K10D in 2025

A few weeks ago I compared some old photos taken on my first digital camera – a 2004 Olympus – with similar ones on a modern equivalent. The colour rendition in particular got me thinking about CCD v. CMOS sensors, with the result that I bought a Pentax K10D (£95 from Ffordes) to complement my K5IIs. It’s currently paired with an old FA 24-90 that normally sits on my ME-Super. I haven’t done a side-by-side comparison, but what stands out about the K10D is the vibrant colours, rendition of sky/clouds, and subjectively natural (film-ish?) feel. I’m shooting in Adobe RAW, and noticed less need for processing than with the K5 – the exception is sharpening, where I have batch-sharpened everything to 75. The downsides are low light shooting – maximum ISO is 1600, and even 800 is slightly grainy – slightly less detail, and slower/less positive autofocus. So far very impressed with the camera, and while it has obvious limitations it's a useful addition for fine weather landscape-type photography.

Nice results, they all have natural looking colours especially on what I think is Wisteria.

I do like these - the colours do tend to have something really nice and natural about them - especially in the over-saturated world we live in today. Keep shooting with whatever combination suits you, and keep posting

I bought one in 2007 but soon found out it suffered from 'Back Focus' using 'Auto-Focus' and got fed up with it especially as I was GIVEN some OLYMPUS E Series and 2 Canon EOS cameras which are all accurate. BUT I took it to the annual Maldon Mud Race using a manual focus SMC Pentax-A 400mm f5.6 lens and got good results at ISO 400 and f9 or f11 on lens

I have the Samsung GX10 equivalent version of the K10D and love. It does have some limitations as detailed by the OP above but it is a stellar sunny day day camera.

Thank you for comments. Now I have used it more, I'm making sure to check that the autofocus has locked on - it can hunt far more than I'm used to with the K5. I've also noticed some small dust bugs which will mean a sensor clean at some point. My K20 was the same - the problem seems to have been solved on the K5.

Enjoying this sunny weather - it suits the K10!

I also use a K10D, alongside my K5. The picture here was taken with the K10D yesterday afternoon in my garden, using the standard kit lens

Welcome Oldaker and that's a beautiful image with vibrant saturated colour yet not so saturated as to look overcooked or blousy. It perfectly illustrates that an older camera and so called kit lens are just as capable of producing stunning sharp images as any modern cameras - (IMHO of course). As I have stated previously, the CCD sensor is a real sun worshipper.

More pictures from my garden, The colours really "pop " in these and for a kit lens, I think the sharpness is pretty good. I have sharpened very slightly in Photoshop 2020 ( they didn't need much ) but nothing else has been done to the images.

Lovely shots in here both from stanovich and oldaker, I'm now seeing something about the CCD ,fuss, I have heard about. Shall have to go out more with my new k100d super 👌
Cloudy and dull as dishwater here.....