K200D replacement

Some time ago I spoke to SRS and the salesperson mentioned a new version of the K200D was due, just wondering if there is any update. Warehouse Express now list the K7 and K20D as the only dslr's, seems poor compared to the other manufacturers. A weatherproof entry level dslr, with bigger screen and better AF to compete with the Nikon D3000 and the Canon EOS 1000D is surely overdue, any one know if one is on the horizon?

That'll be the K-M then (K2000 in the USA), It's already been . . . and gone, but you might find one somewhere, like here. They even made a white version of it.

I was aware of the K-M but thinking more of a current model. Pentax are weird here in that they allow a model to disappear without any replacement.I had a K200D, sold it and regret it. I still believe that Pentax have the finest lenses with the likes of the 16-45 which gives 24mm to 67mm in old money. That range is difficult to achieve with the likes of Canon because of the 1.6 sensor crop. Hopefully a new K200D isn't far away.

Well the K-m is the replacement fro the K200D. But the K-m will still be around for a bit.

The K-m doesn't even come close to the features available on the K200D, Pentax may call it a replacement but I certainly wouldn't!

Agree with above, it may have come out after the K200D, but it was never a replacement, not even reviews looked at it in that way, rather a lower down the entry level dslr (how I hate that term).

The cameras described as "entry level" can produce results every bit as good as those mega bucks above them.

I am currently using a Canon EOS 1000D which has an amazing kit lens, superb IQ and has IS into the bargain. There is a great story doing the rounds on the dpreview forum. Its about a guy who was doing the pics at wedding, when his top end Canon gave up the ghost. He borrowed a guests 1000D, and was astonished at the results,never looked on it as entry level again.

Not much of a wedding photographer if he only had one body with him. I would have thought anyone doing that would take 2 just to be on the safe side.

Pentax never said the K-m was a replacement for the K200D, It was rumoured around the time the K-7 was announced that there would be a replacement that would take in both the K200D & K20D. It seems the K-m maybe getting an upgrade of some type as well.

Don't think the K-m is weatherproof either. When I was looking for my K200, the chap at LCE told me it had been discontinued and the K-m was the replacement. Luckily at that time I was still able to get hold of one.

If you were told it in a camera shop, it MUST have been right.

G

You're quite right, George! How could my research have shown anything else?

Well at least that camera shop aknowledged the existance of Pentax.

You wonder though, does it ever cross the minds of marketing at Pentax what their strategy says about them. If you worked in a camera shop that carried Nikon, Pentax, Canon, and Olympus do you think it would even be easy to recommend Pentax ? how many models are current with the other three, compared to Pentax ?.

Don't get me wrong, I think a lot of Pentax but lets be real, the model line up isnt exactly mouth watering alonside the others with stuff like the D5000/90 - 500D/50D etc.

I agree wholeheartedly with that.

In the end with me it came down to a choice between the D90 because of video or the K20D because of the weatherproofing.

My local Currys is a prime example. Pentax stockist, 1 Bay Canon 5 Cameras on display 450D 500D 1000D 50D. Second bay Sony, 3 Cameras. Third bay Nikon full range on display. Fourth bay Olympus/Pentax. 3 Olympus Cameras, 1 Km with a reduced to clear sign on it.

I looked at Pentax because I had looked around online. Off the street who would choose them with the above options?

But what is really weird is that when they release a camera they can hit it right on the button. K200D is a perfect example, classed as so called entry level, but how many people went to a camera shop to look at a D60 or 400D and then held a K200D and didnt need anyone to tell them the difference, it was to be seen, and felt, right there in the hand.

I did! But I was already more attracted to Pentax anyway, just to be different from DSLR owners in my family (D40, D60 and EOS 400). They didn't have a K200 in stock, but both the chaps I spoke to had K10's, which they let me have a look at - they were full of praise for Pentax. To me the K-m felt more solid than the D60, and much better quality than the A200. Once I tracked down a K200 to actually hold (in PC World of all places, not what I expected) for me it was a no-brainer Managed to get one of the last from Park.