K-x review

Seems to be one of the very first out there:

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/cameras-and-camcorders/cameras/digital-slrs/pen...

Overall very positive, if a bit brief and superficial. The sample images are not that great to judge the camera, but the reviewer did seem to like it.

Yes it is rather superficial but positive enough and I agree that the initial asking price of £599 is rather high. Whilst I have reservations about AA batteries myself, the significant development of Eneloop batteries seems to have passed this reviewer by.

Dave

A quick look around shows the price to be on a par with the canikony offerings.

Let's face it,£600 for a brand new camera isn't bad considering the state of the pound against the yen/euro/dollar!

Give it 3 months and then complain about the price, I know that's what I'll do.

The other thing in the review is the fact that they rate the standard lens as excellent. So you won't need to replace it to get good shots, unlike the competition!


Edit:- I forgot to mention that a lot of 'new' users will find the AA battery thing a positive. You can get them anywhere so no need to have a dead camera with flat batteries!

AA batteries is a marmite issue. Personally I've always seen the Li-Ion block batteries as a necessary evil for the high power requirements of top end cameras.

AAs give you more options on your power source and I would rate the fact that a camera uses them as a massive plus.

That's an interesting review, pretty comprehensive but not too technical. Like the ephotozine review (link) it confirms that noise levels are incredibly low on this camera - far less than the K-7, when you compare ephotozine's test shots at ISO 3200.

not only is it possible to get just as many shots from a decent set of rechargables, the same batteries power your flash units, and even better.... you can recharge three sets in the same time it takes the k10 battery to recharge once. Now add up the cost of three sets of rechargables to a Pentax battery for the k10...

I'm much happier with the Li-Ion battery pack in the K10D, K20D or K7.

Changing battery in the field is much quicker, without having to juggle with 8 AA batteries (4 out, 4 new ones in) whilst making sure the polarities are all correct.

It's a shame there's no battery grip for the K-m/x, but if the batteries last as long as in my K200d then there shouldn't be any need to change in the field.

We've got to remember that these Kamers are aimed at novice/new DSLR users, so any cut in running costs count.

After all, how many other cameras can you get fresh power for for under a fiver?

Recharging the Li-Ion battery costs considerably less than a fiver. The use of such batteries will be cheaper than using non-rechargeable AAs I'm sure.

Now put enough of them together and we get the new electric Mini that cosys just 1p to 1.5p per mile to run. I think that was 4888 Lithium cells in series.

I was referring to the cost of the battery set, John, I know that lithium cells are a one shot item, when they're dead that's it.

But a set of NiMhs or similar is still substantially cheaper then a spare battery for a K10/20/7.

Let's not knock Pentax' choice of power for the K-m/x, after all it's only a small part of the whole package!