New camera on the way

[nighthawk]

I just purchased a Pentax K10D from Cameta Camera. Looking forward to shooting some fish porn with my new camera. Not to knock my K110D but it has 6.1 mega pixels as compared to the 10.2 mega pixels of the K10D.

The K10D has some very neat shooting modes but it does lack the scene modes on other models, including my K110D. The K10D is a photographer's camera with a reliance on the photographer setting up the shot. This is much like the Pentax Asahi K-1000 35mm SLR film camera that I used for many years. I enjoy the challenge of setting up the camera and composing the shot manually. I think I will enjoy this camera even more than my K110D. Here is a link to the K10D:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxk10d/

The weather sealing, shake reduction and dust removal will be a nice thing to have.

[Kerry Stratton]

Nice camera. Just curious, but why not the K20D?

[Byron Zuehlsdorff]

Gee, I just bought a Nikon COOLPIX P80. I know it isn't as waterproof drop resistant as some others but it has an 18 power optical zoom and several other features that my old Olympus z740. Mainly, It has antivibration which the old didn't. My Oldest dayghter just bought a Pentax digital SLR, I don't remember which one, as she is looking at a photograpy business

Enjoy the new camera, after reading all about the features, I'm still reading mine after a week!!

[nighthawk]

Nice camera. Just curious, but why not the K20D?

Kerry,
Great question. Thanks for responding. There are a several of reasons.

First is the price. It's not that I cannot afford the K20D but right now we are putting the boy through school. When he gets done he will have a degree in computer hardware and writing software. We are hoping to open up our own shop and he stands a good chance of getting hired by the Feds that I work for, Defense Logistics Agency, in their I.T. department. That will be a very nice paying job for him. So the K10D fits better into my budget.

Second Pentax is soon to bring out the next series, the K30, and that means a drop in the current K20 series prices. If it follows true to form the price will drop at least 25%. The "Keeping up with the Jone's types" will drive the price down even further by putting a lot of good used K20's on the market.

Third were the reviews I was reading. I did a lot of research prior to buying. I also got lots of advice from the folks on Pentaxforums.com A lot of the reviews really talked about the big improvement the K10D is over the ist-D and the K110D. Higher resolution, less noise at certain ISO's and better access to the camera settings via the new configuration of the controls. The K10D is a photographers' camera like my K-1000 35mm film camera. They did not talk about the big improvement between the K20D and the K10D. While the ones that have purchased the K20D have liked their camera it seems to me that it didn't get the really high praise that the K10D did. Several as much as told me they didn't think their K20 was enough of an improvement to justify the higher cost. From my own research and knowing the picture quality of Pentax DSLR cameras I would tend to agree that the minimal gain in megapixel is not worth the higher price. Allows me to spend the money I saved on better or more lenses.

So I opted for the K10. I was considering a K200D but even though they did not bad mouth it it seems that the K200D has a love or hate relationship with Pentax owners.

Oh, there was one other thing. The "Wife Factor", as in "You want to spend HOW MUCH ON A CAMERA!?! She wanted me to buy the widescreen H.D. plasma tv she saw for about $500 dollars more than I was going to spend. I couldn't believe it when I heard myself say, "No, honey, I would rather have the camera and save us a few hundred bucks"!

I heard a gasp and when I turned around, there she stood, pale as a ghost, clutching her chest, leaning on the shopping cart. I thought the sales clerk was going to call 911. She woke up this morning with a temperature and feeling ill. Must have been too much of a shock to her system. Me wanting to actually save money. Poor thing!

[nighthawk]

Gee, I just bought a Nikon COOLPIX P80. I know it isn't as waterproof drop resistant as some others but it has an 18 power optical zoom and several other features that my old Olympus z740. Mainly, It has antivibration which the old didn't. My Oldest dayghter just bought a Pentax digital SLR, I don't remember which one, as she is looking at a photograpy business

Enjoy the new camera, after reading all about the features, I'm still reading mine after a week!!

Byron,
I very nearly bought that same Nikon Coolpix. If I buy another Point and Shoot that will be the one. A buddy of mine has one. Really sweet camera! Tell your daughter if she has not joined Pentaxforums.com she should. Lots of amatures and pros there. Very,very nice folks on a well maintained board. They give out ots of advice feee that would cost thousands of dollars to get in a phtotgraphy school. Here is the link for the board:

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/

This is a really good, clean site just like our beloved FAOL!