I had a pleasure to use this Pentax's baby for three days. This camera takes photography as far as it never was before under $8.000 price tag. The image quality is stunning. I especially like this rich tremendous color rendition that looks like mid format color slide of 6x9. The tone gradations are simply endless. If you take picture of sunset it will be the best sunset you ever seen.
I will not describe endless technical data details but I must stress how smart, convenient and relevant all the menus! You have a photography tools in your hands, not the computerized toy for browsing menus. The controls placement is the best I ever seen in any brand. Everything is under your fingers, everything is assignable. The camera reacts in the way you expect, it feels solid, complete.
It is pleasure to hold it, the balance is very good. This camera's software allows remote shooting (just like k10d) and if used in studio may be entirely controlled by computer. The ability to use the internal flash as a controller is very nice! The ability to store preview is very nice! The shift preview on shutter is super cool! The viewfinder is nice, clear and bright!If you had experience with K10D, you will find these awesome Pentax invented modes related to auto ISO settings.
The image quality is second to none. While there are many good cameras are around, this one of the league on itself. The tonality, sharpness, expressiveness of this cam is outstanding. What is even more outstanding is the combination of shooting experiences that end up in the final image. You feel that you control it to any degree you wish. The final image may be whatever you tune it to be. Make a profile and get it over sharpened as Canon, oversaturated as Sony or over contrasted as Nikon. Mix is in any way you pleased. You have any number of cameras inside. I personally enjoyed portraits and nature shots I made with it. With awesome tonal variations, countless gradations in shadows, natural and lifelike skin tones. This camera does equally good job on dark skins as well. And it looks real, photographically rich and not exaggerated.
In short, my three days of hands on experience with this camera I walked off very impressed. Hugely impressed.

The Pentax K20D is an excellent camera--it's what the K10D should have been. The Amazon free shipping service was just as good as paying for UPS shipping--it arrived in only four days. The carrier was supposed to get a signature but didn't--the package was left at the (house) doorstep (a consideration if one lives in a building where theft is possible).

I will certainly consider Amazon for future electronic/optical purchases.

This is a great camera. The CMOS sensor produces rich images with very little noise. I expected much more noise with the change from CCD to CMOS. I shoot in mostly in DNG format and had to get get larger SDHD cards. An 8 gig card will hold 333 DNG images. The K20D has many new features, such as wireless flash control, dust alert, live view, ect.

Pricey but the best in the marketplace.
A little bit disppointed because the daily decreasing price since I did place the order.....

Finally Pentax got it right. Not only does it have shake reduction built into the body, a great sensor, but it also has native DNG Raw format, a Sync port every other Pentax camera has been missing, 100 ISO, great colors, compatible with the BG2 grip, added Dynamic Range in the ISO200 and up, and great battery life. Oh, and it's a 14+ megapixel camera, which is what a lot will be looking at, but that was just a bonus for me.

I was a little hesitant to buy this camera because I had no prior experience with Pentax and Canon/Nikon get all the press. I'm so glad I got over it; this camera has changed digital photography for me.

What I love:

--Extremely soft, quiet shutter.

--The "Limited" lenses make photography a joy (I don't like zooms). I just read a piece comparing the new 35mm Macro to a Leica Summilux.

--Considering it's digital, color rendition out-of-camera is beautiful. It's not film - only film is film - but it's pleasing enough to leave most shots as-is and spend less time in front of the computer (I use the Natural setting, with some adjustments).

--14+MP... shooting for square crop still leaves plenty of resolution. But image quality must be terrible with all the extra pixels, you might think. It's not, and I have ownership experience with many DSLRs as a comparison (I also currently own a D300).

--Hard switches for critical changes like metering, AF selection and single/continuous, so less messing around in menus while the shot disappears.

--DNG RAW format.

Room for improvement:

--Autofocus is just average, but it's good enough for most everything.

--Matrix metering has underexposed a few shots I didn't expect it to. To be fair, I don't have a thorough understanding yet of what the camera is doing in matrix, so it may just require more knowledge on my part to get the best out of it. I don't really use it much, spot or center-weighted almost always cover me.

This is a brilliant, low-key camera that I'm comfortable using even in a crowd because the small Limited lenses don't alarm people. It slips quickly in and out of a Crumpler 5 Million bag and I get the shots I want with maximum image quality and a minimum of attention. I believe this is now the best DSLR available for documentary/street photography.

Pentax K20D 14.6MP Digital SLR Camera with Shake Reduction (Body Only)

We are amateur photo shooters and have a 5 year old digital Kodak - which was okay for snap shooting -

Now for the PENTAX K20D 14.6MP Digital Camera we offer this review.

It is the TRUE amateur's friend. It is in a completely different class to the old technology, including 35mm film format. It is way ahead in the performance field for its class of digital camera. We are glad to be back in the SLR type of camera too.

