L film body. For the most part I have mostly good results to report upgrading to the K10D:

- The camera's meter works very well. In the vast majority of scenarios where the older film camera's meter would have under or over exposed, the meter is right on.
- The exposure latitude is great. I tested it at about 11 stops in RAW mode, about 2 1/2 stops more than what you can see. You will need a good raw processor like Adobe Lightroom to take advantage of this, but it allows you to pull details from contrasty scenes like woods in daylight which would have 'blocked up' on film.
- Higher ISO sensitivity and longer shots have a very low noise level. The noise level is the same or better than a good 35mm pro film. For long exposures (1 sec or longer) the noise filter is flawless -- my long exposures are better than film, since the digital camera has no reciprocity effect like film does. In addition, in 2 second delay mode the camera has auto mirror lock-up, which my older film body lacked, a feature I am very fond of!
- The SR (shake reduction) is good for 2-3 stops, as advertised. With a monopod I can take 1 second exposures at 70mm with no visible camera shake with SR on. With SR off, the image is so blurry it is unusable.
- DNG format and AdobeRGB colorspace (set in custom menu) are ideal for working in Lightroom and Photoshop, no raw converter needed.
- My 28-70 f/2.8, 70-300 f/4-5.6, and 50mm f/1.4 FA lenses all work very well with the K10D.

A few downsides I have noticed:

- Battery life is dreadful with the built-in flash. If you use the flash alot, you will get only about 100 exposures before it's dead. Buy an extra battery, and/or use a hot-shoe extra flash (I use the 360FGZ and it is *great*). Without the built-in flash, I have shot 150 pictures with less than 50% battery drain though.
- Focusing in low light doesn't work well. I have to use a supplementary light (like a pocket flashlight, which I carry in my bag, or the built-in flash) to use auto-focus when I want to shoot at f/2 or f/1.4 in low light using my 50mm lens.
- The biggest drawback is lack of TTL metering. My 360FGZ works great in P-TTL mode, but my macro ring light has to be shot as a manual flash, and I get over-exposed shots using a (cheap, non-P-TTL) slave flash that would have been perfect on the ZX-L, requiring careful selection of flash compensation.

Still, for what I do I have to give this camera 5 stars, because it exceeded my expectations. If I buy a Nikon in the future it will be to get the Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8 VR lens, not because anything is lacking in my Pentax K10D camera!

I recently acquired a Pentax K10D DSLR with a Pentax SMCPDA 16-45mm Zoom f/4.0 ED/AL Lens and a Tamron 70-300mm Di AF Lens to cover everything from wide-angle to zoom - telephoto situations. I fitted the lenses with the standard UV filters and the camera with the Pentax BG2 Battery Grip (more about this later...)

I previously owned a Canon EOS-10D 6.3MP Digital SLR with a Canon EF 17-40mm f/4L USM Ultra Wide Angle Zoom Lens & a Canon EF 75-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM Telephoto Zoom Lens with the usual filters and accoutrements - I owned the whole kit since 2003 and used it extensively through Mexico, the States, Europe & Africa - all in all an excellent camera and lenses.

After recently becoming "savvy" on the new technology available - I decided to "upgrade" myself to bigger resolutions and newer "pluses" - I did extensive research and finally decide on three candidates:

1- Leica DIGILUX 3 7.5MP Digital SLR Camera (with Leica D 14-50mm f/2.8-3.5 ASPH Lens) with Optical Image Stabilization.

2 - Sigma SD14 14MP Digital SLR.

3 - Pentax K10D 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera (with Shake Reduction.)

After extensive research and reading many reviews regarding these three cameras - I came to the conclusion that the Pentax was going to be the better choice for the money over the amount of features, reliability and brand performance - in other words I definitely think that I'm getting more "bang-for-my-buck" over my other two choices. The reasons I did not choose the other two were:

Leica - of course is legendary and their lenses are superb - unfortunately this camera was compared too often to the Panasonic DMC-L1 - actually it was a joint venture between the two companies - that kind of "cheapened" the Leica on my view - no offence to Panasonic Lumix owners - is not just what I was looking for / "not my cup of tea." Also, the technology / features that the kit contained were too little for the price. My other choice in Leica was the M8 - just a dream of a camera, but way out of my regular "Joe Blow" budget! - This is the camera I would have if price was no object - but reality strikes you hard!

Sigma SD14 - I am still very intrigued by this camera and the technology it uses - maybe when it is a bit more proven and upgraded in a few features I will do the "jump" into the Sigma realm - the experts keep calling it the "wildcard."

As for the brand I used - Canon - nothing wrong with it - it is just that the competition - Pentax and Sigma are offering a better rounded package than what they are offering at the moment - I was interested on the Canon EOS 5D - which I could've used my old lenses - but for the price and the offerings, others give more.

So... I finally decided to "shoot out of the box..." and leave the market dominated by Canon and Nikon and try a different flavor this time around.

Conclusion: I am extremely pleased with my choice of the Pentax K10D over the other venerable brands (especially Leica!) - the camera does have some issues: speed of auto focus (not consistent, but adequate) - speed of continuous shooting (again not consistent, but adequate) - the battery grip is useful as it can automatically switch to a 2nd battery - very handy - I just wish that they would've applied the same concept to the SD card compartment - it is just for storage - it does not switch for photo recording purposes - I just find it a bit silly to stop and remove the card from the compartment, do the "switcharoo" with the used card and replace the compartment back on the grip - I know... moans-and-complaints!

Overall compared to my previous equipment - this is by far the best camera that I've owned.

I've used: Minolta (film) - Olympus (film) - Leica (film) - Sony Mavica (digital) - Canon (digital.)

I've already tried it using both lenses in a variety of sceneries - high daylight, dawn, lots of shadows, nature, etc - and I am nothing but extremely pleased with the results!

The perfect camera for me! If is your first experience using a digital camera for a photo studio you will enjoy using it. I started to take pictures the same day I receive it, and I was very happy with the purchase of this camera. The resolution and colors of the pictures taken are incredible. The only thing I didn't like abut the camera, is that I needed to buy a wireless transciver to activate the external flashes since it didn't bring an entry for a cable to sync with it.

Probably the best bang for buck you can get with a DSLR. Just remember to set the jpeg output to "bright". Either that or use RAW. For some reason mine came with a piece of lint on the sensor, but I blew it out with some air. Be sure to get a good cleaning kit. I recommend one of the Eclipse kits. You can even get some from other sites that comes with a foot pump (air pump that comes with inflatable mattresses). Sometimes those little hand blowers don't put out enough air and compressed air cans can be corrosive. Also check out the Tamron 18-250mm lens. There are good thoughts/reviews about it at dpreview and photozone.

One thing I recommend that you do also is check the website that sells the camera such as adorama etc. When I ordered from amazon they charged me more shipping than the standard price (based it off the order total rather than just the part coming from beach camera) and additionally I saw that the store it was coming from had free shipping that week. They had also discounted the camera $10. So I ended up paying $30 more to get it from the same place through amazon.

I currently own and I am fairly happy with a Pentax Ist DS. I own several Pentax lenses. I was very dissappointed with the K10D. I got much clearer shots with my Ist DS. I tried all the tweeks I have read in several reviews. I even shot in RAW mode and post processed in Photoshop. I hope I just got a lemon. Thank god for Amazon's return policy otherwise I would have probably been stuck with it. I am afraid I am going to bite the bullet and go with the Nikon D200.

READ THE COMMENTS TO THE REVIEWS HERE. DO NOT RELY ON THEM ALONE. I am a newbie (well, a prospective, researching newbie) and am doing my homework before I shell out the bucks for a decent DSLR as I've outgrown my Nikon Coolpix 8800. From what I can tell from my homework, the Pentax is a great camera -- ergo the distinguished awards it won in Europe and Japan for being the best camera of 2007 -- but has trouble in low-light situations with the auto-focus. This is important to me, since I do a lot of low-light shooting in jazz clubs. I need a camera that can handle those sorts of situations as well as one that can handle portraiture, landscapes and such. On that issue alone, I am leaning against this camera and toward the Nikon D80 or D200. The Canon 30D would be great, but (and I know this isn't as important to some) it only has 8MP, which is what I have now. I want the ability to crop photos without losing too much data, so that camera is out of the running. In an ideal world, all these cameras would be 12MP, but the price for those are astronomical to me and I can't justify one of the costlier Canons. But to say, as this reviewer does -- without qualification -- that this camera is only good if you have Pentax legacy lenses is just not true and is misleading. I still don't understand (perhaps it's the time of night I am writing this) his explanation of why he said this, as there are, from what I can see, plenty of Pentax lenses. All of which is a pity since all the lenses in the world can't make up for a camera that can't supremely handle low-light situations.

After many years and photos taken with my point-n-shoot Canon S500 Digital ELPH, I've finally moved up to a DSLR! The digital camera market has suddenly become flooded with DSLR cameras aimed at the "prosumer" (professional consumer) with a price point of $400-$1000. Without going through the entire list of DSLR's I had considered, I'll only tell you of my top three.

The Nikon D40x was No.3 on my list. The D40x gets high marks amongst many in the hands-on world, and it's price of just over $700 at Amazon.com made an attractive selling point.

The Sony A100 came in at No.2 with top notched features (most of which can be found on my No.1 choice), and an impressive assortment of A-mount lenses from both Sony, and Minolta. One of the best selling points of the Sony A100 for me was that I could get away with buying the body only ($608 at Amazon.com) and use my older Minolta lenses.....what a savings! I still have my old Minolta 400si 35mm film camera with a 35mm-70mm AF zoom lens, and a way-cool 24mm wide angle lens of which I would love to still be able to use.

Finishing at No.1 was the Pentax K10D (retail $1000) with an impressive array of features to excite the masses.....this camera just felt right! My first 35mm SLR camera was a Pentax K1000 bought back in the mid 70's. I learned everything about photography with the K1000. So it only makes sense to return to the point at which I started. Go check out all of the features of the K10D over at the Pentax website.....and watch the video! Amazon.com offered the best price at $835.49 (plus a $50.00 rebate brings the final price down to $785.49). I also picked up a Pentax BG2 Battery Grip for the K10D for $124.33. When you buy both the K10D along with the Pentax BG2 Battery Grip at the same time, you get an additional $75.00 rebate for a total of $125.00 in rebates from Pentax. Plus I joined Amazon PRIME which gets me free 2-day shipping.....cool! The Pentax K10D comes with a 18mm-50mm f/3.5-5.6 auto focus zoom lens with lens hood & lens cap, battery & charger, neck strap, USB 2.0 sync cable, flash shoe cover, viewfinder cover, A/V cables, and Pentax Photo Browser and Laboratory software to process/edit RAW files.

