2 New K20Ds

Well we finally did it and two new K20D cameras with the 18-55mm II lenses arrived this afternoon from SRS.

There are a few minor improvements over the K10D in the way of catches and small design tweaks, but of course it is basically the same beast.

Now one of our K10D cameras will be used for eBay images and the like and this means that soon the other Pentax K10D with MkI 18-55mm lens will be available and also a Fuji S9600.

You can't really complain about the curent Pentax prices. Fantastic value.

Congratulations John - I'm sure you'll get good use out of them

Lucky old you John, but I at least managed to buy 1

They aren't both for me, Sue takes possession of one of them!

The sad thing is her pictures will still be better....

But we never see any of Sue's pictures

Indeed not, I'll tell her you mentioned it!

is it worth the upgrade. i am in two minds. sell my k10 and buy a k20. if my k10 goes for £250 and i purchase the k20 for £570 (£470 with cash back) it will only cost me £220.

or i could buy a new lens, one of those sdm lenses that i seek but as you can see it is a bit more costly.

so is the k20 worth the upgrade?

In my opinion, yes.

The increased resolution will be useful, especially if images have to be cropped. The ergonomics have been improved, only slightly, but I noticed a few things straight away.

I've not seen anyone mention a new Premium JPEG setting, which should be interesting. Its file size is almost as much as RAW, so the amount of compression could be quite modest.

There's alsdo a range of image style settings accessible via the Fn button, so maybe the settings for portraits, vivid, etc., could be useful as well.

LIve View I'm not interested in, but the rest of the package has been enhanced and seems to be a meaningful upgrade that at the current price we could not refuse.

I'd answer yes
Lower noise (largely due to the CMOS sensor, compared to the CCD of the K10D), slightly larger dynamic range, ISO up to 6400 (albeit noisy), micro adjustment for focus, PC connector for studio flash, minor control improvements (for ISO selection etc), and more pixels.

Only reason not to is that you'll probably need 4Gb cards with it! (I bought 3 Sandisk Extreme III cards from Picstop!)

Matt

Im using bog standard 2Gb cards and shooting in RAW and Im getting plenty of shots per card (cannot remember exact number). I may get 4Gb when I next order some but i knd of prefer more small cards anyway.

the noise is something i am not totally impressed with at iso 1600 on the k10 so if that is improved in the k20 i will be quite happy.

i will play try and find a k20 to play with at the weekend and see how it works out.

just managed to buy a grip, pentax battery and remote all for £90 so my luck seems to be in.

also, anyone noticed if the focusing is any quicker on the k20?

So, you've come off the fence and decided not to wait for the K20D John

The K20D package I find tempting but I am still getting used to my K10D...

All the best with your new kit

Well on the K20D I have very usable shots at ISO2500
I have been very pleased with its noise levels (there is noise, but it's perfectly manageable!)
Matt

I just did the same...ie traded in my k10d on ebay for £275 and replaced it with a nice new k20d...and love it.

Even though I had some Front focusing issues which are now resolved knowing that the AF reacts differently under Tungsten