Right after arrival of our new K20D camera we did a PROM photo session on our patio with 5 couples - what a pleasure to shoot when you have the time right - what is the right time? - a series of shots 2, 3, 4 or 5 with each setting and this camera is so fast you can outshoot the point and shoots by a mile - and great results too - Our daughter was assisting with her PENTAX K10D and both of these DIGITAL CAMERA'S are recommended highly by us. We experienced a number of comments from others sharing in this event, what kind of camera is that? It must be nice to be able to take so many shots and capture all of these special moments! They are right - we have over 300 perfect shots to brag about from this session, and two cameras captured those images.

The camera settings are easy to study and learn. You can adjust so many different ways in just seconds and get the perfect results you desire, snap a test shot, view - then capture images of one of a kind, ones that you can truly enjoy viewing plus brag on after a shooting session.

We use the SanDisk 4 GB Extreme III SDHC Card and the write speed is awesome for this camera. We bought a Metz 58 AF-1 TTL Shoe Mount Flash for Pentax & Samsung SLR Cameras for our camera and makes a great match with the Pentax DA 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 ED AL IF Lens.

This K20D is the camera for the money as we see it, study the features, it's loaded with them and you will see this is a fine camera that will deliver what you want in the photographic world - We highly recommended this product from PENTAX.

I researched all the latest and greatest DSLR and this Pentax K20 kept coming up as a big recommendation. The features on this K20 are really fantastic and not found on the usual suspects of the Cannons or D40/D80. If your starting out into the DSLR world don't be afraid of this camera. You can make it as automatic or customizable as you want and the pictures are just the best I have ever seen. I recommend buying the 8GB SDHC card because the 14.6MP really takes up the space. I also got the Pentax 18-250mm lense and it is really such a great all around lense. If you are not tied to a particular brand because of previously purchased lenses then I highly recommend this camera. You will not be disappointed!

I was really excited about the potential of this camera; the picture quality was outstanding, the ergonomics were perfect, I have some really good glass for it, but there was a recurring problem with the files that I downloaded to Lightroom, both in DNG and in Pentax mode. There was always a black band along the right side. I called Pentax and the tech said I had to use Pentax software, which I could have used and then exported to Lightroom. I just don't think I should have to go that extra step. I don't have to do it with my K100D, so what is going on? Anyway, I have tried 2 different K20 cameras and they both did the same thing. I haven't been able to find any reference to this problem on the Pentax forum, or any other reveiw of the K20. I hope someone can figure this out so I can resume my K20 habit.

I have been a Pentax owner since the 1950's when the first Heiland Pentax SLR was introduced to the market. This is my 3rd Pentax digital SLR, the first two being the 6 megapixel 1stDS and the 10 megapixel K10D. This new model is a significant upgrade from the K10D, and at 14.6 megapixels, provides significantly more resolution in the crops I make from the original images. What this allows is for me to go to smaller crops (increased area enlargement) and still maintain excellent resolution. Another significant feature is the new imaging device from Samsung, producing, for me, low noise excellent quality photos at sensitivities as high as 1600 ISO.
To me, one of the most significant features of this camera, also found on my earlier K10D, is the RAW button on the left side of the camera body. This enables me to shoot most of my photos in JPEG, but allows me to go to RAW for a single image that I really want to get the most out of. This feature really conserves memory card space, but allows shooting of intermittent RAW images when they are really needed. This is a feature that I believe is unique to Pentax. At the highest quality (least compression) JPEG setting, the camera produces 10 megabyte images, which provide plenty of detail and excellent color.
The quality of the shake reduction capability seems, to me, to be improved over the K10D. I have been able to shoot sharp photos at F3.5 at a 30th of a second at a focal length of 250 mm.
The camera is extremely well built and, for this reason, is slightly heavier than other brands of comparable size. But the small extra weight and the fact that the camera feels well in the hand makes for really steady shots.
A new feature is live image production on the 2.7 inch rear screen, which is somewhat larger than that on the K10D. Being a long time SLR user, I don't use this feature very much. But it seems to be the up and coming thing on new digital SLR's.
The internal software of the camera has really been upgraded and includes an in camera capability to convert RAW images to TIFF or JPEG, a really neat feature if one is on the road and doesn't have access to the computer software necessary to process RAW images but yet wants to view them on other portable imaging devices.
I bought my camera without a lens and separately purchased the new 18-250 F 3.5-6.3 Pentax zoom lens and the 50 mm F 1.4 Pentax lens, which serves as a very short telephoto, wonderful for taking pictures of people. This is the combination I would recommend. The 18-250 appears to be manufactured for Pentax by TAMRON and is an excellent lens in my opinion. It is also quite versatile, giving a 28 mm field of view at wide angle and 375 mm at full telephoto. The 50mm F 1.4 is really inexpensive, at about $199 from reputable internet dealers, and is one of the sharpest lenses ever produced by Pentax. This lens is a real "sleeper" and should be owned by any Pentax DSLR owner for low light and portrait photography.
At about $1250-1299 street price for the body alone, the camera is not cheap. But it is a prosumer model and priced somewhat below comparable Canon and Nikon models. It is providing me with wonderful performance and I highly recommend it.