The major selling points for me on the Pentax K10D:

*10.2MP

*Shake Reduction (SR)

*Pentax Real Image Engine (PRIME)

*Dust Removal System

*Two RAW file format

*Instant-on RAW button (no menu access needed)

*BG2 Battery Grip option. (It's extra battery extends shooting time)

*11 Auto-Focus Points (vs. Sony's 9 Auto Focus Points)

*Universally recognized flash mount (Sony's A100K is proprietary)

*Sensitivity Priority AE (Sv) Mode (eliminates the need to recall a menu screen for sensitivity changes)

*Top mounted back-lit (green) LCD

In all fairness.
I must admit that the Sony A100 has almost all the same features as the Pentax K10D, but what of Sonys future? Will Sony continue to support their DSLR market and product line in the long run. Sony has been around since the beginning of time, but they jump from one area of electronics to another so fast that it worries me. Anyone can discontinue a product line or even leave an entire market like Minolta did when they got together with Konica several years ago only to then sell off the 35mm product line to Sony a few years later......bummer. I just feel better about going with Pentax right now.

So what sucks?
It's the Pentax Photo Browser and Pentax Photo Laboratory software. The Photo Browser works well when simply downloading images from the camera or card, and viewing them on your PC, but the Photo Laboratory software opens several windows with different tools all over your desktop.....yuck! Don't get me wrong, it works, but it's got some funky and sometimes janky tools.....I just didn't like it. I tried PhaseONE LE which is another RAW image editor that's offered as a FREE download with the purchase of a Sandisk Extreme III 2.0gb SD card. This application also sucks, as it's only a LE (light edition) and missing some of the better features of the PRO version.....nice try! I Went surfing and found Raw Therapee which is a FREE RAW image editor. It works, but suffers from janky tools just like the others. But at least all of the applications tools and features of Raw Therapee are conveniently located in one UI (User Interface).

Best of my bunch.
The current winner is my out dated version of Adobe Photoshop Elements 4.0, and it's built-in photo browsing plug-in. It will grab my images directly from the camera or SD card, load them into Adobe's photo browser for viewing. If I need to edit the RAW image it offers up a separate "mini editor" for quick adjustments, then dump the image into the full version of Elements (still in it's original RAW format....cool!). From here I can continue to edit or adjust the image before saving it out as a JPEG. All of these RAW images editing apps require way more steps than I would like, but if I'm to take advantage of the true power of today's DSLR cameras, I'm just going to have deal with it...."You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit"!

Current conclusion.
I'm happy with my Pentax K10D. It's body grips, as well as it's weight & balance feels correct in my hands at all times. The viewfinder is adjustable, and appears surprisingly bright and clear to my tired and sore eyes. Being able to make shutter speed, aperture, and ISO adjustments on the fly with the front and rear e-dials is worth the price of admission. I also love being able to preview white-balance setting with an actual image from my SD card.....Awesome! When In JPEG mode the shutter just keeps snapping photos at 3fps until the SD card is full, that's something I could never do with my smaller Canon S500 Digital ELPH. I charged the battery right out of the box a few days ago, and the K10D still shows a full charge after at least 200+ test shots.....wonderful! The Pentax BG2 Battery Grip will add an additional battery which should increase the cameras up-time. It also add's another shutter release button (for when shooting portraits), e-dial, and remote control compartment. The BG2 Battery Grip is still in-route with UPS, but once here my system will be complete and I'll be good-2-go! My plan is to bring my photographic skill back to the level I once held back in the 80's. With this new Pentax K10D, I think I'm off to a good start. I'm looking to reclaim my "Photographic Jedi" status, so look for a revamp of DigitalDred.com soon!

The K10D offers all the features any amateur photographer, even advanced, could ask for and even appears to meet the needs of many professional photographers. It has many features that are unusual at this price range including anti-shake stabilization and self cleaning! Further since these features are in the camera body you can easily use older lens and still avail of these features. Further the camera comes with clear and easy to understand directions for the many features. The transition from my 29 year old Pentax 35mm SFX SLR was easier than I expected and I was able to use my many existing Pentax lenses. Now I have to save for the additional desirable Pentax lenses.

This is generally a great camera with a few things missing--a PC terminal for studio flash, the ability to make TIFF files in the camera (which the *istD did), and a really good finder. I frequently shoot both slides and digital at the same time, and every time I use my 20 year old Pentax LX bodies I am reminded of just how bad most of the digital slr viewfinders really are--I haven't seen anything better from Canon or Nikon at this price range either.
In other respects, I have been quite pleased with it--image quality is good, controls seem fairly logical to me, and my large collection of older Pentax lenses works well with it.

The K10D has a good mix of features and accessible menus. The camera will take great pictures on the fully automatic "green mode" while allowing priority functions for shutter speed or aperture as well as manual mode. The shake-reduction feature gives more confidence in the shot without a tripod in marginal light.

Be aware that the camera CAN be operated with lenses with no auto focus/auto aperture KA lenses that fit manual SLR cameras. But one has to take some time setting up the custom settings to allow manual aperture settings or the camera will not allow the shutter to be activated. Also if the shake reduction is on, the camera menu will request lens information. The camera works much better with KAF2, but can be set to work with ANY previous K mount lens version.

The picture clarity and resolution are excellent. Although I have been using the JPEG file format, there are options for RAW in Pentax PEF or Adobe DNG that have no in camera brightness or contrast adjustment. Or one can set the camera to JPEG and the selected RAW format either automatically or at the push of a button for specific shots.

I find this is a great camera for those familar with film SLR cameras, but could be overwhelming for those who only use point and shoot cameras.

I have owned the K10D for more than 6 mos. I am extremely pleased with its performance. I seriously looked at the D80 but decided on the K10D because of the image stabalization and the auto dust cleaning feature. However, changeing lenses is a pain, especially in the heat of the battle,if you know what I mean. I elected to put a Tamron 18-200mm on my camera and I am glad I did. (Pentax should take note of this). Changing lenses in the battle when time is of the essence, is unaccpectable. There simply is not enough time to change the lens and properly put it away. Too much fumbling, unless you have 3 hands.
I am extremely pleased with this camera. It performance is great and I am an old SLR photo. Pentax needs to get up to speed on the lenses it will offer for this camera. They could bust the market wide open with some wise marketing and new DA lenses which offer versility and convenience, especially in the lense changing process. It is not like when we carried a camera bag with several lenses and a couple of bodies.
That routine just does not cut it any more. All in all, I highly recommend this camera, but suggest you spend the time to "really" learn it. The further I go with this camera, the more I learn and the more satisified I am that I purchase it.

After long hesitations vs. the EOS 30D and the Nikon D80 which I tested over a WE, I could not be happier with my K10D (Now 1month and ~1k photos in).
The build quality is really first class. Functions are clearly laid out and while the K10D does not have any 'beginner' options other than the green mode (focusing more on advanced options - TAv mode is just what the doctor ordered which should on every dSLR, the RAW button is very convenient), menus are very logical, buttons are well positioned and proof being in the pudding, I could get going without much reading of the documentation.
The picture quality is on par with the build. While there have been reports of JPEG processor issues, this is a bit unfair as those can be addressed in 3 clicks - for my taste, set the sharpness to +2 and contrast a tad higher, and I would challenge anyone to distinguish any (useful) difference with the RAW output. And otherwise the RAW output is simply outstanding for a camera of this class.
Shake Reduction and Dust Removal (already put to use succesfully) are pretty handy. The lens kit is good and better than most of the competition. Since I was in a spending mood, I also added the 50mm f/1.4 (FA mount) which is an outstanding value, the best price/quality ratio I know of. Do yourself a favor, don't think twice and grab it, you won't regret it, it is a stunning mix with the K10D.
I could go on with the K10D qualities so let's jump to only drawback IMHO: it does an average job with AWB indoors e.g. compared with my experience with the 30D. Luckily, there are several semi-auto ones which work very well, 3 custom presets and select and the fine tuning is fast and easy. Finally, the Pentax digital lab software is adequate, works under Vista but as expected, it will not replace a Paintshop Photo or CS3, no complaint here: it is included in the box at no extra charge. Note: USB connectivity is excellent, the camera is recognized is a snap and at 8MB/s with a Sandisk Ultra II, downloads are blazing fast.
Links to lenses:
Pentax SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 Lens
Pentax DA 50-200mm f/4-5.6 ED Lens for Pentax and Samsung DSLR Cameras
Note: I am looking forward to seeing review of the DA* lenses coming out... And hopefully will need to start saving.

Have used the camera for about 6 weeks with the family so have only touched the surface of this camera's abilities. The quality of the photographs so far have been excellent. Its use in the automatic settings has been easy and the shutter speed for repetitive action shots is superb! Again, I have only started to learn all the functions of the camera but no disappointments thus far from this somewhat serious amateur.

We took over a thousand shots with our new camera in the past four weeks. We find it very easy to use and the images are excellent. We have used the highest quality setting and still get 300+ shots per 2GB card. The battery runs and runs. There is no hesitation between pressing the shot button and the lens operation - something we have had in our previous Sony and HP digital cameras. It is heavy - about the same as our standard film Pentax SLR but it is solid and the anti shake feature works well. We will try out our telephoto lens next - all our lenses from our old Pentax SLR camera work well with the digital SLR - saving us lots of $$$. Love it!!!!

The K10D - once you learn all the features, and tweak the settings to your liking - is a pleasure to work with. The features are top notch - with a rugged feel - and the detail, contrast and overall image quality are excellent.

The weather sealing means you don't have to be afraid to shoot in the rain or snow. I like the RAW button where you can choose to shoot any picture in RAW+JPEG mode. Even with the kit lens this camera captures good detail with nice contrast and saturation.

I consistently get a minimum of 500 shots (I usually lose count after a few hundred) on one charge.

Overall - VERY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

I bought this camera over the standard brands (cannon/nikon) because of my previous experience with a fully manual k1000 camera. I am not disappointed! This camera feels sturdy with its metal frame. I had a little dust on the sensor out of the box. The built in shake feature took care of that no problem.

I went out today shooting and the camera performed flawlessly. The pictures are sharp and bright. I recommend shooting in RAW mode (the pictures come out even sharper).

This camera is an amazing value. You wont have the lens availability that you get with cannon or nikon, but if you do your research you can find tons of good glass. You wont be sorry if you pick up this camera.

Pentax K10D 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with Shake Reduction (Body Only)

This is a terrific camera, packed with more features than you can imagine. I have always used Pentax cameras and this one lives up to the hype. First of all, all Pentax lenses ever made can be used with the K10D. that was a real positive for me. It is well made and feels solid in your hands. The battery life is amazingly long and you can take about 400+ pictures before a charge. It is not a beginners camera however. The software is ok, but beleive it or not,I prefer the proprietary i photo software that comes with a MAC; it's just easier to use. There is a lot of camera here for the money and I give it a full 5 stars.

