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My K10D Has Landed!

McBrian
Posted 20/12/2006 - 19:32 Link
It's here, battery has been in the charger for about an hour, approx another hour to go before the big swith on, time to browse the manual and download SP3.03.

Some initial observations, it's BIG compared to the D but still very compact, strangly it feels lighter in the hand (volume to weight ratio I presume), the grip area and control positions are near perfect for me, I always had trouble reaching the AE-L button on the D, the screen is huge and the addition of the +/- button to grip will come in mighty handy. The 4-way control button is much much improved over the D, I like the click's and the focus selector is not as loose (I always seem to move it accidentily on the D).

Remote Control F is TINY, going have to glue something onto it so I can attatch it to an expanding key fob, don't want to keep opening and shutting the grip tray.

For those that like to use off camera flash I have to recommend the Pentax Off Camera Shoe Clip CL-10 £19.99 from Park Cameras, very handy bit of kit, well built out of metal, will post a pic of it later.
Cheers
Brian.
LBA is good for you, a Lens a day helps you work, rest and play.
Ammonyte
Posted 20/12/2006 - 20:13 Link
Been out and about today in the fog Comment Image


The autofocus is much quicker and more certain than my DS. Just love the Hyper modes, I can see why the D guys were raving

Silkypix303 is noticeably slower with the compressed PEF files, but "you don't get 'owt for nowt"

I happen to like the new slightly more dicreet shutter sound, Matt

I have long fingers and if I had been designing the location of the front e-wheel I'd have moved it across the battery compartment closer to the lens. That's the only nit I can pick. Oh and the crappy neck strap!

Must go and play some more!
Tim the Ammonyte
--------------
K10D & sundry toys
http://www.ammonyte.com/photos.html
Joshua Hakin
Posted 20/12/2006 - 20:42 Link
MattMatic wrote:
I am completely blown away by the image quality and dynamic range on this beast

I agree!
This is why I'm a little perplexed at the dpreview thats says: "giving up around a third of a stop in shadow range and a third of a stop in highlight range it actually delivers less dynamic range than we were expecting to see"
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/pentaxk10d/page15.asp

I was also impressed with the detail in highlights and how far I could push them.
So much for reviews eh?
MattMatic
Posted 20/12/2006 - 20:45 Link
Quote:
I happen to like the new slightly more dicreet shutter sound, Matt

I didn't say I didn't like it Just that it sounds like a sneeze

Can add the following flash related information:

* Definitely doesn't do TTL. Tried with a Metz 50MZ5 and SCA-3702 and it overexposes. Works fine in M and A modes though.

* The gap between the preflash and flash has been greatly reduced. I could perceive the gap on the *ist-D, but am having trouble seeing the gap on the K10D. I'll try some shots later with some friends that always blink on the preflash of the *ist-D and see if it's improved on the K10D

* Flash exposure seems very good, perhaps a little underexposed, but based on my earlier comments that's no problem in RAW.

Just off to try some wireless contrast controlled flash with the AF360+AF540... have a little session to do tomorrow. May be able to post a shot or two (if they're any good!).

Matt
fatspider
Posted 20/12/2006 - 21:55 Link
Quote:
I didn't say I didn't like it Just that it sounds like a sneeze

Snot what it sounds like, its how it performs!
My Names Alan, and I'm a lensaholic.
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spirit_of_will
Posted 21/12/2006 - 10:56 Link
Don't tell the missus - how silly is she to think that if she hadn't wrapped it already that it wouldn't mysteriously find it's own (?) way out of the box again...

Had the K10D sat alongside my *istD - it's like my old D but on steroids. I like the bigger feel of the K10D, it's so much more sturdy. Grip feels better, controls feel more positive... I'm even liking the switch to SD from CF - the door and slot are much easier to use and change cards. There's a couple of things I don't like as much as the istD: the AF / Manual focus switch isn't as simple (I'm used to the slider which is the same as MZ-S) and I also used to like the easy access of switching from RAW to JPEG on the istD.

However, that last point seems to now be a bit moot... just been testing the frame rate and buffer. WOW what an improvement, even in RAW, I'm easily getting 8 or 9 shots before the buffer is full and even after that it doesn't take long before I can stick my finger back on the trigger again. That was easily my biggest bug bear with the istD - tend to use my D for action stuff and the istD just couldn't keep up, even shooting JPEG's... Now if I'm not careful it'll be very easy to fill memory cards, very quickly!

Not sure now if I read the original specs correctly - was it always expected to have a 9 RAW shot buffer? Not that I'm complaining as that's more than ample for my needs...

One thing that I have noticed tho - I'm running PS CS2 and it doesn't seem to want to read the K10D PEF's - ok with DNG of course... am I doing something wrong and what difference is it going to make if I stick to just using DNG? Are the DNG's still compressed slightly?

Cheers!