Dr. James E. Maynard

I've only shot about 1700 images so far, so I haven't fully explored all the new features on this camera. This is my first impression and I'll update this review as I become more familiar with it.

I've used the K10D since it came out, and the K20D is a strong addition to the line. The new sensor is amazing. Live View is very handy when you're reaching to get the camera into an awkward position. I haven't needed the Dust Alert feature yet, but since I shoot in less than clean conditions, I'm guessing it will come in handy.

One of the features of the K10D that they've kept, and the primary reason I switched to Pentax in the first place, is the construction of the body with 72 seals to keep water and dust out. I've used the K10D in the pouring rain, in sea spray, and in smoky or dusty, windy conditions, and never had a problem. I've started to expose the K20D to the same conditions, and I expect the same performance.

The Shake Reduction is also fantastic, especially for my shaky hands. It doesn't replace a tripod, but it does allow me to shoot handheld in lower lighting than I ordinarily could. Since I have several lenses, it's also a money saving feature for me.

If IQ is the most important aspect for you then K20D is definitely for you. K20D by far has the best image quality in APS-C format, period.I have compared it with Nikon's D300 & Canon's 40D and the K20D has the smoothest yet sharpest image. This is what "IMAGE QUALITY REVOLUTION" that should have been when Pentax introduced K10D back in November 2006.

You can see every bit of texture with K20D and the colors are just perfect for landscapes and portraits.

The most improved points from K10D are auto white balance, auto focus speed and auto focus accuracy.

The only complaint I have is that the shutter sound is still a little bit too loud compare to Nikon's and the FPS should have been 5 FPS.

Other than that K20D is the best APS-C DSLR camera as of today.

If Pentax were a bit more serious about increasing the sales of their cameras to first-time Pentax buyers, they'd be making some changes to their marketing strategy. It's unfortunate that with most consumer/professional camera reviews, the Pentax products get dinged in relation to their competitors when they shouldn't have to be. You can see this in the Consumer Reports review of DSLRs and other reviews such as PopPhoto. The problem is that these reviews are performed with tested cameras at their default settings, and Pentax chooses to "compromise" the performance of their cameras by requiring custom adjustments to bring about the true potential of the product. The K10D took a hit with its lower-contrast, soft and dark pictures when in default mode. Change the settings and you have a camera every bit in step with its competition at the time. Now the K20D suffers the same fate with the decision to make Noise Reduction-OFF the default setting. The PopPhoto test of the K20D actually resulted in higher noise levels than the K10D. Indeed, when I first compared the two cameras, I found them both the same at ISO 1600 for the amount of visible noise. Obviously, this is a shocker when you consider that the K20 uses the new CMOS sensor as opposed to the K10's CCD. Although the detail was higher in the K20, the noise was no better. That is, until I set noise reduction to "weak." What a difference! Comparing shots taken at the same settings between the two cameras (K10 default has noise reduction on) but with the K20 at the full 14.6 mp setting and highest JPEG quality with noise reduction at "weak," and the K20's image is strikingly cleaner and sharper. There's no doubt the resolution of the K20's image is hands-down superior to the K10. But you won't read about this in any review unless they choose to turn on noise reduction. There is a very slight loss of detail with NR on, but the resolution of the K20's sensor is so good anyway that the loss is negligible (especially with the Pentax DA* 50-135 lens). Certainly experienced photographers could argue the Pentax reasoning behind the default setting issue, but from a marketing perspective, subjective reviews and objective lab results based on lesser picture performance of default settings can only hurt potential sales when a buyer sees that the 40D or the D300 has clearly better performance in the noise level competition. When you're going up against the giants, you need to exploit the maximum potential of your product, and I believe Pentax has failed to do that.

Having a K10 and a number of Pentax lenses already, I couldn't quite justify jumping ship for the excellent Canon 40D or Nikon D300. But in the end, the price of the K20 was well-justified. The first feature that sold me on the camera is one that only true professional cameras have and isn't even mentioned in the K20 pitch - the ability to fine-tune the auto focus system so that if a lens is front or back-focusing, you can correct for it. This allows you to change the relationship between the point you focus on to the front-to-back area around that object that is also in focus known as the depth of field. This feature could save you a lot of heartache with poorly calibrated lenses that would otherwise be useless. The second feature of this camera that sold me is the improved sensor with its 14.6 MP rating and increased resolution. ISO 1600 shots are now a non-issue compared to the K10. Overall, the K20's pictures tend to be a tad bit warmer than the K10's, but I've also found them to better handle high-contrast transitions between bright and dark with less blown-out bright areas. This was evident in sunset shots where the brightest areas of the orange clouds went yellow in the K10 but kept their detail and color with the K20 (shooting in JPEG). No longer is there an issue with under-exposed shots as with the K10, and normal settings are set close to sharpness/contrast ideals, I've found. But of course, it's all adjustable to just about any result you could want. Just be prepared to deal with some pretty big file sizes on the highest quality JPEG setting - about 11MB. Shoot in RAW and it's almost twice that size. 4GB SD cards suddenly seem puny.