Buy it, you won't be disappointed.

The pentax K10D. What an amazing piece of equipment. I also own the Pentax K1000 which for you new to the photo world was basically the standard of 35 milimeter SLR Film cameras. All of the lenses are interchangeable and still to this day work flawlessly. Upon opening the box i felt the same feeling i get when i open an ipod box. Its pretty plain, and simple. Except Black instead of White ;-). The camera Truly works amazingly and the anti-shake does a great job. My professor didn't believe that it actually worked so i took a shot at a third of a second 1/3, with and without of the same subject, F-stop, and shutterspeed. The results were amazing. The shot i took free hand was hardly readable (took a pic of a flash drive), while the picture i took with shake reduction was amazing. I think i even felt it vibrate a little as it moved the sensor while i was shaking.
Pros: Amazing Lenses. Honestly canon doesn't have anything on us ;-). Our lenses are proven to last and as many will say "If you want the best glass go with pentax." Nice big LCD screen, though it is the standard, they make good use of the size unlike some other brands. You can grip it extremely well. When your holding it, even if your sweating, you feel in total control. The strap is cushioned and comfortable, not to mention stylish. Continuous shot may be taken until the card is completly filled. The quality of the images that come out of this camera are also rivals to high-end cameras. Two wheels conveniently located on the front and rear of the grip. One for F-stop and one for Shutterspeed. They work amazingly and are so appreciated. SD cards. They are cheap, fast, and easy to find. FAST Processing. You can skim through pictures lightning fast and even do it while zoomed in (scroll in with the front most wheel, then use the one on the front of the camera to go between pics retaining the zoom)

Cons: its big (but i like that... some might not). The Menu is a tiny bit confusing. But once you get used to it, its very easy. The lense that comes with it is a fantastic lense but i really honestly wish it was maybe 20's up to 70's just so you have a bit more of a verity. This lense will most certainly kick the canon xti's cheapo one out the door but i still think this should have been a little bigger. Not many pixels for such a large screen. Sure you don't need them, but it could have been just one more thing this camera had over canon ;-).

Other Notes: I did my research for nearly 3 months. I honestly took the time, talked to experts, and i kept coming to the Pentax K10D and the Olympus e-510. Both look like great cameras, but the sheer fact that the pentax is that much more sealed + a steel frame goes to show this one was built to last while the other one was built to make it look good in hype but maybe not last as long as you would like.. Goodluck! If you don't like this camera i don't hate you, but if your going to get something else i suggest the olympus, or the other pentax DSLRs.

I'll make this short. The camera feels rock solid. This is not your beginner camera - unless you want to really LEARN PHOTOGRAPHY!

I've owned other Pentax products alongside Nikon. I'm a big Nikon fan but thought I'd give this cam a chance - plus it accepts all Pentax lenses manufactured since the Middle Ages!

If you intend to buy this camera with a zoom, I'd probably consider something else than the Pentax 'kit zoom' it's typically sold with. Spend the extra bucks on a Tamron 18-250 and you'll be covered. The kit lens is 'just ok' but somewhat limited in range and seems destined to collect dust once you've played with it a few weeks.

Size-wise this fits big hands and is not a lightweight - just as 'serious cameras' are supposed to be.

Again, 'rock solid' would be my description and this camera's biggest impression out of the box. Great job Pentax. Now all I've gotta do is go shoot!

Pros:
1. The camera feels rock solid in your hands. This is by far the best feel I've had with a camera. For me it is one of the important aspects since I will be holding it for long durations.
2. Very good viewfinder. As somebody who wears glasses, a good view finder is very essential. This one has the second best Penta Prism view finder among its class (I've to give the 1st place to Nikon D80).
3. All bells and whistles of an advanced pro camera. This is why I said the camera is not for the faint hearted newbies who is just getting into photography. The camera takes amazing pictures ... but only in the trained hands. Trust me, if you are into photography and to learn it the right way, this camera will force you to.... another reason why I bought this as opposed to Nikons and Canons.
4. The kit lens is one of the best in the class. It feels very sturdy and takes amazing pictures. The 50-200mm Pentax DA lens can give you pretty sharp pictures if you focus manually.

Cons:
1. Default JPEG that comes out is not good. You need to tweak the settings to get the right composition.
2. The software that comes with the camera is pretty much useless. Use other dedicated software like Lightroom, Photoshop or Capture One. I am using the new Capture One 4 Beta and loving it (still in Beta and has some frustrating bugs though)

Well, I'm sure to attract comments by saying this, but, I sold all my Bronica and Nikon equipment and bought the k10d after much research. There are many long, and good reviews here, but I'm going to make this short. First, the bad: the anti-dust sensor is more gimmick than necessity. There is dust and then there's sticky dust, and living where dust and dirt are a way of life, I can say the dust removal upon starting the camera is not so great for sticky dust. Although, there are many products to help with manually cleaning the sensor. The LCD screen is bright, and easy to see your work, although since it came with no cover, mine is now getting scratched. Somewhat loud shutter slap, or I am just (still) not used to it. I've noticed some color fringing when beefing up the in-camera saturation, etc. while in JPEG mode, although it is much less in RAW. Pentax software is a joke.

The good: weather sealing; capable outdoors (icy, dirty climb to Round Top peak, elevation 10381 ft); capable indoors; good shooting with available light; good noise reduction; great quality pictures at high ISOs. I like having more control on the outside of a camera, rather than hunting through a slough of menus. Straightforward controls. Good grip. I like not having a bunch of amateur modes - like little symbols on the dial for macro or portrait. I mainly shoot with Aperature Priority. I took the view screen out the other day without much fanfare. I LOVE the center weighted and spot metering; growing up with a Spotmatic mated my love of spot metering. I like the handling of bracketing and dial to choose focusing.

What am I shooting with it? Weddings, and people. Outdoors and black and white, as a usuall passionate pastime.

I plan to get two more back up k10 cameras for my bag. Right now I'm shooting with a Tamron zoom, but that will probably change. I'm still a believer in sinking major bucks into LENSES, not cameras.

I am using this camera since June 2007, and am really happy with it.
It is very well engineered and built, feels great in hands. I like its size, proportions and weight. Autofocus and usability were greatly improved over the Pentax *Ist Ds (which I also own). It focuses much faster and really acurate.
Built-in shake reduction system (SR) works well for me. It gives about 2 extra stops when shooting in low light conditions. It works the best for me for exposures between 1/8 to 1/30 s. But in certain situations the SR can be an enemy. I noticed that when I shoot at 1/50...1/60 with the 18-55 kit lens and SR switched ON, the percentage of blurred shots is noticebly higher compared to the situation with SR switched OFF.
JPEG quality has improved dramatically compared to *Is Ds.
Inperfect color balance is not a problem for me, since I shoot only RAW.
Now waiting for more Pentax lens to come.

I purchased this camera right before i got my job, and then the job took most of my time, but when I was able to start using the camera, I was VERY impressed! I prviously had the k100d, but became more advanced in my skills and needed more of a challenge. I bought the K10d for its advanced settings and options. The 100 iso is a terrific thing to have during sunny days, the colors and photos are so crisp! I am floored at the way my photos turned out! Less noise and more distinct color than I have seen. I highly recommend this camera, it is now my pride and joy, my baby and I become more and more impressed with it every day! I see no cons as of yet, and I love the option to shake the dust off with the new feature. I love this camera, and I know you will too!

People within the photographic may poo-poo on Pentax in favor of other camera companies like Canon or Nikon, but looking at the list of features available for the Pentax, combined with weather-proofing, a long list of compatible lenses, and a great price makes the decision easy.

There are, of course, downfalls to using a Pentax. Their optics aren't exactly legendary, but for an entry-level DSLR, it's quite difficult to beat a camera like this one. I've had mine for about six weeks and am pleased with my purchase.

If you're a no-nonsense amateur photographer who's owned digicams and you're looking to get into the world of DSLRs, it's hard to beat everything offered by the K10D.

What a camera for the price. The Pentax K10D is my first every DSLR. I reviewed many for months before selecting the K10D. This camera has perks like the high end SLR's. I's true the jpeg quality could be better but just shoot in raw and convert.....it's worth it!

Having only used a Canon S3IS type point and shoot before this, I was apprehensive using the K10D for the 1st time. But I quickly found that it is a remarkably user-friendly camera w/o the miriad menus its competitors use to accomplish all of the bells and whistles prosumer cameras have these days. The manual is also top-class--actually offering instructions on how to use the different functions, such as Av and Tv, instructions of the like in a photographic manual. Several weeks later, although I still have not tried EVERYTHING this lovely camera has to offer, I have been able to get many very nice shots, at all different conditions--light levels, weather, indoor and outdoor. Even in simple green mode, you can take a marvellous picture, although I prefer TAv, Tv and Av largely as it offers me more creative license. I feel that this camera has already helped me to expand my skillset as a photographer. Not to mention that the kit lens (18-55 mm) is a truly fantastic lens--even w/o the shake reduction, in appropriate light levels, I have taken crystal-clear photos. You will not be disappointed in this gem, and you'll love the metal body, the rubber grips and the 72 water seals which make it possible to shoot in wet conditions, although I wouldn't advise taking it for a dip!

I bought this In August, been shooting with it since, just got back from a trip to the North Carolina mountains at the height of the autumn foliage season. Everything worked great; image quality, color accuracy (important for me since I'm color blind, and have to ask others to make sure), image stabilization and autofocus worked well in low light situations, manual focus worked well for selectively focusing. The camera has a great feel to my hands, everything is well sealed, and I feel no hesitation going out in a little misty rain (best time for some landscape shooting). Oh, and excellent service from Cameta Camera, and no problem getting the rebates from Pentax for the Camera w/kit lens and 50-200 zoom.

Pros:
1. Weatherproofing.
2. In body image stabilization (preserves usage of my expensive existing pentax lenses).
3. Bright, large viewfinder, large dials, easy to navigate menus.

Needs work:
1. More persistent "Raw" setting would be nice.
2. ISO setting also needs "set and leave it" capability.

I have always used Pentax film cameras, ME Supers, MX, LX. When looking into buying a DSLR (I had had some compacts beforehand) I was seriously considering an alternative brand until the K10D came out. I was impressed with the reviews and so took the plunge. I am very pleased I did. The camera has a wide range of features the majority of which are aimed at photographers knowing what they want (rather than "modes" which hide what is happening). I especially like the ISO sensitivity program mode (I am nearly always after maximum quality). The autobracket is very useful. The build quality of the camera body is excellent and feels good and sturdy. The autofocus works well. I only have two minor gripes. The first is the built in flash is very weak and usually under-exposes (I shall be buying an external flash) and the second is that the standard lens suffers from vignetting when used at its widest angle (F6.7, 250th sec).

