D40, K10 20 200 - Help please!

Hello folks!
Boy - I thought there was a lot to consider when I got into 35mm!
Now we have joy of joys - the interweb - aka information overload.
I am now poised to make my first DSLR purchase. I was about to plump for a Nikon D40 but at the last minute the lack of auto bracketing (something I think I would use a lot) made me reconsider.

Here I am now looking at the 200D. My question (s) to you all:

With a Nikon D40 available for £225 can I justify the extra £125 for a Pentax?
I have read that the 200D produces better pictures than the 20D?
I like the look and the spec of the 10D – it has some superb reviews - is it obsolete (as afar as a new purchase is concerned) now?
Is the kit Pentax 18-55 as naff as some reviews suggest?

Phew – Decisions, Decisions……………

Don't forget that there is a £50 rebate available on a K200D with lens so the difference will be down to £75.

The 18-55 mk2 is better than the original and reputable dealers will be supplying those.

In the end, if you want auto bracketing and the K200D feels right, go for it.

Well; not to mention image stabalisation in the body, a dust removal system and weather sealing on the K200D - when you put those things in the hat, an extra £75 in the end is very much worth it in my opinion.

If that were true it would be a major egg-on-face moment for Pentax, but it's not something I've heard. The K20D is the flagship model and is supposedly a major step up from the K10D, on whose imaging engine the K200 is based.

That said, the K200D is a superb camera, my Dad recently got one with the 18-55 Mk2 and it is excellent. I wont be trading in my K10D for one, but if I were just starting out it's probably the body I'd go for.

Don't forget as well that the K200D can use any K mount Auto Focus lens with no restrictions, many manual focus lenses with only slight restrictions and if you're willing to resort to stop down metering it'll take anything that fits in the hole. The same cannot be said of Nikons low end cameras (D40 and D60) which lack an auto focus motor and so cannot focus Nikons own earlier AF lenses.

K200D is just in a different class than the Nikon D40, the extra £75 will be money very well spent.

To touch on the 18-55 kit lens, I heard that the main reason why the MKII was released was to ensure that the K20D could make the most of it's 14.6MP sensor with it's kit lens; so I would imagine that the benefit of having the MKII over the MKI on the K200D will be diluted to some degree.

But by all accounts the 15-55 kit lens (either MK I or MKII) is extremely good for a kit lens - in my opinion one of the best kit lenses out there, and I've never known a naff review of it (i'd be interested to read it).

But it ultimately all boils down to your own specific needs as a photographer - you need to think very hard about the attributes of each camera you are considering and come to a conclusion. BUT I'd personally say go for the K200D if this is your first DSLR, or if you want more pro spec then certainly the K10D is also a stunning camera for what you can pick them up for today. I would'nt worry about the K10D being 'obsolete'. You can have the latest and greatest in DSLR kit - but if you cant get the best out of it, it's all for nothing. Have a more budget spec and older camera in your hand, and if you find it much easier to use and get a greater consistency of results from it then i'd choose that over the latest and greatest any day of the week.

Having played with the D40 it really it built down to a price, the K200D feels more substantial.

I'm a K10D owner and very happy with it, the K200D will do most things the K10D did. And I think you'd be very happy with it..

No-one has mentioned that the D40 is 'only' 6MP

I did consider raising that point - that the D40 is only 6MP; but I was tempted to stray away from a megapixel comparison - but yes that is also a plus point certainly.

This a good read to go through comparing the K200D and the K10D link

The kit lens from Pentax is the best kit lens from all the brands with new Canon kit lens as a good second. You can look them up here link
You can also look up Nikon's kit lens in there but you will see it isn't much

The money that you save now on the Nikon 40D will be gone after you buy the first lens.
This a simple comparison I made for someone on another site wanting to buy the Sony because of the cashback on the kit but he would probalbe buy some lenses too to fill his need, this the result.

Do you see what I mean
Most people just look at the camera and not at the lenses, Pentax lenses are surely one of the best and the quality of these are all almost the same so I've no idea why someone would want to spend $600 more on another brand for the same quality. :

Btw the worse lenses are those of Sony but they are the most expensive, If people only look a bit further

A minority opinion, I think.

The K10D is officially discontinued, but you still may find one. Note that it has a better viewfinder and an extra control wheel compared to the K200D. It's important that you enjoy using the camera, as well as it taking good shots.

Any review that suggests that is naff itself. The 18-55 is good, let alone good for a kit lens. The mk II version is even better.

Go for a K20D if you can possibly afford one (perhaps even a used one), otherwise a K10D.

Asda Wallington k200d kit £299.Atleast it was last week when I was there.

One of our K10D cameras, boxed, with kit lens and all the original accessories, will be on eBay within a couple of hours from now.

Now theres a choice for you, Johns K10D

Personally, the D40 is a bit of a consumer DSLR, aimed at people who want to upgrade from a compact, and built to a price.
The K200D however is on a level above the D40, and has the following advantages:-
1. Better viewfinder (even though it is only a pentamirror rather than a pentaprism, it is still brighter than the D40, D80 and even D90)
2. shake reduction in-body, rather then in-lens, meaning that ALL lenses put on the K200D will have image stabilisation. It works as well, I have a K10D and K20D and would'nt dream of not having it now.
3. Sealing, All K200D's have full weather sealing, and if my K10D during a Blackpool shoot is anything to go by, a major PLUS.
4. AF points, the D40 only has 3 (I believe) and the K200D has 11, enough said!
5. Sensor, It is the sensor from the K10D, and its a cracking 10MP one.
6. IQ, possibly the most personal one, but I like the images that Pentax produce.
7. Build, Metal chassis housed in a plastic body, and feels well built.
8. Lenses, the K200D can use ANY Pentax Bayonet lens from the past 40 years (apart from some obscure ones in the early eighties) and will happily use screw mount lenses with adapter, the D40 cannot use some nikon mount lenses.

Quite a list, and I am sure that you will make the decision that is preferable to you.

The D40 doesnt have a screwmotor to drive the autofocus of the lens. most lenses will work though but without autofocus only the new and more expensive lenses with a build in motor have AF.

Many, many thanks to you all for your very helpful and constructive comments. I have decided to continue down the Pentax road - though still to decide on which model!

Nick

Check this out, if you fancy getting a telephoto lens as well.....

link

Good luck with your purchase, but I guess if you've been on a similar site for Nikon users they will give you many, many reasons why you should get the D40 over the K200D....