After several thousand shots with the K20, there are a few things that I would consider a bit of a deficit with this camera's performance. First and foremost is the burst rate of 3 frames per second. This is perfectly fine for just about all shooting situations except sports. If you plan to do sports photography, this is not the camera for you. Way too much action happens between frames at that slow rate. The other area where performance lags a bit is with the auto focus system: it's just too slow at the very times you need it to work faster than it can. The issue remains a nuisance from kit lenses to the DA* SDM lenses in low-light or with moving objects. Live-View was not something I cared much about, but since it's there it has come in handy at times for inconspicuous pointing of the camera at non-moving objects or confirming focus when in manual focus mode. My only complaint is that its not as refined in its operation as I'd prefer, and it makes odd clunky-clattery noises when its in use. Another feature that could use some improvement is the Auto ISO setting where the camera selects the ISO between a range you specify. The problem is that it defaults to the lowest ISO which could result in a shutter speed as low as 1/80. This is too slow for anything moving, and I've lost opportunities to blurred pictures because of this. More expensive cameras have the ability to specify a minimum shutter speed as the secondary setting to this feature. Perhaps Pentax has it somewhere, but I just haven't found it. The last nit pick I have is with the shutter sound. It's a little bit sharper and quieter than the K10, but I really don't care for the sound on either camera - too "squeaky/clangy."

In the balance, however, there are a multitude of plusses to this camera that make it great such as the quality of the photos, the flexibility to custom adjust just about anything connected to the picture image and capture (too many to mention), the RAW file handling, in-camera image stability system, the auto focus adjustment feature, weather sealing, the ergonomics/handling and solid feel of the camera. The dust mapping and removal is nifty, too. The dust mapping lets you see a representation of where exactly the dust is on the sensor rather than having to study pictures and transpose the positioning to what you see when looking straight at the sensor from the front. It's also quite sensitive. It showed the presence of dust when I had a very had time even detecting the dust in photos of blue sky taken with a high f-stop. Interestingly, the dust shake-off feature of the sensor has never worked for me on either the K10 or the K20. What always works is to use a manual blower to shoot a few burst of air at the sensor at the right locations.

If you want a truly fine camera that lets you stand out from the Canon/Nikon masses without feeling second-rate (so long as you stay out of sports arenas), this camera is a worthy purchase that will get you great results. I'm surprised at the looks and questions I get from even professional photographers when they see me shooting with the K20 and a DA* lens attached. If you aspire to professional levels of photography without the typical high accessory costs incurred by Nikon/Canon shooters, this is probably one of the best mid-level cameras going. And Pentax is continuing to introduce more professional lenses on par with those from Canon and Nikkor at significantly lower cost.

I've just had the K20D for about 2 weeks and have really enjoyed it. Having to decide between Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Olympus, and Sony was difficult after reading so many reviews. I took a chance on the Pentax based on forums & reviews. I couldn't find the camera in any stores around my home other than the other brands mentioned. The Pentax does feel the best in my hands and when I first held it, it is definitely better built than the others. I bought the 18-55mm AL II kit lens and it does excellent and will purchase the 18-250mm in the future. I have taken the same type shots with my Minolta film camera from the early 80's and this camera surpasses it in quality. I was stubborn for a long time to switch to digital after having the money invested in the Minolta lenses and other equipment.
I personally think all the major cameras are good and I picked Pentax on a leap of faith. It was the best camera for the money and future lenses and accessories won't break the bank. I have not much use yet for the live view feature but many of the features are usable and intuitive. I really like the idea and flexibility of the front and rear e-dials. I can adjust the aperture with the rear dial and the shutter speed with the front dial. If I could change anything I would make the ISO a dedicated button and maybe the white balance. At least they are at the beginning of the Fn(function) menu button and only requires one extra button to push.
I would highly recommend this camera unless you shoot alot of sports which the 3 frames per second burst rate doesn't cut it for you. The picture quality is A-1 and the cropping in on some shots I've taken are just great since I don't have a strong zoom lense yet. They don't pixelate on the computer and that has to be the 14.1 megapixels at work with the CMOS sensor. It is a big difference and I'm glad I have purchased the K20D over the K10D if just for the sensor only.

I previously owned the Pentax istDl and liked the pictures it produced. The K20D has been a fantastic camera so far. I personally really like having the shake reduction in the body because now all my lenses can take advantage of this. The dust removal has already saved me once where I was shooting and was able to get the dust off immediately without getting out the blower and brush :)

One problem I had was on my Mac Leopard Mac Book Pro I could not get the software that comes with the camera to install. For me this is not a major problem because I use other software that I prefer. I did notice the previous Mac Software update had some patches for the K20D as well as several other cameras.