I would recommend this camera very highly.

I truly wish more on line retailers would use the US Mail to deliver. 98% of my packages arrive within 3 days and the price is quite competitive i believe. I would even be happy to pay a FEW dollars more for this. This provider uses DHL which takes 10 days or so to deliver...and offers a 2 or 3 day delivery for a LOT more money.

The camera worked perfectly, taking stunning photographs for 2 days and then froze-up. The return process involved the provider sending me a DHL return label via DHL (10 more days) vs e-mailing it, the return via DHL (10 more days) and they assure me that the replacement is on it's way but as it's only been 5 days since they sent it I still have almost a week to wait.

I didn't look for user performance reviews of this camera before purchasing it...shame on me.

I purchased this camera immediately after release. I've been shooting with Pentax cameras since the early 1990's. Admitedly, I was slow to switching to digital, primarily because Pentax took longer than most to come up with a digital SLR. I wanted to hold out because of the amount of money I had invested in the lenses, flash equipment and other accessories. So when they finally came out with one, the *IST D, I bought it. At the time, it was fine for what I needed. But as time moved on I needed a camera that had more professional features. I had to wait again. So long, that I almost sold my entire Pentax gear and was going to move to Sony. Then right before I was ready to sell, they came out with the K10D. And I can confidently say that it was worth the wait. For us professionals who don't shoot Nikon or Canon, we needed a 10 mega pix or higher camera, with faster continuous shutter, anti dust, blur reduction, a more rugged body and of course, one with a great processor. Thankfully Pentax delivered just that. For my type of shooting (swimsuit models and glamour photos) I find that coupled with the battery grip, a large memory card, and the FTZ 540 flash, I find myself completely satisfied with what the camera gives me. The shake reduction is a great feature to have and find myself using my tripod less and less. The focusing is quick and reliable, even in low light (with a high speed lens). Even though the standard flash synchronization speed is 1/180, this camera does have high speed synch with the appropriate flash. The camera does take better photos in the RAW feature. Not as sharp with JPEG, but this is under CRITICAL tests. For what virtually everyone will be shooting, the high quality JPEG, coupled with a great lens, like the DA*50-135mm F2.8, or the film FA*28-70mm lens, the results are spectacular. I find that I like my settings on "Bright" image tone and contrast on 3. It really makes the colors pop. The factory settings tend to be a little soft on the contrast and I prefer hard contrast. While shooting a bikini contest in Spain, I had to shoot in some rain. The rain didn't even bother the weatherproof body. This combined with the weatherproof lenses are pefect for humid counties such as Mexico and the occasional rain you may encounter. The battery lasts for a long time on one charge, but it's best to have the battery grip just to play it safe. The light meter is highly accurate and the custom user features are great. I find myself shooting in manual mode all the time, but knowing that a simple touch of the green button gives you instantly perfectly exposed shots is a nice. It saves me from hunting for the perfect exposure. The biggest advantage is that the Shake Reduction technology is sensor based, not lens. So you can mount any lens you want on the body and the shake reduction will function. This is not the case with Canon or Nikon. So Pentax has the edge on that one. Occasionally, when I've enlarged my images to 200x the normal size, I have found the occasional hot pixel, or dead pixel. It will be a green or red color. Since then, my camera has been serviced by Pentax (a cleaning that I needed after the swimsuit event. All that sand and dust does a number on your gear!) and they have since run a program on the camera that has eliminated this problem. If you are undecided on what brand to go with, I can only tell you to go with a brand you trust and one that you have had a good experience with. If you want the most bang for your buck, the Pentax K10D will deliver what you need and more. It is the most fully featured SLR for under $1,000. You will not get a better deal anywhere. However, if you are a sports photographer, the continuous shutter speed is slower than the Nikon and Canon. It's fast for my needs (3fps) but if you shoot a lot of fast moving subjects, this camera will not be the best choice. But if you want quality, reliability and a wide lens selection, the K10D is just what you need. The camera truly is a tool for photographic artists. In the wide array of choices for an SLR camera, every brand is great. But I can some it up in saying that if you want a tool to bring out the best in your artistic expression, Pentax is the brand to choose. Nikon is for the photojournalist, Canon is for sports photographers, but Pentax is for artists.

- backward-compatible with all K-mount lenses
- sensor dust removal, image stabilization, sturdy well made.
The learning curve takes a while but it's worth it.
An excellent camera, I highly recommend it.
Beach Camera was fast and as promised.

I know this will not make me very popular but I hope to help someone who is looking for a DSLR.

I did a lot of research and bought a Pentax K10D.

Right away the K10D bothered me because it was really loud when taking pictures. It sounded like a little hammer was banging around inside it every time I took a shot. It was so loud that the night I got it I was worried I would wake my wife and kids while I was taking pictures, even though they were in other rooms sleeping. It definitely would not be good to have for pictures during a wedding ceremony.

Also, and more importantly, after a week of owning it I just was not happy with image quality. It took very soft pictures, even with one of the prime lenses (though I have been told I just needed to work with the images and fix them up. I didn't relish the thought of having to 'fix' all of my images). I also started to get a little worried about ever being able to upgrade to a better camera and use my lenses.

At any rate, I took it back and got a D80. What a difference! For starters the D80 is much quieter, while focusing and shooting. It also takes crystal clear photos right out of the box, even in RAW form.

If you are trying to decide between this and the Nikon D80 I would recommend you go with the D80. It is easy to use, has intuitive controls and takes great pictures.

I know the D80 is more expensive but if you want to get serious about photography IMO you will be more happy with the D80, especially if you want easy access to lenses, camera upgrades and to shoot clear pictures right away.

BTW, for all of the Pentax users out there I know I will get flamed for this, I really wanted the Pentax and this is my honest evaluation as a new DSLR user, not some sort of brand bias. I have never owned a Nikon or a Pentax digital camera before this.

My previous camera was a non-digital Canon Rebel. Needing a creative arts class credit, I took a digital photography class and shot with a borrowed Nikon D70. After reading these reviews and other online reviews, the camera I purchased was the Pentax K10D and I am very pleased with my choice. This camera, although a little heavier, is top of the line!

Its mostly all been said here, but the Pentax K10D seems as if it were custom designed for migration from film or prosumer digital. I've used it for six months and am very pleased. I mostly make 10X16 prints, using an Epson printer and Photoshop.

The value for the money in this system is unmatched by any other maker (not even close, IMHO). Amazon's latest body price, $530 after rebate, made it possible for me to purchase a back-up body. Incredible for a camera with a real pentaprism, Adobe DNG, shake control, self cleaning ccd's and the build-quality of a $1,500 Nikon.

But it's not a camera for the occasional user or the point-and-shoot person. It can make spectacular images, but you have to be willing to work them at least a bit. It rewards involvement.

Fantastic camera! Even just using it with the "green" mode, I have been able to take almost pro quality photos of my son's waterpolo games! All of my old Pentax lenses and flashes work flawlessly as well. (Hear that, Canon??) I do want to purchase a pancake lens made for this camera, however since I have a 70-300mm lens (that I had with my 35mm Pentax ZX-7) that works beautifully, I don't have to rush out and buy the newest zoom! I STRONGLY recommend 4 things to buy for this camera: 1) Magic Latern's Guide for the K10D--MUCH MUCH better than the instruction manual!! 2) The battery pack--GREAT item!! I NEVER have to carry my camera bag for an extra battery & memory card if I don't want to!! 3) The AC adapter--great for when you want to conduct a photo slide show on the TV for the family (which I did on Thanksgiving) 4) A LARGE memory, high speed memory card-you'll take TONS of photos with this baby! I have a 4GB and haven't completely filled it up, yet. However, I've been known to take over 90 photos at one waterpolo game! :)

Overall I have fallen in love with photography after over again!!! Great job Pentax!!!

I chose this camera because we had a lot of old Pentax lenses that weren't being used, and found an adapter for them easily enough. I read that this camera was very good, but didn't have a lot of lenses for it...Pentax also doesn't seem to spend on marketing like Canon or Nikon.
I couldn't be happier with the choice, regardless of the being able to use the old lenses. It has more technology and functions than other cameras in this price range, takes great pictures out of the box, and is built like a tank (it IS heavy, so be warned). The weight doesn't really bother me, as all SLR's are bulky...you have to be somewhat serious about photography to progress to an SLR.
It will be a long time before a "Prosumer" photographer will grow out of what this camera has to offer.

After using all sorts of point and shoot cameras in the last 5 years, it was time for me to enter the elite world of digital SLRs. And like all I was biased towards a Canon or a Nikon. I almost went for the Canon Rebel Xti when all of a sudden I was drawn towards the very positive reviews about the Pentax K10D on Amazon. Then I did my research on it by visiting numerous photographic review sites. Everyone had a very positive review about it and I finally decided to go for it. Thank God I did that. The camera is truly amazing. Not only it takes amazing pictures but it has loads of features that the Canon/Nikon at the same level lacks. The user interface is also pretty simple. I was blown away by the very first night-shot with it. I could have never achieved that with the so called point and shoots. I understand that dgital photography is an art and I am just starting my learning curve but I am already thrilled about the results that will come out once I will become a Pro :-)

Now for some technical Pros and Cons:

Pros:
1)Picture quality is excellent right out of the box. Yes you may need to twitch a bit to the default JPEG setting if you are fond of very bright and sharp images. But that is a matter of ones taste. The RAWS are at par with any the Canons/Nikons.
2)Excellent build quality. It feels so comfortable in the hand even though it is a bit on the heavier side. The body is completely weather-proof which cannot be found on any of the other sub 1000$ digital SLRs.
3)Top notch features with body built-in Shake reduction and sensor dust cleansing technology.
4)Excellent noise control till ISO 800. Even ISO 1600 is completely usable. Night photography had never been so simple for me.
5)Superb penta-prism viewfinder.
6)And ofcourse PRICE. Where can you get such a feature rich camera with the excellent kit lens (18-55 mm) for only around 615 $ (After 100 $ MIR).

Cons:
1)Occasionally auto-focusing takes some time under low-lights. But I think that is the case with most digital SLRs in the similar price range.
2)Out of the box JPEGs may feel a little bit on the softer side but that can be easily fixed with little bit of twitching in the settings.

Overall an excellent digital SLR that would appeal both to amateurs as well as to the Pros................One should definitely go for it.

