K100D or DS2

I was about to buy a k100d when I spotted a Samsung GX-1S with bundled lens for a closeout price of $330.00 (US). As this is quite a bit cheaper it makes it a tempting offer.

Wondering if the K100 is worth the difference. I am certainly attracted to that shake reduction, however, otherwise are they not fairly similar?

Brian

Brian,

I traded my DS2, which I loved, in for a K100D in November and I am thrilled with the K100D. The shake reduction is super and I think the picture quality is better on the K100D

Mike

I'm not sure about the GX-1s, but if it is a knock-off of a Pentax camera, you have to look to its future with flash upgrades.

I'm not convinced that the cost savings is worth it in this case. I know that with the K10D there have already been some serious upgrades to the functionality, but the Samsung GX10 owners are still waiting with no word of availability.


Once Samsung gets rolling with a product they can truly call their own, they may be more responsive. But for now I'd stick with Pentax.

This will be my first dslr. I currently have a MZ5n, which I loved but have found myself using less and less in place of my digital point and shoot. I'm hoping to revive my slr enthusiasm but have been putting it off.

What I like so much about the MZ5n is that the controls were so simple. I had hoped that somehow Pentax might be the first on the blocks with a "retro" dslr. I am a little worried about moving to the dslr body for both the complexity and how my old lenses will work out.

Brian

I had the MZ5n as well... Well, until some salt water got in and jammed the shutter mechanism, but that is another story.

Anyway, I think you'll find the Pentax line has stayed with a reasonably sensible user interface. Obviously there will be new things to learn, but it took me no time at all to go from the MZ5n to the istD. I suspect the K100D should be fairly similar. (as would be the Samsung for that matter)

Your lenses will certainly work. The reason I went to the Pentax digital SLR rather than another brand was because my old lenses were still usable.

I would suggest you stop by a camera store, if possible, and test drive one for a few minutes. Even bring your old lenses and see how well they work. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with how little you need to learn to jump in and start using the new digital line. You can then play with the extra features later as you find the need/desire to use them.

Brian,

I see you are in Bracebridge. When I bought my DS2 and the K100D I took all my lenses to Henry's and tried them out - actually took some shots in and outside the store. Do you have a Henry's within driving distance?

Mike

Henry's is in Toronto, a couple hours and to be honest, since I moved out of the city I avoid going south of Barrie if I can. I had a chance to play with the K100 a little from the local photo store and snapped some photo's but all just using the automatic setting.

Living in a small town I usually like to support local business however the fellow at the store (I think he's the owner) told me the k100 got lousy reviews and that I'd be better off with Canon. He said he couldn't understand why I'd want a Pentax. I told him that I had a couple thousand dollars worth of lenses that were collecting dust and as far as I could tell it got great reviews. He said no, very bad. Then he said that he likes DPReview.com and that they gave it a bad review, which is untrue. So basically he insulted me and lost my business.

In any event, I am just going to order it. I'm excited to get back to using an SLR again.

How do you find the viewfinder on the k100 vs the ds2?
for what it's worth I find the ds2 to be easier than my old mz5.
why?
I tend to use it on manual, often with manual lenses or lenses with an aperture ring. I set my aperture, push the ael button (hyper manual) and dial in any exposure adjustments with the wheel and go. where things get easy, is dialling in iso changes whenever needed.

Brian,

I didn't read the review on dpreview but ALL the magazine reviews I have read gave it excellent marks and praised the shake reduction, viewfinder, and better exposures, etc.

Don,

The viewfinder was the only thing that bothered me when I was contemplating the trade. When Henry's said they would honour mine even though it was just over one year old I went back the next day.

I set up both cameras with identical lenses and focused on items in the store at various distances and lighting conditions and the same outside. I was concerned that the pentaprism in the DS2 would be much brighter than the pentamirror in the K100D. Obviously this is one of the reasons that the DS2 body was more expensive to start with.

I was surpised, and after many tests, decided that the K100D viewfinder was slightly, and only slightly, brighter. Not trusting my ancient eyes, and not saying anthing, I asked my favourite and trustworthy sales person to try the test and she came back with the same results.

The K100D is advertised as having a Field Of View of 96% where the DS2 is listed as 95%. The DS2 has the edge on magnfiication with 0.95x compared to 0.85x on the K100D.

I do find the exposures better on the K100D and was surprised that some of the magazine reviews bore this out. Although I have both AF360FGZ and AF540FGZ flashes I quite often use the pop-up when taking quick candids of my grandchildren. I noticed on my daughter's K110D that the pop-up flash sits higher than on the DS2. When I picked up my K100D the flash also sits higher when it is open and does give better flash results. Maybe the flash is different but the higher physical position negates the need to remove the lens hood on the 18-55 unless your are extremely close.

Hope this helps.

Mike

Thanx...
believe it or not, I'm actually trying to talk Gerri out of buying the k10 and into a k100+ 2 lenses the 16-45 + 50-200.

There is good logic in having a lower cost body and more lenses. You will be able to take a wider variety of photographs. The lower resolution is a shame, but the K100D will no doubt produce extremely good results.

Megapixels are not everything.

That's nice to hear. That was one of my other dilemmas; If I should go straight for the k10 or the k100 as originally planned. The thing is, our child less than a year old and so we really don't know if he'll go to college anyways, so why save for it? Right?

Kidding, of course. The K100 with 50-200 zoom has a $150.00 US rebate otherwise it's a $50.00 rebate.

I've also been considering getting the 40mm pancake lens with it. Reviews seem very good on the lens and I would think this would make the camera almost as convenient to tote around as a point and shoot.

Well if the market we serve were asking for more huge enlargements, that'd be one thing...but people have been happy with the "package". The exposure probs with the manual lenses on the d10 (( 50mm 1.4 and 85mm soft focus) which coincidentally are the ones I'd want to use most often in low light with sr) is worrying.

Do you know if my 7 or 8 year old AF 500 flash will work with the K100d? If not, I was wondering if anyone knows about the Sakar flash unit for Pentax, which is only $80US.

I was hoping to order a 40mm pancake lens but they seem to be sold out at the few places I looked. So I decided to order that later and went to order the camera last night only to find that it was sold out at the place I was planning to order from (Beach Camera). I've dealt with them and they've been good so I'll have to wait another couple weeks for them to get more stock.

I suppose this is good that they're selling out of cameras and lenses.

It's more likely that your supplier had very little stock, sold it, now can't get any more. Pentax's supply chain is utterley apalling. In this day and age, good product or not, if they don't get their supply hat on straight, they'll be hit hard by defections to other brands.

A big problem for manufacturers in today's selling arena is the 'Iwant it' and I want it now' mentality of the general buying public. If Pentax can't supply, buyers will buy another brand.