Here are some examples photos I have taken with the K20D and the older istDL. [...]

Some great features for the $. Super images. I recommend the 18-250 lens. I moved over from a Nikon D50 and, after the learning curve, really appreciate what this camera offers.

A much bigger jump from K10D than I expected; wonderful color and contrast; A little on the heavy side but very good balance.

In March of 2008 I bought a K200D, my first DSLR. Loved the camera, but wanted more control and more options. So, I then bought a K20D.
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****CONTROLS :: The controls on the K20D are incredibly awesome. Everything is just *right*. Changes from the basic K200D layout:

A) External Metering dial
B) External bracketing button
C) External focal point mode dial
D) A second e-dial, which is great.

I absolutely love, love, love K20D ergonomics and menu system.. I can operate the camera and all its functions without looking at it. I never press a button I don't intent to press, and I never confuse buttons. Things just "make sense". It's so hard to describe. This is worlds different coming from Canon and Nikon comparisons -- Perhaps it was my unfamiliarity with those cameras, but their menu systems, while flashy, were downright confusing.

You also have a "Green Button" mode and a "User Mode" on the K20D which is very interesting -- You can set up a custom "profile" on the K20D in User mode which sounds cool, but truthfully I haven't used it yet.


****PERFORMANCE:

The K20D performs admirably, just like the K200D. There are a few differences, though:

1) The K20D has a MUCH improved buffer - I can shoot 15 RAW files at 3.0FPS (still low), compared to 4 RAW at 2.8 FPS on the K200D. Unfotunately the FPS on the K20D remains incredibly slow at full resolution.

2) The K20D has a "burst" mode of 21 FPS at around 1.4MP. Neat to play around with but nothing special.

3) ISO goes up to 3200 standard (K200D is maxed at 1600) with 6400 available. However, IQ drops severely after ISO 1600. ISO 3200 is OKAY if you have a picture with non-dark areas, but there is visible banding at ISO3200 and for the most part I avoid it. I use NoiseNinja on my ISO3200 images and they're acceptable if you're not going to crop.

4) A noticeably improved viewfinder -- I can tell the difference immediately over the K200D. Brighter, nicer. Lovely.

**** IMAGE QUALITY

Great, just like the K200D. As a matter of fact, I really couldn't tell you the difference in IQ between two 100% crops of the cameras, except that the K20D's crop is going to be slightly larger from the added MP.

I've tested this extensively with three lenses (DA 16-45, DA 55-300, DA* 50-135) and there is really no IQ difference between the cameras. I may need to get a high quality prime to tell the difference, and even then, you'll be pixel peeping.

However, the K20D *DOES* allow you to get slightly larger prints before you start interpolating pixels, which is something to consider.


****OTHER:

Live view - Almost worthless. I get hot pixels on the image when I use live view for any extended period of time. I've refused to upgrade to the 1.01 firmware for fear of it breaking some software compatibility. Nothing really important to me, though, because the Pentax implimentation of Liveview isn't that great.

Sealing - Better than the K200D, but by how much I don't know. The battery and SD card doors are latch opened instead of slide opened like the K200D.

Battery Performance -- Pretty good. Pentax has retained their rather uninformative battery meter, unfortunately. I really wish they'd get with the times and introduce a %-estimate for their battery meter.

Autofocus Speed-- Absolutely zero difference between the K200D and the K20D -- I have tested this extensively with two lenses using a video camera for frame-accurate timing.

Autofocus Performance -- Decent. Low light it suffers (EV5/6 or lower), but tries for accuracy, so I'm not sure what to say. I wish it were faster.



OVERALL --- A highly recommended camera. Pentax makes some great glass. Match them up with a K20D and ENJOY shooting photos. The camera is an absolute ergonomic and control-layout pleasure to use. Menus make sense. Performance is good with just a few small things to gripe about.

I really like the camera and it's recommended for those people not needing very fast FPS or first-party lenses past 300mm.

I highly recommend this camera. After a year with the K10D, I recently upgraded to the K20D. The K10D was fabulous and I loved it. But I really wanted the LiveView mode and the higher resolution of the K20D. I was disappointed with LiveView though. It is mostly useless. It is nothing like a typical LiveView on most new compact digital cameras. On the K20D, you flip a lever to activate it, at which point auto-focus no longer works (without pressing the AF button and waiting several seconds while the screen goes black and it refocuses... on "something"). You can manually focus, but that can be a challenge based on the LiveView screen, especially in bright light (and the viewfinder is blank when LiveView is active). After taking a shot, there is a several second "blackout" period where the screen goes black. This is the #1 annoyance in my opinion, and it's the main reason I never use it. You can continue shooting while it's black, but you won't really know what you're shooting. So my use of LiveView is limited to the occasional self-portrait shot where I need to set the camera on the ground. It is sometimes "slightly" useful to frame a shot in that situation. (A flip-out screen would make it much more useful.) So aside from my complaints about LiveView, I do love everything else about this camera. The higher resolution and better quality image sensor is definitely an improvement over the K10D. At the highest resolution, pictures are much larger, of course. (I shoot in RAW, so I bought a 16GB SDHC card, which holds about 600 RAW images.) There are a few other "cool" new features (like a 21 fps low-res shooting mode), but I really haven't found any practical use for them. The picture processing engine on this K20D is faster than the K10D. In summary, if you want the higher resolution, buy the K20D. If 10MP is enough for you and you don't care about novelty features, buy the K10D. But you will be happy with either of these great new Pentax cameras. For the next model, I'm hoping for "real" always-on LiveView and a flip-out screen!