Pros:
Quality and features per dollar including in body shake reduction and full weather seals
Backwards compatible with almost all Pentax lenses
Image quality, especially in RAW

Cons:
Weight
Shutter button feel (hard to find mid press point)
Lack of retail support in some areas

Bottom line:
This is an excellent camera for the dollar. The built in shake reduction works with all lenses, including the old ones! Full seals for shooting in inclement weather to keep the rain and snow from damaging your expensive tool are impressive for a camera in this price range. I have had no issue with JPG files as some have had, but they aren't as good as a post processed RAW file for sure, but don't expect them to look bad as some reviews have said. Who should buy the K10D? Anyone considering a mid-grade DSLR camera.

My cons for this camera are minor gripes. I actually like the weight, as it feels stable and substantial in my hands. My complaint with the shutter button is that it is different than my Canon Digital Rebel was. It doesn't have a well defined mid press point for focusing/metering. I found I accidentally triggered the shutter a few times, but now that I have 2000 pictures through the camera I don't notice.

To address some concerns floating around from reviews on popular internet sites, the low light focus can be bad at times if the lighting is really low and low contrast, but at other times it does fine. Overall it does better than my Canon Digital Rebel (300d) did.

The JPEGs might be a little soft, but are still impressive with a good lens. I have zero problem with the JPEGs. You usually don't print poster sized prints from JPEGs, shoot RAW if you are doing that, and this camera excels at RAW. I posted a Santa cropped 25 to 1 in the image gallery that was taken at the default JPEG settings of the camera. It is plenty sharp. I think some of the online reviews might have been testing JPEG settings at non-ideal focal lengths for the kit lens or something. RAW is even better of course.

As for my pros, they speak for themselves. The camera feels high quality in my hands. It does have a plastic body, but it is over a sturdy metal frame and the plastic feels high quality. All mechanical actuators (like flash and SD and battery compartment releases) also feel high quality. The shake reduction is wonderful, and I have gotten many good shots at up to 1 second exposure with it, but if an item is really close to the camera, don't expect a lot of help.

All my old manual focus lenses work great. My beauty is my 50mm SMC Pentax-A f/1.4, razor thin depth of field at f/1.4 and crystal sharp by f/4, and it is easily one of my favorite lenses for this camera. This lens even allows the camera to control its aperture (A designation).

If you do use manual lenses be sure to set the camera to allow use of the aperture ring through the menu. Also be careful with some old lenses, they have a pin that will stick in the autofocus screw drive and get the lens stuck, use a feeler gauge to dislodge the pin and remove a stuck lens. This electrical contact pin can be removed or ground off if necessary (my Albinar had this pin). I think this is on the Ricoh mount lenses.

Words cannot describe how happy I am with this camera. Photos can, and I have plenty of them.

This is my first SLR camera and i'm in awe by the image quality this camera produces. Very easy to learn with plenty of features to keep me busy for some time before I upgrade. I definitely recommend this camera to any photographer looking for a solid built camera at an affordable price. Only issue I foresee is the 100$ rebate as it seems the company responsible for the rebates aren't processing them in a timely manner.

I purchased the K10d as an upgrade from my 8ist DL. I have to say that this camera impresses me everytime I take it out shooting.
I went shooting in -13 degree Farenheit weather for four hours and only drained 1/4 of the batter power. After getting it home and letting it warm up the battery registered full.
Also, it seems to do a better job of metering than the *ist DL. My images are more vivid, sharper and I find myself not doing much to my RAW images.
the shake reduction works great. I recently shot at 1/2 second and got a sharp image. This is not likely to happen all the time, but still, impressive.
The camera's Noise reduction feature works awesome. It makes taking star trails a breeze, no hot pixels and no noise.
So far i can't find a thing i don't like about this camera other than i didn't buy it sooner.

Hi,

I finally got the K10D (actually got it as an early Xmas present for my wife,but she's nice enough to be willing to share) ;) We're both novices with SLR's, but willing and eager to learn real photography. So this review will have more resonance for those who are just getting into the SLR world.

In searching for a camera to buy, we looked at the K10D, Nikon D80, and Canon 3D and 5D. All of these, of course, are perfectly capable of taking fantastic photos. The main thing that wound up sealing the deal for me (no pun intended) was the price/features ratio. The weather sealing, anti-shake, dust removal, compatibility with just about any Pentax lens ever made, the dedicated RAW button, the intelligent design....all for a much lower price than its competitors.

People have made a fuss over certain perceived drawbacks. Some people say the autofocus is slow in poor light. We tried taking some test photos indoors at night with just two lights on, and it seemed okay to me. I suppose it may be marginally worse than other cameras in its class, but unless you're a professional, I don't think you'll notice it at all.

Also, someone commented on the sound of the shutter. It's not whisper quiet, but it's certainly not like some sort of jet plane taking off either. It's a shutter. All SLR's will have some shutter noise. If the shutter noise is really a major priority for you, maybe there's a camera with a slightly quieter shutter action, but it seems to me the noise difference is pretty negligible. I certainly have no problems with it whatsoever. And if you're really nervous about the noise, go try it out in a store.

Which brings me to another point--if you're considering buying an SLR, you MUST--repeat, MUST--go try several out in a store. Do NOT buy an SLR without holding it in your hands first and playing with it. This is particularly true for the K10D. It IS a slightly heavier camera than others in its class. Not so heavy that most people would be uncomfortable, but I feel that there are a few people who would probably find it heavier than they'd be comfortable with. My wife and I both have no problems with the weight (and remember too that you'll have a lens on it). For me, the heaviness is a good indication of how solidly made the K10D is (metal frame, high-quality textured plastic casing). This thing is built like a tank.

To sum up, I can't be happier with our purchase. If I had to do it all over again, I'd still buy the K10D, in a heartbeat. For those thinking of buying it, keep in mind that new Pentax cameras, the K20D and K200D, are rumoured to be announced in January...so if you can wait that long, it's possible you might be able to buy the K10D's successor, which by all accounts might be even better than this already-great camera. However, you absolutely cannot go wrong with the K10D itself. Absolutely terrific, highly recommended.

EDIT: One thing I forgot to mention. Many editorial reviews you'll find online speak about how this camera is designed for the "advanced amateur", citing things like the lack of "scene modes" and other automated features. This may scare off some total SLR novices. It almost scared me off too. Now that I've tried it out, here's the deal: if you are a novice, the K10D *will take good pictures for you without any effort*. It has a "Green" mode, which is its fully automated mode. You point it at a subject, the camera calculates everything, and you press the shutter halfway down briefly to let the autofocus do its job, and then you take the picture. Couldn't be easier, and the pictures come out fine in most situations.

The caveat is this. If you want to take *brilliant* photos, the kind you dream about taking when you see those travel magazines or nature shows; if you want to take photos that truly take advantage of the full capabilities of this camera, the kind that are razor crisp and vibrantly coloured or look like they were taken by Ansel Adams; if you want to take incredible night photos, or ultra-high-speed action photos..... then you *will* need to learn some basic photography. That means learning about things like focal length, aperture, ISO settings, depth of field, lenses, etc. So if you're hoping to get brilliant photos in every situation without any effort, or if you're buying this for people who permanently have their VCR's set to 12:00, this probably is not the right camera to buy.

However, if you're willing to learn a little about photography, this camera will be a very rewarding instrument. In full automatic mode, it's adequate for most tasks and takes a decent picture. In manual and semi-manual modes, its performance is among the best SLR's out there (I'm still learning....but if you look through the user gallery at PentaxForums, you'll see thousands of examples of what the camera is capable of).

Very rugged, fully featured; finally a digital SLR that feels professional in your hands. Solidly constructed, sensible controls, good ergonomics. Adjust the sharpening, saturation, and contrast settings manually right in the camera for outstanding JPEG quality. Best of all, I can use my old Pentax autofocus lenses on this new digital. I feel I finally have a digital camera that will do what my film cameras did years ago. There is a learning curve to it, as with any other new camera, but I did not find this one so steep. Great camera, just take the time to set it up properly, you won't be disappointed, it yields great results.

J.A.Crane

I won't even try to write a review of the camera to top some of the extremely helpful ones already here, but hopefully a helpful hint to "newbies" to dslr like me, and a comment regarding a very pleasing discovery. First, the hint - I bought this without a case/holster initially, but you really do need one to protect it. I found that the Lowepro Topload Zoom 1 works great for the K10D with its supplied kit lens. Although the camera/lens does fit into the Lowepro Topload Mini, it does so just barely, with no room for the strap. So if you're looking for an inexpensive bag, the Topload Zoom 1 works great. (I'm putting this comment under the camera because I figured if you're looking at the K10D, it's best to report on a bag under the camera's heading, than randomly under the bag itself, which would take a lot more work to find!). My comment has to do with the Pentax's battery. I've been incredibly impressed by its ability to hold a charge. I bought the camera over a month ago - charged the battery when I got it, and it's STILL, one month later, indicating a full charge, despite having been in the cold, and I've taken about 300 pix (about 1/2 w/flash)! I'd worried about charge "shelf life" because I sometimes go for several weeks w/o using a camera, then, with my P&S, find the battery dead when I need it. This camera, after months of pre-purchase comparing, definitely offers the biggest, best bang for the buck! You won't be disappointed!

So far I've been really impressed with this camera. I've used several brands, and I think it would be difficult to beat the K10D featureset for the price. I'm switching from the Sony Alpha to Pentax for a couple of reasons, mainly that I don't have $1400 for A700, and I would really like to have something that's weatherproof, so it's not like the Sony stinks(or Canon or Nikon or Olympus stink), it's just that Pentax offers what I want for a price I'm willing to pay. Image quality wise, I can't tell much difference between the brands I've owned and/or used on loan, the Pentax might be a little better at higher ISO's than the Sony. Maybe. But it takes some looking between similarly priced DSLRs and lenses to find any substantial difference in image quality. I've used several(most) DSLR brands, and I would be hard pressed to pick out one over the other image quality wise. Lens wise, I've use several moderate to low-end zoom lenses, and again, which maker has the image quality is kind of a toss-up. They all perform well, and until you get into the 4 digit priced lenses, you're unlikely to actually measure much difference between the different makers. In fact, I'm working on getting the money together now to buy pentax's 16-50 and 50-135 DA* zooms becuase they offer the features I want, much like the K10D. The lenses maybe a bit pricey, but I think that they're alot of value for the money, again much like the K10D. Frankly, I don't entirely understand why Pentax hasn't made more of a splash with this camera, I think it blows Nikon's D40x and Canon's Digital Rebel XT and XTI away from the standpoint of build quality and features for roughly the same price, and is a better value than Nikon's D80(sheesh it's $200 bucks more, still 10MP, and it's not splash and dust proof).