Will
Spirit_of_will

Fan and user of quality Pentax Shiny Kit

WEBSITE www.willbartonphotography.com & www.inspiredlightimages.com

Will Barton Photography: Landscapes, Cityscapes
My Flickr
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spirit_of_will
Posted 21/12/2006 - 10:58 Link
PS - I'm also loving the way that you can set up the dials - AV mode, having aperture at the rear and immediate access to Ev Comp at the front - GENIUS!!!
Spirit_of_will

Fan and user of quality Pentax Shiny Kit

WEBSITE www.willbartonphotography.com & www.inspiredlightimages.com

Will Barton Photography: Landscapes, Cityscapes
My Flickr
Follow Will Barton Photography on Facebook
Kim C
Posted 21/12/2006 - 11:06 Link
Just had the local camera shop on the phone. It appears mine will not be here till the New Year.

Two weeks ago, Intro2020 told the shop that they would definately have their 4 pre-ordered bodies in time for Christmas. One has arrived and it appears to other 3 have been diverted to other dealers. So much for pre-ordering it about 2 months ago. Pentax are a lot less likely to regain their market share if they entrust their distribution to a third party who will not keep their promise.

Kim
spirit_of_will
Posted 21/12/2006 - 11:14 Link
Kim, that's a real shame... I know from previous posts that you have been supporting your local dealer. However, from what I understand (and I could be wrong here) SRS have their stock direct from Pentax Europe and not via Intro2020 which is how Chris has managed to lay his hands on so many. When I asked the other day when I picked mine up he'd ended up with pre-orders for over 80 and was going to be able to fulfill them all this week and with a few bodies to spare...

You must be gutted... to make you feel better and me feel less guilty about getting too familiar with my xmas pressie I'm going to put it back in the box!

Will
Spirit_of_will

Fan and user of quality Pentax Shiny Kit

WEBSITE www.willbartonphotography.com & www.inspiredlightimages.com

Will Barton Photography: Landscapes, Cityscapes
My Flickr
Follow Will Barton Photography on Facebook
Chris@SRSWATFORD
Posted 21/12/2006 - 11:23 Link
Glad you like the camera Will! I hope to play with one over Christmas, all in the name of research of course!

Kim, I still have stock - if ordered before 3pm it should be with you tomorrow, if it helps?

Chris
Argee
Posted 21/12/2006 - 12:02 Link
spirit_of_will wrote:
I'm running PS CS2 and it doesn't seem to want to read the K10D PEF's - ok with DNG of course... am I doing something wrong and what difference is it going to make if I stick to just using DNG? Are the DNG's still compressed slightly?

Cheers!

Will

I hadn't checked this until I read your post, but it's the same for me - reads the DNG files fine, but not the PEFs. With a given example today, the PEF file is 10,490KB, but saved as a DNG it expands to 21,491KB. This was an "in PC" conversion, of course. I've found that saving as DNGs on the K10D brings the files in somewhere around the 16-17000KB size.

There's quite a bit on the 'Net about plug-ins, but I can't get any of them to work either.

Ray.
Z1, K10D, D-BG2 Grip, DA 1:3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL, DA 1:3.5-6.3 18-250mm ED AL(IF), AF540FGZ Flash, FA 1:1.7 50mm, DA 1:2.4 70mm Limited, Wireless Remote (Did I offend you? Click here).
MattMatic
Posted 21/12/2006 - 12:06 Link
The K10D PEF format is new. It includes lossless compression (which is why the DNG and PEF sizes differ). Originally, they were the same, but Pentax crammed in the compression before release 1.00 Cool!

If you want to shoot RAW PEF, then you have two choices:

1. Use Silkypix DS 3.0.3 which supports it now
2. Use in-camera PEF to JPG conversion

Eventually everyone will catch up and ACR and C1 will support the K10D PEF format... but that could be a month or two (judging on past experiences).

Hope that helps!

...and Chris... the camera's a beauty It's like going digital all over again

Matt
Kim C
Posted 21/12/2006 - 12:07 Link
Chris@SRSWATFORD wrote:

Kim, I still have stock - if ordered before 3pm it should be with you tomorrow, if it helps?

Chris

Thanks for the offer but it is not the fault of my local shop so why should they suffer. They have been very good about it and are happy to return my deposit because of it if I want to go elsewhere. I have been a fan of Pentax for 40 years and have cameras going back to the Asahiflex. I am too old and set in my ways to change now. Were it not for this or if I was starting out, I would not go with Pentax and I fear that they are unlikely to increase their customer base in the UK with service like this. Tom Dennis always used to stock Pentax but no longer. It is the same in many shops I visit. All give the same reason.

Anyway rant over, I am just a bit hacked off!

I hope everyone else enjoys their new cameras over the break.

Kim
Ofutter
Posted 21/12/2006 - 12:36 Link
Can any of you lucky K10d owners answer a couple of Qs about the camea.

1) Does it have a designated flash sync socket or is it via hot-shoe adapter like the *ist Ds/DL etc?

2) Can you thether it to a pc/laptop to instantly view images?

3) Does it only take CF cards now and SD is no longer an option?

Thanks in advance!
Chris@SRSWATFORD
Posted 21/12/2006 - 12:54 Link
No problem Kim - I wouldn't want the shop to suffer either. As you say, it's not their fault!

Chris

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