Kx to K20

With many owners having already purchased the new K5, the used market is/will be throwing up good purchases on the older bodies, especially the K20 (and possibly Samsung version).

Whilst the Kx is pleasing in so many ways, I sometimes feel that I would like something more robust, not having to worry about the batteries running out, and not having to worry when the heavens open unexpected (yes, it does rain occasionally in North Wales ).

Whilst I understand that the Kx beats the K20 at high ISO, for example, I think that the K20 is better at low ISO?

Its not often that I use a high ISO setting, I think the highest I've used in the real world is 2500. More often I'm out and about, and use relatively low ISO.

If I were to go down this route (within a few months when hopefully funds permitted), I'd also keep the Kx.

What are your thoughts? Anybody already gone down this road?

The Cheryl Cole of the Pentax world would be nice, K5, but I can always dream, can't I

Regards
Adrian

If you have the funds, it's definitely something to consider.

The 1st dSLR I bought was the K10D, the 2nd one the K100D. I love both but the K100D has some controls hidden in the menus that are straight away available on the K10D. So the latter is more user friendly from that perspective. I think the same will apply for the Kx/K20D comparison.

Add other goodies like finetuning of AF, WR, dual dial and the conclusion is that the K20D is a good companion for the Kx

I only have experience of a K100 which does everything I need and more, but I'd love some sort of weather sealing. The LCD screen on the top plate has quite a lot of dust beneath it which suggests there's lots more inside the camera which I can't see!

This robustness to which you refer would be a big step forward I think, Adrian. You could also use it safely out of doors in your lovely part of the country, where the odd light shower is not unknown! My particular dream camera is K10 which has that old CCD sensor renowned for its low ISO ability but they still command (in my opinion) relatively high prices for electronic devices which have been around for a number of years with or without much use.

Best of luck with your quest.

But I thought the K-5 was popular and capable:

The K20D is the Subo of the Pentax world. Big, sturdy, with surprisingly good performance where it counts. (Actually it's not that big :wink

I'm considering going the other way in the near future, K20D to K-x/K-r

i just changed my k-x for a gx20. i already had a gx20 & wanted familiarity between bodies. whilst high iso quality is importance to my use, weather resistance, viewfinder size & dual e dials where all more important to me.

its a difficult choice but having done my first shoot last night with dual matching bodies i knew i had made the right decision.

The odd shower Andrew, tell me about it
I do agree with your view regarding the robustness offered by the K10/20.

I actually came within five minutes of purchasing a K10 about a year ago on this forum, but was just beaten to it.

Price wise there's one currently on Pentaxforums (US only), $300 (about £190).

A K7 just sold in the classifieds here for £450, so a K20 should be a fair bit cheaper (that's the theory anyhow).

Cheryl's even better with the volume on mute

cabstar, how do the Kx and GX20 compare, image wise?

Thanks all for your feedback, all appreciated.

Regards
Adrian

'Subo' !!

My K20D is certainly no moustached virgin. It's been used and abused like a rampant hussy!!

You're not wrong. She can't sing for toffee. She's also even better with some horizontal aspect ratio modification.

i prefer the images from the gx20. to be honest with the improvements to noise reduction in lightroom also helped.

I went from a backup K100DS to a K-x with the K20D as my main camera. I was expecting to be blown away by the K-x high ISO, which is very important for much of my work. (The rare stuff when I actually get paid.) Small size and light weight are also important to me. So I thought the K-x would be perfect.

Instead, when leaving the house with one body, I take out the K20D.

The ergonomics is way better, the viewfinder much more usable and the images look better. I even did a comparison shoot because I couldn't believe what I was experiencing. The K-x shots have a more "plasticky" look, much poorer colour balance (though that can be corrected) and do not take the same amount of post-processing well. Though they are less noisy I can apply noise reduction to the K20D images if I need to, and the result is better to my eyes.

Now that I have had that experience, I am sceptical of the K-5 in the same way.

ah so it wasnt just me being daft thinking my k-x images looked plastic like....

i love the colour rendition of the gx20 regardless of lens.

i still want a k-5 though....

Well, some have told me I am daft and it is true that after PP no-one is really going to pick out which camera took which shot.

But there is something about the newer sensors that I don't like.

That's enormously heartening to those of us who, for various reasons, are likely to be using the "older" CCD sensors for some time to come. Well, at least until our boats come in...

the strange thing is i have had more sales this year with the k-x than the gx20 but that could be due to having my 17-50mm on it though.

sorry i wasnt calling anyone daft by the way, merely referring to myself....