After researching for a long time I decided to enter the dSLR world through the Pentax K10D. And it is really an amazing camera. The feature set rivals those cameras on the mid-market level but with an entry level price tag. Also the compatibility with all lenses made for Pentax is a huge plus, and all of them enjoying the image stabilization thanks to the in-body shake reduction system. I'm very pleased with the gear and becoming a Pentax fan.

I bought this digital camera for my husband. This fit the bill. You are able to do so many different projects with this camera. This camera is enterchangeable with all his lens that he had already aquired for an automatic/manual Pentax camera. He is so pleased with this camera and everthing that it can do.

I have been looking into buying a DSLR for some time now. I based my decision to purchase this DSLR over others because of my previous positive experiences with PENTAX film cameras.

I am particularly happy with this camera. The included lens is versatile, though not very fast. It's included on-camera RAW + jpg processing is nice to have, even though I own Photoshop I get a kick out of being able to adjust my photos right on the camera (to some extent).

The camera's weather-tight body makes every opening feel very solid, good quality. The focus does seem to hunt a bit in certain lighting situations, but it is not too great an issue. The only thing I wish this camera had was the ability to time bulb exposures on its own. Since I have not purchased a remote yet, I have to hold down the shutter and count the seconds when I am in Bulb Mode. (Manual exposure only lets you expose for a few seconds.)

Not much to add to everything that's been said already; killer DSLR with excellent features and image quality. In capable hands it will produce output as good as anything else in its class and at the same time, like the rest of the Pentax lineup, offers stunning value and some unique features. You can tell it's been designed by photographers, for photographers.

The Pentax K 10d is the winner in DSLR cameras aimed for amateur photographers looking for quality equipment at less than $1000. Pentax has hit the sweet spot with the K10d offering features found in cameras costing more than $1000. Since I have a Nikon N80, it's the film version of the D80,I seriously considered the D80. But even with my Nikon lenses I still saved over $200 with the Pentax plus I don't have to spend extra for the Nikon imaging program for RAW files. The D80 doesn't have a sensor cleaner or shake reduction built into the camera body. I have been using the Pentax for about a month and find that it's a photographers camera. Controls that you use for taking pictures are dials on the camera body not menus. You can look through the viewfinder to make changes and not have to stop and scroll through a menu found on other brands. I would also recommend buying the Pentax AF360 or 540 flash.

The competition among camera companies is fierce and the consumer is in the drivers seat. You really can't go wrong with any DSLR. I looked at other brands besides Nikon. Cannon and Sony make great cameras but you really have to put the camera in your hand, take pictures and see which camera is comfortable for you. It should be an extension of your eye and you should be able to work the controls intutively.

I bought this camera because I have an older Pentax 35mm SLR that I love.
So far this camera has lived up to my expectations. I can swap lenses between my 35mm and this camera and it works a lot like my 35mm. There are a lot of features that I still have to learn, but my first impression is that I will love this camera as much as the 35mm I have had for almost 8 years plus I will have the advantages of no film to buy or be developed. I am already hooked on this digital camera and hopefully I can take a photography class at some point so I can use it more effectively.

Impressive camera with a price that cannot be beaten. The fact that you can use any Pentax lens ever made is fantastic. Having been a Pentax customer for 25 year I certainly appreciate it. The only weak feature is the built in flash. I find it almost unusable for pictures just few feet away so plan to invest in an add-on flash. Standard Battery life is very good and you can find a replacement for few dollars on the internet for some extra shots. Overall an excellent product made by a company that cares about its customers. Buy it with the confidence that you will not regret it.

Nice light but not too light. Camera uses sd flash cards and regular AA batteries. No hunting for oddball batteries like others!
Anti-shake works slightly but not as good as hoped. Would still recommend trypod as with all other digital cameras. (Digital cameras still cannot duplicate a fast shutter speed due to the amount of light needed to make the image.)
Overall this is the best digital I have come across. It offers the option of picture format choice of raw or jpg that others do not. It also has a wide varity of lenses that can be used to take many different kinds of pictures.

This is my first SLR camera, and after doing a lot of research, I decided to spring for the K10D. I am very satisfied with this camera, and the features that it boasts.

I highly recommend this camera.

Easily the best 10 megapixel digital SLR. Unfortunately, the JPEG quality isn't what it should be, so it's best to shoot in RAW and export later, especially since the quality of the K10D's RAW images is so wonderful. The kit lens isn't great, but it's great for a kit lens and proves to be a versatile starter. As a whole, the system is great for amertuer photography but extends beautifully into professional photography with the right accessories, making it a great investment for those new to photography who want the possibility of exploring it further. I couldn't be happier with it.

I got this camera for Christmas and it is AWESOME! The pictures are amazing. I have owned other Pentax cameras and have always liked their products. My husband bought me the K10D and I am blown away with the quality of pictures it produces. It has so many options available that I have a lot of things to learn. But within a few minutes after opening the package I was taking pictures. You don't have to be a Rocket Scientist to be able to use this camera. You can't go wrong for buying this camera. GO FOR IT, YOU WON'T BE SORRY!

Mary

I just write this review for people who want to get into DSLR like me a month ago. For years, I just held the camera then point and shoot, didn't even know anything about the important of aperture, shutter speed and ISO. I bought a Canon S3 IS as planning to take pictures of my daughter birthday party to come, and then the S3 went half dead just after 2 weeks with rarely used. I went to look for another camera and asked for opinions on various forums, then there were some advises that I should go for a DSLR camera. I was kind afraid of my lacking knowledge in photography that could end up in getting a camera, and then don't know how to use it. But out of curiosity, I went and researched then compared specs, features, reviews, and hand feels from various models of Olympus, Sony, Canon, and Nikon; all except the Pentaxes - non available in stores in my area. But all the cameras I'd tried, non gave me a satisfaction feel in my hand, then I spent more time in researching into the Pentaxes. Finally I narrowed down to the K10D. Because of the value compared to its features plus all the good reviews, I decided to give it a try, thinking of if it wouldn't fit well in my hand then as the other models from other brands, and may be after a year or so I may get a hang of it (being DSLR). So I bought it without seeing it in real life.
To my surprise, the K10D arrived and the first time I held it in my right hand, it gave me a comfortably fit. But when looked at it with the mounted lens, and all the buttons and controls and the thick User Manual, I felt intimidated (lol). In two days without taking a shot (I was afraid of messing things up and couldn't go back), just reading the Magic Lantern and Understanding Exposure. Those books I had in the same order with the K10D.
Later after taking shots, and learned and adjusted, I learned more and more about it, and day after day I saw my improvement considerably, thus I gained more confident in taking pictures with it.
Now, just after one month of owning it, I have taken quite a few so nice portraits of my kids with some used manual primes which I got from Ebay (not close to $100 each). No way I go back to P&S again, and no way I take my kids to studio to get portraiture pictures taken.
I now have acquired quite a few lenses and found out that the problem in low light slow focusing, usualy varies with which lens is using. Also there's some misunderstanding of the K10D's JPEG being not sharp. Actualy, because in default, its JPEG output is set to Natural; if you want to have your JPEG pics look sharp, vivid, and punchy, just change from Natural to Bright mode and adjust the Saturation, Sharpness, and Contrast to suit your liking. But the best is still in RAW.
My conclusion is: -If you want to enter DSLR world. This K10D is the best for your money, and it's not too hard to master. You will love it.
(Sorry for my not good English)

I've personally owned the following digital SLR cameras:
Original Canon Digital Rebel, Nikon D70, Canon 20D, Pentax K10D, and now the Nikon D300

Out of all the DSLR's on that list, the only one I ever returned was the Pentax K10D. Prior to purchasing it, I read every review I could find and felt that I was making a well informed decision. None of the local shops carried the Pentax K10D, so I had to order it online, sight unseen. On paper, the camera was definitely impressive with weather-sealing, sensor dust reduction, sensor anti-shake, etc. However, once I received the camera, I found myself becoming frustrated with some of the issues.

First off, the JPG images from the camera were definitely softer (lacking sharpness) as compared to any other DSLR that I had ever owned. This was later confirmed in tests that are viewable on www.dpreview.com Although conversion of the RAW files into JPG corrects this issue, I have neither the time nor patience to post process every photo that I take. I prefer JPG images that are printable right out of the camera without the need for image manipulation. (I shoot both JPG + RAW and use the RAW as a digital negative)

To make matters worse, the issue of JPG sharpness is not resolved with increasing the sharpness level in camera. Worsening my impression of the camera was poor white balance performance. Indoors, too many of the photos had a sickly yellow cast which required reprocessing of the RAW files or shooting with manual white balance to counteract. Lastly, the camera's metering system was all over the place. With the main subject in the center of the screen, if I took three pictures in a row without moving an inch, one photo would be overexposed and another would be underexposed. I quadruple checked to make sure that exposure bracketing was off, but this issue would pop up at random.

I'll be the first to admit that the camera I received (it was definitely brand new) might have been defective. However, given all the issues I was having, I decided to return the camera and resumed using my Canon 20D. The faster speed of the Canon (5fps) as well as the better autofocus (hunts less in low light) and better high ISO performance were all factors that returned me to using the Canon. I truly wanted to like the Pentax K10D, but was ultimately unable to make it work for me.

Given the number of positive raving reviews here, I'd say that just about everyone who owns one likes it. However, from my own personal experience, I'd say this camera was less than the sum of its parts. The price is indeed tempting considering how low it is compared to similar offerings from Canon/Nikon/Sony/Olympus, but I'd recommend trying this camera out in person before plunking down your hard earned cash. Also, be sure to take a SD card along with you so you can save some images onto the card to review later. If you like what you see, then by all means buy the camera and be happy.

I have had this product for just 1 month now but have been delighted with the performance and quality. A key driver for me in selecting this product is that I have used Pentax for many years so the ability to continue to use the range of lenses and other accesories was important. I am happy to say these have all worked well. I have used non SLR digital cameras over the last couple of years and the key frustration for me has been the speed of focus and taking multiple shots at sporting events. I am delighted that those days of frustration are gone. There are many features I am yet to investigate but am happy to say the camera has met all my expectations so far.

Excellent product, with many goodies included. A must have for people who want to go further than just point and shoot.

This is my first DSLR. I've tested several DSLRs form Canon, Nikon, such as Canon XTi(400D), Nikon D40x, D80. But none of them is better then K10D. The Canon 40D is one of the competitor, but the price of 40D set is much higher then K10D kit. Also K10D has BODY SR, which means you do not empty your pocket to buy those lens with IS.

