K20D - first impressions

K20D - first impressions

I had a K20D delivered Saturday (via the excellent services of SRS Microsystems, thanks Chris for getting it oput so quickly) so thought I would share with you my first impressions, please remember these are my subjective first impressions so your views when you use a K20D may be different.

Firstly I think there are 3 main reasons to consider upgrading to this camera from a K10D.
1. More Pixels
2. CMOS sensor to give lower noise and higher ISO
3. Live View

The quest for more pixels is like trying to chase yourself - its pointless and 10Mp from the K10D was already sufficient for my needs, so this alone would not have swayed me to purchase. The possibility of lower noise at higher ISO and Live View - both a result of the switch to a CMOS sensor - is what caused me to part with my money.

Straight out of the box this looks and feels the same as a K10D - minor differences are:-
# flash sync socket
# larger screen causing buttons to the right of the screen to be shiffted a few millimetre to the right.
# slight change to orientaion of the anti-shake switch
# black shutter release button instead of sliver

Pentax advertising talks about a new high power battery but its the same one as fits the K10D so theres no need to invest in another set of spare batteries.

Write ups also indicate that the flash sync socket will enable the use of older flash guns but the manual says not to use high voltage flash guns. So I still don't know (and am VERY loath to try) if my PENTAX 400T flash gun will work (sync cable only) with the K20D.
The sync socket cover is screw in and the manual says that the body is not water resistant if the cover is not fitted - so mke sure you don't loose it!

Because of reported problems with SDM focusing being 'off' in some K10Ds I never up graded to firmware 1.3 so fitting a DA* lens and experiencing the silent, fast, and acurate SDM focusing was a joy. I will now probably 'risk' the upgrade on my K10D.
If there are problems with front/rear focusing a new menu option allows this to be corrected either with a global correction or lens by lens correction.

I usualy shot Raw (DNG) + JPG (max size and quality JPG) I will get about 100 shots on a 4GB card. Theres no menu option for selection of continuos number or restart from 1 at every card change but the K20D automaticaly does continuos numbering. The first 4 characters of the file name are user selectable too.

One of the complaints about PENTAX JPG pictures is that the colours are a little weak, the K20D sorts this out with the colours being more vibrant than those of the K10D. It will be a metter of preference if you like this or not - I do.

If you own a K10D battery grip then that will fit onto the K20D with no hassle. One of my minor gripes with the K10D is that unless you delve into the menu then grip users who select sequential use of the grip and body batteries do not know which they are using (and therefore when one needs to be replaced); on the K20D press the 'info' button then down on the 4 way rocker and you will see the same display as in the menus showing the state and current usage of your batteries. Below this the current mode of the camera (Av, Sv, Tv...) and the current settings for the front and rear rotary dials. A good new feature.

Shooting with Live View will take a little getting used to as there is a delay - but I can see this being very usfull for macro, tripod, overhead and other difficult angle shots.

The CMOS sensor has improved the high ISO noise. I think high ISO noise becomes visible on a K10D at 800 and is marginaly reduced on the K20D for ISO 800 and 1600 - this is with the 'high ISO noise reduction' set to 'none'. If the noise reduction is set to low then the K20D at 3200 is as good as the K10D at 1600, set it to medium and ISO noise at 3200 K20D is about the same as 800 K10D. There is a further reduction in noise if the high setting is chosen but, in my oppinion, this makes the detail of pictures to soft to be used in large prints (unless thats the effect you want), but if you are producing 6x4 prints then the high setting will probably work for you. High ISO noise can be considered as 2 stops better.

ISO 6400 needs to be switched on via the custom menu then it appears in orange on the Fn, ISO menu a warning to only use it if you like the effect or are producing small pictures for the internet. But if you want its there making the K20D 2 stops faster than the K10D.

Other goodies on the menu which I've yet to explore are interval exposures (i.e. one frame every N seconds) and different picture modes availlable from the Fn button to give JPG processing specific to portrait, landscape ect.

I still need to find out if the situation with use of Km lenses has changed as I would like to use my 28mm shift again as it was always a favorite lens.

Overall I am happy with the upgrade as I do shoot indoors so will enjoy the low noise at higher ISO and will use the Live view. I will also have a second body (K10D) which will handle and be controlled 95% the same as the main body.

Another excellent camera form PENTAX.

Bob

All Pentax flashguns have low voltage, and are safe with any Pentax camera.

G

Good review. Thanks.

G

Excellent review, thanks for taking the trouble.

Yes, thanks for that, a very thoughtful review.

A very interesting read, if I didn't already own a K10D I'd probably buy a K20D now, as it is though the improvements are too small to warrant the change for me - I'll see what the K30D brings in 18 months time...

The lever to open the card slot door is also a bit bigger?

A more pertinent review for forum members here than anything you'd ever read in a magazine, well done!

You dont mention the most important thing!........does it produce clear, sharp shots?..............

Well I'm probably gona upgrade from my K100D in a few months when i have the money. The advantage of 2.5x the amount of pixels will actually affect my photos.. and so will the high noise reduction.

I dont care for liveview.

Thankyou Bob for a good review.
You haven't made my task of choosing which camera to buy any easier though......

I also received my K20D on Saturday (also courtesy of SRS). My observations are in relation to my *istD:

The extra resolution does mean sharper pictures (although the default setting on the menu is +1).

The saturation is more vibrant than the istD - the sort of picture you see in reviews about Canon cameras. I'll need to study more pictures to decide if this is partly down to the setting of the LCD display.

The shake reduction is excellent. I hand held at 0.7s for a waterfall shot and although its not razor sharp it's acceptable.

It is slightly more comfortable in your hand.

I'm not yet convinced with the live view and have custom set the camera to the optical depth of field preview in the view finder.

Shooting raw + jpeg makes a lot of sense for faster PC review.

It has trailing curtain sinc built into the pop up flash (does the K10D have this?)

Letting the camera adjust the ISO is a great idea, it just feels unusual, since you manually set it on the ist.

The write times are much faster than the ist.

My computer did get a bit upset with a 320mb download of images and decided some were corrupted (not right). Whether this is because it's running ME?

There is a lot more to study, particularly the impact of the D range function. The manual is thick!

Cheers

Peter

Thanks for your observations as I am also a *istD owner and have been wondering whether I should go K10D or K20D - assuming that I can get some funds together of course!

Steve