K10D shipped and in user hands

Seems the folks in Seattle have got their hands on the first shipped production K10D's, first user image's posted here.
http://www.pbase.com/77stever

Penatx has also posted some official high iso images on their japanese website.
http://www.digital.pentax.co.jp/ja/35mm/k10d/ex.html

Looking very good.

SRSChris, any update ?

What a pathetic picture.

Over-exposed, no natural colours (like SKIN) to be seen, taken at one second so not very sharp.

Completely uselss for any evaluative purpose whatsoever.

But thanks for the news.

G

I have to agree with you George, I was more interested in the official high iso samples, they dom't look to bad at all.

I have emailed my Pentax rep this morning for further info and as its Saturday I may not hear back from him today. Reading the DPReview forum it would appear that 3 people have the camera. It certainly doesn't appear to be a large shipment at all.

I was told a while ago that Europe and specifically the UK would be getting their hands on the first batch - maybe this means that they will be with us next week? This is a guess of course and I could be wrong.

All I know at the moment is that PUK have had a very small number of units in (less than 5) which are being used for review purposes. I guess this means that we are all set and ready to go!

As soon as I get any info, I will post on here.

Chris

Thanks for the update Chris.

George, Brian,

I have to disagree with you both, the image does show something of the cameras capabilities, the shot was 1sec at f8, assuming it was hand held just proves that the Shake Reduction works well, could either of you guys get an image like that handholding at those settings???

Have to disagree here, a normal daylight exposure at say 1/60 or 1/125 on a tripod at iso's 400, 800 and 1600 with a wide dynamiic range would give a far better gauge as to the cameras capabilities but I believe he may have been in a hurry to be first although as you say nor bad for 1sec hand held, just a horrible choice of subject.

We know from the K100D that the Pentax SR works with a gain of 2-4 stops. The OP has now posted a raw file in DNG format straight from the camera http://www.sendspace.com/file/zsdg52 the server is to busy for me to download, only 6.8MB from what I can gather and very favourable remarks from the one's who have been able to get it.

I very much doubt that the picture was hand-held. SR might give you a usable 1/15 sec with a 77mm lens, or even 1/8, but never one second.

My biggest gripe though was the unnatural subject colours, so there was no way to guage the accuracy of the colour rendition.

G

Morning all!

Have had a chat with my Pentax rep. It is likely that the first drop (which is going to be quite small) will be with us hopefully this week. It can be delayed a day while the product is packed with a UK manual and mains lead for the charger.

It would appear that there will be small drops per week until Xmas. However Pentax have many more on backorder (this includes the Intro 2020 amount) than they can supply.

I have been assured that we will get a decent amount, although this may be spread over a few weeks. Fingers crossed!

As soon as I get any more info I will post on here.

As usual, any questions please ask!


Chris

I've had an email from B&H New York stating that the K10D is now in stock.

All in all a bit of a pathetic launch, Pentax should have had much more stock available for pre-Christmas sales, I guess that most of the available stock will be snatched up by existing Pentax users, leaving very little stock left for "Christmas shoppers" Anyone looking for a new DSLR this Christmas will probably end up with a Canon or Nikon.

Well they can have mine, I am still going to wait till the new year and see if the price drops a little.

Really Impotent Spider, there's no pleasing some people.

Pentax are working flat out to meet higher than expected demand, and you call it a pathetic launch. What should they do? Build a new factory over-night? Or delay the launch until after Christmas?

G

I noticed the SRS advert in the new AP lists Pentax and Nikon...and no Canon. Is this a prophecy?

You know the old nursery rhyme "Mondays child is fair of face, Tuesdays child is full of grace, Wednesdays child is full of WOE" etc etc

well I was born on a wednesday so thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I suppose I was a bit harsh, I'm in a better mood now I've just read John's post, I suppose I'll be changing to Canon kit in a few months, I've always liked the idea of championing the underdog!

Some better samples here:
http://nedbunnell.blogspot.com/2006/11/few-k10d-snapshots.html

here:
http://imageevent.com/wlleven/k10dtest/1600

and here:
http://laree.smugmug.com/gallery/2146307/3/111480221

...and here:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fdc.watch.impress.co.jp%2Fcd...
(Translated)

Matt