I just upgraded to this camera after doing about a month's worth of research on different brands. I had been using a Canon EOS 700 film SLR for years, but it was time to upgrade to a DSLR. I am so glad I spent the time researching DSLR cameras, and didn't just make the "popular" choice. I purchased the camera body along with the Pentax 18-250 f3.5-6.3 lens, which is a great general purpose lens for outdoor shots. It will go from wide angle to long zoom. If you buy this camera, you really need to get the FA 50mm f1.4 lens as well. It is great for indoor shots because of the very large aperture capability. You can take shots of your kids events without flash.
Pentax SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 Lens

I won't belabor my review with all the superlatives already praising this amazing camera. What I will tell you is if you are currently a Pentax film camera owner looking into getting into Digital SLR, then look no further. I personally have several M42 (thread mount manual) lenses which are in mint condition and work perfectly with my Spotmatic II film camera. BUT, they also work PERFECTLY with the K10D (using simple manual settings and an inexpensive K mount adapter). So, for the price of a Digital SLR body, and affordable at that, I can start capturing hi-res digital images immediately.

I could not be happier with my purchase, despite all the rumors about the pending K20D. I find it humorous that the 'semi-pros' can't be satisfied with this camera, after all it was the best thing that happened to them since sliced cheese (less than 2 years ago) ;)

I typically don't write many reviews. However, I have to say that I am pretty impressed with this camera. I'll leave the details to dpreview and others here, but all in all, I don't think there is a better camera out there in this price range...or even if you spent several hundreds more.

Having read all the reviews on the camera, I bought one with the 18-250 Pentax lens. I have been using a Lumix FZ50 and decide to try a DSL and this seemed to be it. Shooting in raw would be an advantage and did not want to spend months learning Adobe. I tried to install the Pentax software on my Mac Leopard with no luck. Pentax is working on the software for the Leopard but no word when it will be ready. It could be months and new model Pentaxs are coming out in less than a month. Frankly, aside from the faster shutter, my Lumix FZ50 had far better results with its stabilizing system. I was disappointed and returned the camera.

Others have sung the praises of this camera enough.

I will point to the only possible thing to look out for: write errors. I ended up exchanging mine. I concede that it may be the card (although it's happened on two different branded cards of different capacities, one SD (1 GB) and one SDHC (8 GB)), purchased from authorized retailers, not eBay. For an xxx dollar camera, I just couldn't take the chance that it was two bum cards before my exchange period ran out. And yes, I formatted the cards in the camera multiple times and yes, I had a lot of capacity remaining on the card at the time of the error. Searching photography forums, this is not an isolated case, but it doesn't seem overly common either. When described to the Pentax rep (who was very helpful), she believed it to be a camera issue.

Whether it is the cards or the camera, it would be nice that the camera would beep to alert you to errors. The shutter will continue to operate and things will otherwise seem normal. However, no images will be captured after the error. You need to shut off and restart the camera to clear the error. So, if you aren't checking after every shot, you might miss some shots that you can't get back.

Hopefully the new one won't have the issue.

If you are a lifetime 35mm photographer like me you will love the pentax k10d.I used the Pentax spotmatic F for nearly 40 years & didn't want to let go of the film technology,but this digital version is like magic.It does have one automatic setting you can use to start out, but you will soon leave that behind & take control of everything yourself.I also bought two books to help me figure out the "magic"...the "lantern" book by Peter K. Burian and the "everything" book by Yvon Bourque.Both books are very helpfull. I was going to use my old lenses but have already bought a new more powerful digital lens.The old stuff is going on e-bay. great camera.........jtg

A little back story: my interest in photography started just a few months ago, after I started collecting desktop wallpapers. It doesn't hurt that my girlfriend is beautiful. So, with only basic point & shoot experience under my belt, I started reading up on photography techniques and looked for a camera. Being the novice as I was, I was only looking at Canon and Nikon. Fortunately, a photographer friend of mine recommended the K10D by Pentax, a very experienced camera maker that doesn't have the marketing dollars of Canon or Nikon, and I was simply floored. On paper, it looks great, especially given the price. You're getting higher end features like shake reduction and weatherproofing for introductory DSLR prices. Shake reduction featured in the body is particularly valuable, as it applies to all your lenses and thus reduces the price you have to pay for them.

I went to a camera shop to compare the cameras, as my friend told me it's also important to see how the cameras feel in your hands. While the K10D is definitely heavier than the Canon Rebel XTi, I found that the extra weight was actually reassuring; it doesn't feel like a toy. I also like the way the controls were laid out on the back, and the dual dials plus extra exposure modes together with the green button really make things a snap.

The only cons: ISO performance beyond 800 could be better, and some people may like having dedicated buttons for ISO and WB, though the new firmware makes selecting ISO a lot faster. Oh, and you might find yourself spending a lot of time taking lots and lots of pictures...

If you're serious about having better control over your pictures and getting great image quality without breaking the bank, go for the K10D. You can use the money you saved to buy all the new and old lenses that the K10D can still mount. You won't regret it; I sure didn't.

I knew that I had to have this camera as soon as I saw the words "Image Stabilization". I have been shooting with Pentax camera's and lenses and upgrading them since I started shooting with a K1000 in 1980. Over time, I have accumulated and upgraded camera's and lenses (now to some of the auto-focus lenses), and all of them can be used (including bellows and teleconverter) with the K10 D. I often shoot in low light hand held (because I can't bring in my tripod) and I think that the " IS" is going to be a benefit when shooting under these conditions. I also work with a 100mm-500mm telephoto lens and in experimenting with it, I was able to photograph (hand held & clearly read), at a lower shutter speed, a license plate on a car about 125 ft away.

As I have been going to larger prints, the RAW & RAW + jpeg formats (on the fly) will give me the ability to make better images of the important shots that I want to create without using up memory on images that are not as important.

All of the new shooting modes (in addition to the Av & Tv modes) may be overkill. Sometimes I think that it is easier to use the M setting. I can see that if you are shooting a lot of images in succession of action or a lot of depth of field control, it might be appropriate for some users to use these camera settings.

The optional battery grip BG2 is an important option for serious photographers to consider. It just makes using a camera in the portrait mode a lot more convenient. I have not yet totally figured ot how I plan to use my external handle mount flash with it yet, but I know there are some brackets out there that I think I can make work. (I don't use a lot of flash in my work anyway).

I am looking forward to getting into using this camera to create new and interesting images. I am writing this review probably prematurely given that I have not yet had the chance to use it more.

Very nice camera, especially for just that price.
With many convenient buttons that you can directly switch to the funtion you want, saved a lot from browsing and choosing from menu items.

Just like *istDL, K110D and K100D, the white balance still not accurate. Mostly too yellowish, especially under tungsten lights. Sometimes even with customized WB still too much yellow that I have to remove it using software after shooting.

I own this camera for about 1 year. Friend of mine got another. Camera is rock solid but very balanced FEELS as photography tool should. There is nothing cheap or fake about the feel, the box feels all business. This camera never failed, would it be Caribbean dusty beach or freezing chill of Wisconsin. The viewfinder is nice and bright, all controls are so logically placed, all controls are tunable in menu.
The image quality is plain terrific! I simply can't describe as it records all this half-toning, endless beautiful variations of the colors...
The idea the ISO today is virtual variable and can dance along with aperture and shutter is of genius! I took so many natural light photos with this camera as with no other camera ever.
I really appreciate Pentax did not go Canon's way of creating over-saturated and over-sharpened images. The tonal variation are very rich and smooth. This camera is everything most of photographers would need. I printed many 13x19 and they are stunning!
It is rare these days to find a camera you can enjoy photography with (not fire gun 'style' shooting in all directions). This camera is an awesome tool that will contribute to LooOOoong hours of enjoying photography.

I love this camera. For the money it's the best on the market. The only issue is the default settings for jpeg are soft but that is easily corrected using the menu settings.

So far, so good with this product. I was looking for a good, quality, relatively inexpensive, digital SLR to replace my Nikon F3 film camera for business & personal use. It has been fairly easy to learn to use (for someone not real computer savvy), as well as to operate & process photographs. I have also recently purchased another zoom lens (70-300mm) and a/c adapter to complement the abilities and range of my purchase.

I spent a long time web surfing reviews on all sub-$1,000 DSLR's before buying the K10D. I tried out the Canon Rebel, Nikon D40 and Olympus E510 at a local store but they all felt "cheap" and "plasticky" especially compared to the point and click digitals I'd previously used. So it was with some trepidation that I ordered a K10D, sight-unseen.
I need not have worried, the camera is all that users claim it to be. It is solid, extremely well engineered, all flaps, switches, dials etc move easily and securely. The first thing you notice is the weight, this is no feather-weight, slip-it-in-your-pocket camera. But the weight is reassuring, gives the camera great balance and feel.
What about specifics? All the switches and dials are where you'd want them to be. The absence of a scene-dial gave Pentax room for more useful switches/dials. The priority switch lets you move effortlessly between shutter/aperature/ISO priorities and all their combinations. There's a switch to save images as RAW instead of JPEG. Easy access switch to flip between auto and manual focus. Info LCD panel on top lets you see aperture, speed, shot quality etc without resorting to the main LCD screen. Bright easy-to-use viewfinder. Software menu settings are predictable, you don't need to spend hours with this camera's manual - which is just as well because one of few issues you might have with the K10D is the manual. It's essentially a technical directory of the K10D's capabilities, in the Sony style. Anyone who's had to fight their way through a Sony manual knows what I'm talking about. But as I said, the manual is not something you need to constantly refer to.
Using the K10D is a breeze, but it's a long way from point-and-click, I had to re-learn a lot of old optical SLR habits. The delay on automatic focus is minimal but soon seems like an eternity when you have an alternative - switch auto focus off, focus manually and wait for your Kodak moment. Perfect. The continuous shooting mode is a wonder, hit the shutter button and it keeps on taking shots until your SD card gets filled up. And they all look good. As other reviewers have pointed out, the out-of-the-box images are a little soft and color is a little "flat' but it only takes a couple of menu clicks to change those factory settings - sharpen up a notch and up the saturation level and you'll have whatever keeps you happy.
The K10D is clearly head and shoulders above the competitors in build quality, And I'm already taking photos every bit as good as friends with Nikon's and Canon's. And one of the most important features is something I hope I never have to be concerned about - dust-reduction. No artifacts on my images, it works.
I've got nothing but good things to say about this camera. I recommend it highly.

I was looking for a new DSLR for quite a while after letting go my first one, my superb Nikon D50. I though I was going to become locked in the Nikon system, at least for a while, when I accidentally came across a web review about Pentax's new come back to the prosumer DSLR scenario with the highly appraised Pentax K10d.

