Pentax K200D 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with Shake Reduction (Body Only)

Pentax K200D 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with Shake Reduction (Body Only) | Excellent build. Great pics

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Pentax K200D 10.2M...

	Pentax K200D 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with Shake Reduction (Body Only) Pentax Pentax, 2008 average customer review:based on 73 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Great, solid, great pix, flexible, no jaggies

If you are considering a DSLR I highly recommend it.

I have been using my K200D for 4 months now and love it. I compared several cameras (Nikon D60, Canon EOS XTi, Olympus 520), and then ordered the K200D after reading many online reviews (DPReview, CameraLabs and others).

This is my first DSLR, after having used a film SLR (Canon) for many years and digital point and shoot cameras (Kodak and Canon) for the last few.

The Pentax feels so much more solid than the other DSLRs in my hands, a piece of real equipment. The camera's features were superior to the Nikon (tho you can never go wrong with Nikon), and the image quality per reviews and my experience has been great. The price point on Amazon made the decision a no-brainer, and I have not been disappointed.

The camera operates in any range from point-and-shoot auto everything (including flash) down to full manual, and incorporates many scene modes in addition to the program, shutter priority, aperture priority, and fixed ISO program modes. Settings such as white balance (including custom WB), self timer, continuous shooting and more are rapidly accessed via the function button followed by one of the cursor keys, and there is a switch on the body at the base of the lens to switch to manual focus. Anti-shake is built into the body, keeping lenses simple, reliable and less expensive, a plus over Canon and Nikon. Sensor size is APS-C (a plus over Olympus), and I have read it is the same sensor used in the Nikon D60, which appears to be born out in online reviews.

Only thing lacking IMO is a focus assist lamp for low light focusing, and that can be remedied with a Pentax external flash which has the focus assist lamp. Really it has been only in unfairly low light conditions where focus has failed me (dimly lit indoor displays viewed from a moving cart - like some of the dimmest portions of rides in Disney World). If you are bent on live view that is not here either, but realize live view as implemented on DSLRs has many limitations anyway. The viewfinder on the K200D is very good, BTW, and it is a better tool than live view - with the exception perhaps of the occasional shot with the camera held far away from your face, perhaps shooting over a crowd.

I have read some comments that the JPGs produced by the K200D at default settings are overly sharp, exhibiting "jaggies" on edges. I have tried a few times to reproduce this to see how changing the JPG quality settings would affect it, but have been unable to see the effect at all. BTW the same article indicated shooting RAW the K200D was fantastic - if you process your photos on the PC and don't mind the extra storage for RAW, then the JPG issue is moot.

Added bonus: if you have other Pentax K mount lenses they will work here, and if you have the older screw mount M42 lenses there are K mount adapters available to make them work too. So unlike the Canon FD glass cluttering my closet, your old Pentax lenses are still much more than paper weights. Browse ebay and see how many older Pentax lenses are available for a great price if you can handle manual focus for those special times you need the lens, like for low light. And - unlike Canon or Nikon - Pentax's in-body image stabilization still works with the old lenses! If you have Pentax-A lenses, exposure is still fully auto and only focus is manual - not bad at all.

Check Mark Roberts' Pentax Lens Compatibility page at http://www.robertstech.com/compat.htm. For detail on using older fully manual lenses see the article "K100D (Super) Pictorial guide to using manual lenses" at http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readflat.asp?forum=1036&message=24921509.

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Excellent build. Great pics

This is my 1st DSLR, 6th digital camera.
I selected the camera for it's features, and construction.
It had to have body stabilization, and sensor cleaning. The use
of AA's, and very good battery life, are a definite plus.
Pentax did an excellent job of sealing off the body from moisture, as proven on Kauai, when it and my family and friend were drenched on the Kalalau trail.
The ergonomics seem to be very good. The grip and feel are rock solid, and feel balanced with either the 18-55mm AL2 or the 55-300mm zooms.
The built in flash performs remarkably well, and the low light sensitivity works well, even with the apertures I have on the zooms.
The AA's I have been using were the Sanyo Eneloops, and even with only a 2000mah rating, they lasted the whole day,good enough to fill a 2GB card, which also included a handful of flash/flash assisted pics. The new low discharge Eneloops can sit in the camera for weeks, then be called on for duty without worry...something only the Lithium ion folks could brag about before.
The negatives? The white balance should be on it's own (but the Fn button gets you there quickly, too). The clack of the shutter/mirror assembly is noticeable in a quiet surrounding.

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Great camera for both Pros and Amatuers

I am an amateur photographer, and till recently I was using a Canon 500N 35mm SLR, which I loved. Its my first DSLR camera, and I am very happy with it. I did a lot of research, and comparisons with Canon and Nikon. Once I decided on Pentax, I had trouble deciding between Pentax K10D and K200D. After a lot of research, I chose K200D, for the following reasons:

1. Both offer the same features and functions, but K200D is cheaper.
2. The only key differences between the 2 are that K10D has a pentaprism viewfinder, whereas K200D has a pentamirror. This doesnt cause any change to the quality of pics taken. The second is that K10D, being the prosumer camera, has most of its functions adjustable manually without having to go into the menu. In K200D, these must be set in the menu settings. Again, no big deal. Just a convenience.
3. K10D is heavier than K200D. For an outdoor person like myself, the weight is an important factor when I am walking on rough and uneven trails for many hrs. With the bag, and camera around your neck, and your friends hurrying you up, you dont want a very heavy camera.
4. K200D is a camera released 2 years after K10D. Its most likely that there are improvements in the software, bugs fixed, if any.
5. K10D only has manual modes. K200D has both preset modes and manual. I see no harm in having the preset modes, even though I dont intend to use them. Might help when I have little time to setup and shoot.

The K200D camera itself is a very beautiful camera, easy to hold and use. It has a robust design, and great performance, under all conditions. ITs even water and dust resistant. The image stabilization function is very useful. The camera has a pretty big image viewer, which shows high and low contrast areas in the image. Useful function.

Some usability issues I noticed was that the function button used for selecting ISO, number of frames, etc, turns off the screen as soon as you select. Thats kind of annoying, because, I would like to see the selection I made on the screen, as confirmation.

Overall, very impressive camera, and I love it. See my sample images.

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Pentax K200d

Very pleased with this camera. Already had lenses from a Pentax 35mm camera and write up said they would work with this camera. I was skeptical, but upon receiving the camera, I found they worked perfectly. Has large selection of various modes if you want to customize the way the camera takes pictures or it can be totally automatic. Shake reduction is a great feature for low light situations. All in all, a good buy.

Great pics, long battery life

I have had the camera about a month and am very happy with it. It takes great quality pictures and has a great battery life. I've had the originals in for about a month, and the battery light still says they're full.

The only thing I would suggest is to buy a tripod if you plan on using the night setting. It does a great job with the lighting, but it's hard get a focused picture without resting it on something like a tripod or other surface.

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