I've been a photographer for twenty-five years or so, and eight years of that I was a pro. I've owned Hasselblads and Canons and Nikons and Linhofs. I've owned pentax in the past and loved them. This camera continues the tradition, offering more for your money - more quality than comparably priced cameras, more pixels, more features - you name it. It's priced like an enthusiast camera with enough "pro" features to deserve the appellation. It's no EOS 1Ds MKIII, but the full size image is breathtaking. There's resolution to spare, and the shake reduction works miracles for me. I have a handheld image shot at 1/4 sec that's sharp at 100% crop!

And the ease with which you can use the old lenses is just ridiculous. Throw even an old Pentax-M lens on it, set the camera to manual, set your aperture, touch the "Green Button", and the camera sets the programmed exposure - you can adjust from there to your heart's content. You can even specify the kind of program used by the green button - optimized for fast shutter speeds or depth of field - or the sharpest resolution settings of the appropriate lens. You can pick up used Pentax lenses all over for next to nothing, excellent glass on par with any manufacturer. Pentax glass is known for its color saturation and contrast, and this camera shows it off.

I don't want to just repeat what's already been said, but I also have to say - this is a photographer's camera. It does everything you'd want a camera to do, and then some. The "Hyper Program" is unbelievably cool - you touch the shutter, it sets the exposure, then you roll dials to adjust from there. Absolutely transparent. You can customize the functions of the wheels to a ridiculously convenient level - this can be any camera you want it to be. All in all, this is a real jewel, and the king of bang-for-the-buck.

I've been using this camera for nearly three weeks now and it is great! The camera feels very steady and all of the buttons and knobs are well placed. the pictures are also very good. The only issue that I've run into is that the x-sync speed isn't as high as I would like. 1/180 max sync speed isn't enough to really freeze any high speed motion. Overall though the camera is excellent and works well, even with the manual 20 year old lenses I am using. Also the battery life is good I can take more than 800 shots on one charge, without flash.

This was quite an upgrade from the Samsung GX-1S (clone of *ist DS2) I used previously . Pentax have always put out nice products but haven't really been pushing the envelope until now.

The bad:

Auto white balance is still pretty poor. This has been the case with the other Pentax DSLRs. Certainly not a huge concern--especially if you shoot RAW--but a little annoying considering other manufacturers seem to manage it much better.

It has a tendency to underexpose. Normally I find myself shooting with +0.7EV compensation and rarely do I run into situations where it blows out the highlights with that setting.


The good:

Absolutely outstanding image quality. I have shot everything from 110 to large format in film, and the first thing that struck me looking at some of the K20D shots was that it looks like medium format film: the ultra-smooth gradations and gorgeous tones.

The lens focus adjustment! Both my Pentax SMCPDA 16-45mm Zoom f/4.0 ED/AL Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras and Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens for Pentax and Samsung SLR Cameras required some adjustments to compensate for slight front and back focusing. Without this feature I would have been stuck with lenses that would not focus perfectly wide open.

The viewfinder. Large, bright, clear.

TAv mode. I spend 90% of my time shooting in this; Pentax treats ISO like a third variable in addition to shutter speed and aperture. Simple and brilliant. You just adjust the shutter speed and aperture with the wheels and it tells you the ISO so you can make a judgment call on a good compromise between all three.

Clever battery grip design that lets you store a spare SD card and remote.

Nice high ISO performance. I have shots at 5000 that look good, though 6400 is pretty noisy.

Hands-off noise reduction. Default is OFF, which lets you control it entirely in post-processing. Much rather have that than the water color paintings other cameras prefer to output.

Again, AMAZING image quality. I was worried that they were pushing the sensor too far with 14.6mp but they manage to control noise and retain wonderful detail. It does require good optics to get the most out of it, so I would recommend looking at some high quality glass. The 16-45/4 is one of the bargains out there; tack sharp, great color and contrast, and just around $300 new.

If Pentax could do a little better on the white balance and metering it would be absolutely perfect for me. As it stands, it is still an incredible bargain though!

