K20 D

Hi all,

Spot on - it is the 'retail' price and is being discussed at this very moment at PUK.

I think it is safe to say that it will be less - how much I don't know, but I will convey the info as soon as I get it.

If anyone is in Watford tomorrow morning, I have a meeting with my Pentax rep - he will probably have a K20D and K200D and some of the new lenses with him to play with!

Chris

Cheers for that Chris, hope you can exert some influence on your pentax rep, personally I don't see how PUK can live with a near 25% price difference.

when I have the occasional client that struggles with our pricing....
I often throw in a gift certificate or two.
A little good will goes a long way.
Hoya would do well to consider that well heeled (or not so well heeled) Pentax affectionados may feel the sting a little less if every new pentax lens came with a gift certificate (I won't use the word coupon) for savings on hoya filters.

what is the DCF file?

Integrated battery grip nice bit of photshop work

Chris, while you have the camera in your hands can you check if it still has the annoying pre-flash and if so can it be turned off,
how low can you set the flash output to and is 1/180s the fastest sync setting ?

I have the K10D for travel but am still using a D200 for studio work.
Mainly because of the pre-flash problem and of course I usually work with flash sync 1/250s


Thanks in Advance

Now that is one very good step up from the K10D!!! I want/need a second body (K20D that is).

If I were half as good as that with Photoshop, I'd be one happy bunny. The real camera looks good though. No more firmware updates for the K10D from now on I fear.

I dont know why but im still tempted by the Pentax badge, even for £300




Im sure the difference will lessen over time, even if those are the retail prices - samsung wont be able to discount theirs by much, and when potential newcomers to DSLRs see a sale, they will go for that over another camera (most probably)

Could you explain why a sync speed of 1/250 rather than 1/180 is an advantage in the studio, where presumably, virtually all the light is coming from the flash units?

I could understand why a faster sync speed might be desirable outside, lit mostly by natural light where you wanted the lens that bit wider open to reduce the depth of field, but still use fill in flash.

But I'm not clear why it would make a difference in the studio.

It doesn't.

And to turn off pre-flash, mount a small manual gun.

G

Like the AF160 which will cost you all of, say, £9
Or, get an IR transmitter that sits on the hotshoe... that'll trigger most Elinchroms etc. That'll set you back around £30.

No problem
Matt

Triggering studio lights isn't the only reason I want to be able to switch pre-flash off.

I'd like to be able to use off-camera AF540 in fully manual (or even auto-flash) mode without pre-flash - so that I can avoid the problem with quick-reacting subjects blinking when they see the pre-flash, thus ruining the photo by having half-closed eyes.

There's almost a way of working round it - I can put the AF540 on one of the cheap optical triggers and use a pre-A lens (or an A lens in manual), because then the K10D does not emit a pre-flash.

Of course it's only half a solution, because it seems to fire the built-in at full power (certainly the flash compensation dial in the Fn menu has no effect), which I wouldn't necessarily want. I can cover up 3/4 of the built-in with something if I have to, I suppose, but if I want to use a new lens with no aperture ring then I'm stuffed.

Despite having this rather half-arsed workaround, I think it's a bit crap that the super-duper new kit with all its capabilities introduces a very specific, and not at all uncommon, problem, and gives you no decent way of working round it.

Does any one thing that Pentax has missed a trick with the K20D? There are lots of subtle improvements over the K10D: battery life, dynamic range, 14.6MP but two things stand out:
38 JPGs burst
230,000 pixel screen!

Why update the size of the screen to 2.7" and not 3" and also why not go for the higher resolution 900,000 pixel screens?

You need nothing for the AF540 Set the mode on the flash to "SLAVE 2" and it will trigger off dumb flashes... even Canon ones

You just need a simple trigger on the body... like an AF160 or similar "stupid" flash.

I agree it would be nicer to allow for studio triggering out of the box. But it's definitely not a show-stopper... at least not in my book


Subtle those changes are not!
38JPG burst - that was at 3fps (because of the larger sensor size). Apparently you can notch it down to 2.7fps and fill up your card.

I suspect the LCD is down to having a wider angle screen - 160 degree viewing (for the LiveView). Doesn't bother me in the slightest about the size or number of pixels.

Matt