Apart from the obvious truth in what George says () there are a couple of points to consider.

1) The Samsung is about £50 cheaper.

2) The Pentax has had 2 firmware updates so far, AFAIK the Samsung has none.

As a result of it's firmware updates, the Pentax can now do some things the Samsung can't, including wireless PTTL from its built in flash.

The new SDM lenses require another firmware update to work. Unless Samsung pick up their firmware act, the K10D will work with SDM lenses and the GX10 will be left behind in screw powered AF land.

mmm I was expecting that to be the one which sorted out the SDM control, but apparently not?

I do hope they manage to get that firmware out before the lenses, or faces really will be red.

now that is a good idea, a K1000/Spotmatic style screen is one I would certainly buy. In many respects I prefer them to the split screen ones anyway.

the focus screen we've been discussing here is a split prism type as used to be fitted as standard to manual focus SLRs.


Exactly how they work is something I've never investigated but what you get is a small circle in the middle of the screen which is split in half. Out of focus objects appear offset from one another in the two halves and you focus the lens until they line up. I'm guessing you must have used one of these at some point.

It's just a straight swap for the original screen in the K10D, no holes required

the term Rangefinder camera is usually used to mean something like the Leica M series.

They have a separate viewfinder like a compact (in fact compacts are descended from rangefinders). This viewfinder is equipped with an optical rangefinder, usually a dual prism type where you get two superimposed images and line them up to find correct distance to the subject. Usually you have what is called a "coupled rangefinder" so the lens is automatically set to whatever focus distance is determined with the rangefinder.

These cameras tend to be expensive because they are niche market items, produced in relatively small numbers to very high standards.

Advantages are:

no mirror slap, so ultra quiet operation and low vibration

no mirror box to get in the way so design of short lenses is easier, consequently lens quality is usually superior to equivalent SLR lenses.

focusing is ultra acurate


there are disadvantages too:

can't really use anything above about 135mm because rangefinder focus becomes less accurate

unusually long or wide lenses need special viewfinder attachments

viewfinder image is not WYSIWYG like with an SLR.

how long did yours take to arrive? I'm on holiday in 2 weeks and don't want it to turn up while I'm out of the country.

mmm so tempted.

looking at it objectively, I use MF far more often than spot metering, so really it should be a net gain

good heavens thats 1/4 of the price of a Catz Eye screen.

How hard was it to fit?

mmm interesting, it shouldn't make any difference to AF speed since the AF sensors are in the body and not the Pentaprism housing.

if you don't mind my asking, how much did you pay for the screen?

I wasn't refering to a particular store, some might, I've heared of shadier buisness practices from less companies I trust a lot more than Canon.