I purchased my K20D a few weeks ago and I'm very impressed. There are some minor things like the formating, it's 100 times faster than my K100D, the focus is faster also. I was out yesterday and it started raining and I had the wife cover up the K100D, but I just kept shooting with the K20D. No other company's camera can do or say that. I also love that Pentax can use every lens they ever made, and ebay has become a shopping haven for me.
All I can say Is you won't be dissapointed with the K20D. Just go out and hold one and then hold the competitors and you can feel the better quality of the K20D.

I have been really happy with this Pentax K20d, and I am impressed with the 16-45 f.4 lens that I bought to go with it. I initially upgraded from a Canon Rebel 300D to a Canon 40D, it was a nice upgrade but the new Canon wasn't bringing me enough enjoyment to be worth the near thousand dollars I paid for it, and I knew it would lead me to buying lenses that would be too heavy and expensive. I sent it back and a moth later decided to buy the K20d. I was impressed with the low price and low weight of Pentax's mid-range lenses. I honestly thought that the camera itself wouldn't be as good as the 40D but I decided to follow the mantra that lenses are what matter and thought I could sell my Canon lenses and get some great Pentax prime lenses, and a wide zoom lens.

I have had the K20d for a over a month, and it is a great camera. It takes the pictures that I want it to take. This is the first digital camera I've been really excited about using and I think it is because it allows me to get the exact exposure I want. The metering won't produce as many decent pictures on full auto as a Canon, because it will always preserve bright highlights. The reviews say that it underexposes, because if you take a picture of a person with the sky behind them, it will consistently keep the sky from blowing out - making the person too dark. At first this means more missed and underexposed shots, but it exposes the same way all the time, and after a week with the camera I found that I always knew how the camera was metering and I now get the exact exposure I want on the first shot far more often than I used to.

The camera also makes manual mode far more useable. I like finding a good exposure for the light and then sticking to that as long as I know I am in similar light. If my photos are looking a little bright or a little dark on the histogram, I change the shutter speed or aperture a click. With the green button, I can be in manual mode but have an automatic resetting any time the light changes, from full sun to shade. Anytime I know that there is a big change in light I hit the green button and get the automatic exposure setting, instead of having to spin the dials.

I like the ability to change what the dials and buttons do in many of the modes. I can customize what the control wheels do in each picture mode. Also note that many reviews say the K20d does not show ISO in the viewfinder (which was a big detractor for me since it was one feature I really liked about the 40D upgrade) but actually you can customize this and show ISO in the viewfinder instead of the number of remaining shots. You can also change ISO in any mode by holding OK while turning the finger wheel.

Negatives: The K20d does produce more noise over ISO 800 than the Canon, but I like that it keeps more detail and I like the grain of the noise far better. However sometimes in very high ISO shots there can be too much chroma noise (colored noise) to do anything but convert to BW, and in two or three pictures I have seen banding in high ISO pictures when I try to push them a stop in my raw converter. Also the auto-focus sometimes hunts in single shot mode in light that the 40D would handle, although I have found that if I put it on AF-Continuous (AI Servo in Canon) it usually finds focus. My understanding is that the Pentax AF system attempts to be more exact, and I think I have noticed that when I am in good light I have less missed pictures due to focus than with the Canon.

This is my first DSLR so I really can't compare from experience. I did a lot of research in advance and I'm happy to say that I got what I expected. Love this camera!

This is a well designed, and well made product. Since this is my first digital camera, I was prepared to be frequently baffled and frustrated by a steep learning curve. Not the case-- for having as many controls as it does, operating it is very intuitive and the results are impressive.

disclaimer - going to write this in an almost bullet'ed fashion to save time.

reasons why i bought this: -already have old pentax lenses. (work fine with it. 2 lens from 1960)

-14.6 megapixel. i read that its comparable to the 35mm negative in enlargement. that's true. after scanning and old negative at 1200 dpi, the lens captured the same amount of detail. it's pretty amazing.

-weatherproofing. in the past, i've always used very old manual cameras -because they're built like a tank, and will never break. and usually don't need a battery. this is about as close as you can get for under 1500$ i believe. and if i'm spending money, i don't want to buy another for many a year.

-2 knobs. as someone who's never used a camera with "modes", this is perfect. the aperture and shutter are very easy to control, so the picture comes out how you'd like it. also as a plus, the only "modes" this has are useful. aperture priority, shutter priority, manual, hyper program, and sensor priority. no fireworks, portrait, sports.... etc.

