Hi,

Really enjoying getting to grips with my newly purchased K20D (upgraded from a K10D). One of the new features I'm finding very useful is the Live View as it helps when composing shots at tricky angles.

I've noticed however that the Live View becomes very dark and almost unusable if the shutter speed is greatly reduced. This is annoying but I guess it is a result of the mechanical way Live View is implemented.

When taking slow shutter shots (e.g. at night) the only solution seems to be to compose the image in P mode and then switch back to Manual.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

Cheers,
Matt

Update: Camera has been sold.

Thanks for your interest.

For sale: Pentax K10D 10.2 MP, body only, in excellent like-new condition with no faults. £200 or nearest offer (includes postage).

Camera had a very minor fault with the power switch which has since been repaired to full working order.

Example photos I have taken with this camera (Flickr):
* Image 1
* Image 2
* Image 3

I purchased the camera for approx £300 a few years ago and it has been lovingly cared for, never dropped and looks like new! I'm upgrading to a K20D (thanks John, aka ennalski) and need to sell my K10D to fund the purchase.

The camera is is excellent order, with no starches and is very clean with no dust spots on the sensor that I can see. The camera really does look and feel like new.

Info:
* Shutter count: 9,774
* Body only (as pictured)
* Original Pentax K10D battery (still holds an excellent charge)
* Spare generic brand battery
* Battery charger
* Remote control
* USB cable
* Camera upgraded to firmware 1.31
* K10D paper manual
* Service/Repair manual on a CD
* No box but I will ensure it is safely packaged with lots of bubblewrap.

Photos of camera (taken using the poor quality camera on my mobile):
* Image 1
* Image 2
* Image 3
* Image 4
* Image 5

UK buyers only please. If you live near York, you're welcome to view the camera in person. PM me for more info.

Thanks,
Matt

Please note that this camera has now been repaired and is in full working order. Therefore I will re-listed this camera for sale but at £200 ono.

Thanks for your interest.
Matt

In that case I'll look into getting the camera repaired and then re-list it for sale (it really will be like new then!). Still open to offers in the meantime.

Cheers,
Matt

Is there really no interest in this sale?

Maybe buyers are put off by the reported fault. I could have listed the camera without mentioning the fault because it's not that intrusive but I felt I should mention it. It maybe very easy to fix too.

The camera really is in excellent condition with not a mark on it. I do believe it's worth about £150.

A couple more photos:
* Image 1
* Image 2

Thanks for looking,
M.

For sale: Pentax K10D 10.2 MP, body only, in excellent condition but with a fault (see below). £150 or nearest offer (includes postage).

Example photos I have taken with this camera (Flickr):
* Image 1
* Image 2
* Image 3

I purchased the camera for approx £300 a few years ago and it has been lovingly cared for, never dropped and looks like new! I'm upgrading to a K20D (thanks John, aka ennalski) and need to sell my K10D to fund the purchase.

Reason for discount sale is because the camera has a minor fault: The power switch sometimes causes the camera to switch on/off due to what I believe is a loose connection. Taking a 'preview' shot (by turning the power switch to the right) can also cause the camera to power off. This is annoying but I have not found it to be of major concern because the camera turns back on instantly. Apparently this is a manufacturing fault that effects several K10Ds from a certain batch/date and you can get it repaired via Pentax Servicing (at a cost). I simply have learned to live with it. I will include the Pentax service/repair manual for those confident enough to do home repairs as it might not be that difficult to fix.

Apart from the above fault, the camera is is excellent order, with no starches and is very clean with no dust spots on the sensor that I can see. The camera really does look and feel like new. If it were not for the fault mentioned above, I would be asking £200+.

Info:
* Shutter count: 9,774
* Body only (as pictured)
* Original Pentax K10D battery (still holds an excellent charge)
* Spare generic brand battery
* Battery charger
* Remote control
* USB cable
* Camera upgraded to firmware 1.31
* K10D paper manual
* Service/Repair manual on a CD
* No box but I will ensure it is safely packaged with lots of bubblewrap.

The K10D is offered criticised for not producing 'punchy' looking images in JPG mode but this is simply because the default settings are not aimed at consumers. To correct this, just change the default image settings to: Image Tone: Bright, Saturation: -1, Sharpness: 0, Contrast: -1. It will now shot more consumer-friendly photos.

Photos of camera (taken using the poor quality camera on my mobile):
* Image 1
* Image 2
* Image 3

UK buyers only please. If you live near York, you're welcome to view the camera in person. PM me for more info.

Thanks,
Matt

I too have a spare battery - a Phottix compatible. I can't tell the difference between this and the original Pentax battery.

Phottix seem to get quite good reviews for a cheap Chinese battery. I've bought lots of cheap batteries off eBay over the years with mixed results; Phottix are certainly one of the better companies (or maybe I just got lucky).

I realise it all depends on the subject but I tend to go my default settings that copy across to Camera RAW, with a few tweaks to lighting and shadows.

So it sounds like the K20D is fine with the factory defaults for general shots if I choose not to use RAW. Once I get the camera I'll play with the settings; I just wondered if there are any image quality tips I might have missed while researching on the K20D.

Cheers,
M.

Hi All,

I currently have the brilliant K10D and when I first got the camera a few years ago I spent sometime researching and testing different image settings. Reviews of the K10D tended to criticise the default settings but I have found best results for general everyday use with:
Image Tone: Bright
Saturation: -1
Sharpness: 0
Contrast: -1

I always shoot in RAW because the onboard JPEG processing is not great (converting to JPEG in Adobe Camera RAW seems to give much better results).

I'm now looking to buy a K20D and thankfully I'm lead to understand that the K20D has a reworked JPEG processing unit with much better results. But what about the default settings for tone, saturation etc? I read on another website that the default setting don't need altering except maybe increasing the sharpness by +1.

What do other K20D owners recommend?

Many thanks for your advice,
M.