I must say it was a very though decision, but after actually having the K10d in my hands for the first time and feeling it's healthy heft, I realised was in front of a serious camera, a product in a league of it's own. For this price there's no other way you could get a weather sealed 10 MP DSLR with polycarbonate covered stainless steel chassis, on-body shake reduction, dust reduction, 2.5 inch LCD monitor, gorgeous big and luminous pentaprism viewfinder, unique exposure modes, two RAW formats, compatible with every Pentax lens ever made.

The K10d is one of those cameras that just feels right and makes you believe no corners were cut during it's development. You have all the critical adjustments at the tip of your fingers

Even though, I believe the K10d isn't for everybody. It's not that I'm a snob. I just think the K10d was made for people who want to WORK with photography in a similar way they did with film. Meaning you probably like to shoot everything in RAW and enjoying making large prints of your work. If you are looking for something really straightforward out of the box probably, this is not the best place to look for. For example the K10d's metering firmware is set to preserve highlights. Some might confuse this with underexposure under high contrast lighting situations. Use your flash to fill in instead! The K10d is for people searching for a more photographical approach, as for example, the hobbyist would want.

Some commonly cited cons about the K10d are regarding to auto white balance performance under incandescent light. Personally, I can't think of a most horrible light to work with or a DSLR that handles it correctly. If you are forced to shoot under incandescent light, use your flash and/or shoot RAW. Also some people think the K10d gives dull, not very sharp images. If you want sharp saturated, sharp JPEG's just set the camera to "Bright mode." It doesn't give you much post-processing freedom though, but that's basically your call.

After all you probably realised photographers with the photographer in mind designed the K10d. Using the K10d it's an empowering experience, one that pushes you to further unleash your creativity.

I have had this camera for about 8 months and there is not much to add to all the reviews here. This is a great camera capable of taking great pictures (even with the kit lens).

I haven't encountered any problems with this camera and it has been a pleasure to use. The controls are very accessible and very quickly you should be able to change settings effortlessly on the fly to take the picture how YOU want to take it. I haven't any hindering short comings.

I would definitely recommend it.

I allways use to buy Canon products in the past. Even though the decission was very hard at the beginning moving to Pentax, I did not regret it until today. Very good product and excellent value for money. Have achived great results and can only recomend the K10d to everyone who is taking this model into consideration.

not only is it the best for the money, the feel, placement of controls and features make this camera worth every penny.

i purchased the stock lens kit. the kit is ok, i would recommend purchasing a better lens if you are not a beginner

Hello, The Camera is great, but if you buy it from Amazon and it breaks, Pentax doesn't accept invoice from Amazon as proof of a warrantieable product. So basically amazon is trying to sell you an unwarrantied product.

If you want it, go buy it somewhere else.

For those who know their camera models I'm an old school photographer - my first SLR was the v.basic Zenit E and my last SLR before owning a Pentax K10D was a trusty (but basic) Nikon FM. I did move on with the times though and have been digital for a while now with my (brick sized) Canon G2 compact.

The K10D is a well made, robust camera and that is what is important IMO - the slight differences between the K10D and its SLR rivals from Canon, Nikon & Olympus etc are unimportant - ALL these brands make a cameras that 99.8% won't be restricted by whatever their photograpy.

SLR camera spec is pretty much at an overkill level now - anything from the big brands in the last couple of years is going to be good. So my advice would be "see the wood from the trees" & don't worry about spec. Critically good photographs will come from you and your imagination rather than what brand or model of SLR you own.

The Pentax K10D has recently been replaced by the K20D and hence the basement price ..., so bag yourself a bargain now and let others worry about whether a 3fps or 3.5fps rapid shooting mode is a critical factor in the decision making process.

I love the ruggedness of this camera. it is very solid and feels much better in hand than at least the Cannon Rebel Digital. It is heavier but I like that.

The features and functions are great. This is my first DSLR and I am by no means even a novice photographer. The main reason for the purchase was to get better night time pictures since the Point and Shoot cameras do such a horrible job, but this does not do a better job with the built in flash. I imagine getting a good flash for it will make a huge difference.

I paid extra to get this camera over Cannon and Nikon of similar pixel because it comes with much better features overall, so price per function/feature is much better IMHO. I have NOT experienced the blurriness that other users talk about with the JPG pictures, but I have noticed that the pictures in general are not as bright as should be.

There are alot of postings on how to change the settings to fix that but I have not tried it yet.

No regrets...specially since the price has been going up since I bought it.

I don't want to get into any technical stuff on this camera, because you can find it on Cnet or Pentax website. This is a very nice camera to own, just make sure you buy a quality lens with it. I have had this camera for almost a year now, and I still love it.

HN

With the proper lens this camera can do everything that the big boys like Nikon and Canon can do! It has so many features sometimes I have to get the manual out to remember how to use them! Its fast, sturdy, waterproof and takes great shots! I've printed out some photos so far up to 8x10 size and they are as crisp as you can get and that is using the stock 18-55mm lens that came with the camera. I have yet to purchase a quality prime lens to test but if the stock lens does this good, I have no worries. Since I already owned a previous Pentax SLR some of the lenses I already had worked with this camera so that is a bonus feature and part of the reason I went with this camera. This camera will function as a point and shoot but I would not recommend this to a complete amateur.

I've had mine about 7 months now and have used it for family, outdoors and night sky pictures. Shake reduction works even with my old prime M series lenses. I have two autofocus D lenses (18-55 and 50-200) and use these most often, I like taking pictures with older manual focus lenses when I have the time. I'm still learning and appreciating more and more every time I use the camera. The battery life is much better than expected. For Pentax accessories, I have a second battery and the wired remote and I'm very satisfied with that so far. Pictures are great.

When this model was initially introduced, it was the best bang for the buck:

-Takes all Pentax lenses (including screw mounts with an adaptor) and adds its anti-shake mechanism to each

-Picture quality great

-V - e - r - y sturdy feel

-All the unique Pentax options (especially hyper) plus driving the ISO

Note - some of the quibbles have been fixed with the later, 40% more megapixel, K20D:

-Picture quality at higher ISO

-Easier definition of picture style

-"Live" view (sort of)

I've had it for two years and only qualm I have is that it's larger and heavier than my *istD

An amazing well built camera with a great set of features. Well worth the price.

K10d is a really good camera. I tried Canon xt and xti before but both are small and don't fit my big hand. the size of K10d is alright! and it provided powerful manual adjustment for your catching pictures. The kit lens is also very good as basic lens.
The Body SR function makes every lens perform very well when you hold it with shaky hands. I hate Canon and Nikon because they refuse to add Shake reduction function on the camera body so that they can sell SR lens at higher price.

The only drawbacks low light performance is not as good as C and N. Focus speed is a little bid slow. Also the auto WB is not perfect. But you can adjust to get it right manually.

Overall, it is a good DSLR.

I have had this camera for over one year and each day learn more about the power of this camera. Recently took photo course and many in class had high powered Nikons and Canon DSLR's. My camera kept right up and in many cases had features their cameras did not, such as built in image stablization, and raw button. Just saw new DXO website that ranks K10D above many DSLR's and higher than some more expensive DSLR's. This is a great camera but not for the novice.

This was my first DSLR and it's been a great experience. It uses the same Sony sensor as the Nikon D80/D200 and if you shoot RAW, you get effectively the same results for much less cost.
On top of that, you get weathersealing so you can use it in the rain or snow or dust w/o issues.
The body feels solid unlike the plasticky XTi/XSi/D40/D60, and even the D80 to some degree.
Only nits are I wish it had a faster flash sync speed and predictive AF (the AF-C is really AF-S run continously).

Pentax K10D 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with Shake Reduction and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens

Last year, when on assignment in Switzerland, I used several models of digital still cameras. I carried along the K10D, carefully testing the
first "shake reduction" I was ever to try.

Usually, I am a stickler for steadiness. Since my first days as a working
professional, it was always a must to employ the use of a tripod - not
only for longer exposures - but also for general shooting. Humans holding
cameras can almost never be quite as steady as a tripod or other camera stand. Think about it, our heartbeat causing pulse and cafeine shake in
our hands is nonexistent in a tripod. People do not always stand steadily
and firm.

My tests included handheld images with the shake reduction, tripodded
images without the shake reduction, and even handheld images without the
shake reduction, all cases using manual exposure settings ranging from
1/60th to 1/1000th sec., making notes as the images were casted on the
23.5x15.7mm CCD.

There is not enough room here to detail the hundreds of exposures made
during the three-days testing. Therefore, it shall suffice to say that
the K10D with its CCD-shifting shake reduction system allowed me to make
sharper pistures with three different lenses. Comparing the images made
on the tripod with those handheld using shake reduction there is not any
notable difference at 16X. Of course, one 6MP camera I tested, which did not have image-stabilization was used solely on the tripod, and images from it were as sharp as the handheld 10MP camera (not deploying shake
reduction and in similar lighting with auto-exposure.)

Other characteristics observed: The AF points on the viewfinder are red
and illuminated for easy visibility. The LCD display is large and sharp
and visible from a wide viewing angle. The DUST REMOVAL syatem is quite
effective. It actually shakes the CCD for dust removal.

The menu is not difficult to understand. The controls are splash and dust resistant and the cabinet parts and retractable seem to be nicely fitted
together.

The K10D had a good feel in my hands. The dials and buttons are all just
about exactly where they should be for ergonomic placement.

In the final analysis, the camera, in my judgement deserves five stars.

Robert Caselnova, photographer and owner of Cas Photo Studio & Camera Shop

I have owned this camera for 18 months or so, and have used it in a variety of settings, indoor, outdoor, sunny, low light, action, stills, portraits, etc. It absolutely excels when there is enough light. Beautiful pictures, quick focus, solidly made, excellent camera.

The problem I have is with low light situations. Not dark, but something less than bright sun. This camera has significant trouble focusing if the subject isn't well lit. Since I bought this camera to take action shots of my son's wrestling team (think about how poorly lit gyms are for taking pictures) and playing football (Friday night lights aren't always so bright), it has been a challenge to get the shots I want. Another problem is that above an ISO sensitivity of 800, the pictures are grainy and ugly, which is pretty much impossible to Phtoshop out, making low-light photography even more difficult. To compensate, I bought a fairly nice 28-200 Tamron for the wrestling mat, which allows me to keep the aperture and ISO relatively low and take some pretty nice pictures with my hot shoe flash (Pentax AF360-FGZ). I also bought the 50-500 "Bigma" from Sigma for football - it doesn't cover the whole field, but as I walk the sidelines, I can get some decent shots while avoiding ISO settings over 800.

Bottom line: if your main purpose is to take low-light action shots, spend the extra 300-500 on a mid-level Nikon. If you're taking family vacation photos, nature photos, etc., this is a great camera and an excellent value.