-a few plusses i wasn't expecting. double and triple exposures are possible in camera. the anti shake is amazing. i can shoot down to 1/10th of a second with almost no problem.
-when shooting in black and white, you can use in camera "filter" effects. it has an ifra red filter that while isn't a true infra red look, it does have a very high contrast, and seems to pull more tones out of any available scene.


negatives: (kindof)
-at work we use a nikon, the buttons and meter are reversed. so i have to stay used to two setups.
-the preset white balances are close, but not dead-on. the transitions are very subtle, so i don't think anyone who wasn't there will know.. but at the same time i don't mind at all. if i don't adjust the white balance, some images kind of take on a weirdly enhanced look.
-in very low light, the autofocus has a challenge. again, not a problem because it has a manual focus.
- the weatherproofing. the camera is tough as hell, but unless you use a certain lens set (i read) that water could enter where the lens meets the body. (so far i've yet to shoot in a hard rain though)

This is my first DSLR (though by no means my first digital camera: I've had a Powershot G1, Olympus C8080WZ & a Lumix LX-2). I've been refusing to buy a DSLR mostly because I've been annoyed with Canon & Nikon (they seem mostly to be about defining and farming market niches) and Olympus isn't there yet (limitations with Dynamic Range and viewfinder size). I've never owned a Pentax before but the more I read about it, the more I liked it on paper. Now that I've got it, I like it even better. The camera offers tremendous flexibility and control in a very straightforward way. If you're an enthusiastic amateur, want to take beautiful pictures, and don't want to have to spend an arm and a leg to do it, you should absolutely consider buying the K20D.

Have been using the K20D since June 08 and am very pleased with both the image quality as well as the features and functions.Controls and flexibility are outstanding with significant customization available. At 14.1 MP it is definitely a class leader in resolution.

Things I love:
- Most importantly excellent image quality (when combined with the DA*
lenses): sharp,clear and good color rendition, & dynamic range.
- Shake reduction built into the body which enables the use of any lens
in order to gain the benefit.
- Additional ability to further customize image quality for contrast,
sharpness, color, hue for 5 deferent presets. Not really necessary,
but available if you so choose.
- Ability to simultaneously shoot JPEG+RAW (pre-set or on demand)
- Intuitive controls and menus
- Excellent displays in both the main LCD screen as well as the top
LCD(excellent back lighting in the top LCD: bright green
illumination).
- Compact size for smaller hands, but good fit for larger hands when
coupled with the battery grip (I have reviewed the grip separately).
- Very quiet shutter sound
- Good fit and finish (solid build) & moisture/dust sealed

Things I wish it had:
- On demand composition grid in view finder (Advantage D300)
- Button adjustment for White Balance. The K20D requires that you get
to a menu first. Not a big issue since auto WB seems to work very
well in 99% of my usage conditions.
- Protective cover for the main LCD (Advantage D300). I currently use
an after-market product.

The K20D has been rated low in its Frame Per Second ability (3 FPS compared to the Canon at 6 FPS). If you require his FPS burst rate (i.e. sports journalism), this will be a handicap. For my usage, it is not an hinderance and therefore I discount the need for an ultra fast FPS burst rate.

I recommend the DA* series lenses to get the best out of the K20D. These lenses are a tad pricey, but still less expensive than Canon's equivalent L series lenses. The image quality of the DA* lenses is outstanding and complement the K20D very well especially with the SDM focusing (fast and quiet)and weather-sealing.

This camera is definitely for the enthusiast/prosumer. When I was shopping for a new camera, I tried both a D300 and the K20D for a good 3 week trial each. Based on my user experience, I opted for the K20D and have no regrets.

Since my day-to-day camera is a Pentax K10D, I was curious how the K20D would compare. I expected the camera to perform better than the K10D and prove to be a worthwhile upgrade. What I discovered was that the K20D is an amazing camera in much the same way as the older K10D. In short, while it's a very good camera, it might not be a worthwhile upgrade for current K10D owners.

Focus speed of the K20D is about the same as the K10D, just a little quieter. The 3 fps continuous shooting performance is nice, but the similarly speced Canon 40D and Nikon D300 have much faster continuous shooting performance. Also, the fact that you can no longer shoot JPEGs at 3fps until the card fills up was a disappointment.

Image quality is among the best I've seen in the sub $2,000 price range but the ISO noise was only marginally improved over the older K10D. The full compatibility with every Pentax lens means almost limitless options for expansion and growth of your photographic skills. Colors are rich even at the "natural" image tone setting. In-camera shake reduction and dust removal means that this mid-level camera is remarkably full-featured. Thanks to the intuitive control layout, any serious photographer will feel right at home.

Bottom line: if you don't already own a K10D, at the $1,299 (and lower) price point the K20D may be the best value on the market.

Very cool camera.

I've shot with a 35mm pentax SuperME since 1988. Then in 2006 made the leap to digital SLR with a Canon Rebel XT (350d). I had great fun with the XT, and still use it as my backup camera.

I've got more serious with my photography and decided to purchase the K20D from a Nikon guy that won it in a photo contest and had no use for it.

WOW- this camera is light years ahead of the 350D! Only thing I am working hard to get around is that I miss canon's warmer colors. The XT takes pictures that are a lot warmer.. and that suits my style very well.

I could of course use Photosho/Lightroom to add some warmth.. but that is besides the point.

I'm very happy with the low light performance, and the 14.6 MP effective range... good stuff!