Pentax & Canon

shrimperblue

shrimperblue

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Dave
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**EDIT - Small review and Test Photos here**

Hello.

I am considering puchasing a K10D.

The "in camera" IS is very much apealing to me for my Macro work and its 200 grams heavier than the 400D with magnesium body and weather seals.

However I would like to hear from anyone that has used both the Canon 400D and the Pentax K10D for some further insight.

I value everyones opinion here very much but I dont need to hear "Canon has L glass etc etc" as this is a very specific question regarding the cameras and not the glass!! :D

Thanks,

SB
 
This is probably not the exact feedback you want, but before I was a Canon shooter, I shot for a couple of years with Pentax (mostly *istD).

I have also used in passing the new range of Pentax cameras. I think if you were to switch to Pentax, you should go for a K20D. You will also find that the viewfinder in the Pentax camera is MUCH better then your 400D.

You should only be looking at Pentax if you are looking to use some of their great prime lenses, as with zooms and the rest of the system, Canon is better.
 
Do these new pentax jobies take the K mount lenses?

If so, there is a huge back catalogue of rather fine glass to use. If you don't mind a bit of manual focus and aperture.
 
This is from a good review I read:

"but for many photographers - including those with a closet full of old FA, KA, or K-mount lenses, the K10D may be just the camera they've been looking for"

You can read it all here.

SB
 
Yes. Pentax K10D and K20D can use all K mount lenses. The older ones (pre A series) ones have to be used in step down metering mode, but once you get use to it, this method of shooting is quite fun.

Pentax also make what is still my favorite medium telephoto - 77 F1.8 limited.
 
I have a pentax k10d, and Im currrently looking at selling it.
It has been an absolutely fantastic camera, and its still in warranty. I could not blame it as a camera at all. I went to nikon purely for business reasons, working with a fellow nikon 'tog, it was easier to shoot the same body as him.
Hence why I say I am "reluctantly" getting rid of the K10D....there are some things on there that I still find easier and better to use than the D200 and I can just not fault it as a camera. I learnt so much since having it - that I would recommend it to anyone who is looking at purchasing one.
 
and Pentax 67/645 MF optics are usable with adapters.
Click to expand...

I got that far and that was enough..... buy it!!

It looks like a good camera (ugly thing though, in a loveable sort of way) but just the chance to use pentax meduim format lenses is a huge plus. These are some really class bits of glass. I mean we're talking way beyond mere 'L' stuff.
 
I personally would not go as far as medium format lenses for this camera. The Limited series of lenses are already so good there is almost no reason to go that far unless you already have some 645 lenses lying around.

Pentax also make what I consider to be the best 50 F1.4 af lens from a major manufacturer.
 
dazzajl said:
I got that far and that was enough..... buy it!!

It looks like a good camera (ugly thing though, in a loveable sort of way) but just the chance to use pentax meduim format lenses is a huge plus. These are some really class bits of glass. I mean we're talking way beyond mere 'L' stuff.
Click to expand...

Really? Honestly?

SB
 
really really. :lol:

The Pentax 67 system has been one of the most repsected meduim format systems for about a billion years now. Lenses from this kit will not focus for you and will most likely compromise the metering somewhat and force you into some manual control in places. They will look most bizzare on a modern DLSR but they will give you some very very sharp pics.

Before you get too excited, remember that on a 6x7 camera 80mm is a standard lens, 50 is wide and 40 is very wide. So, you will get some great teles and macro will blow your mind but nothing wide for an ickle sensor.
 
MF does not phase me in the slightest. Its all I do with my Macro work. If I want to shoot pics of landscapes then ill use the kit lens and/or get a new lens.

To be honest this is from a pure macro point of view for me. If I can get some great K or Medium macro lens glass for this camera it sounds like a worthy change over.

SB
 
If macros are what you are looking for, then you looking in the right place. The Pantax *FA 200 F4 macro is, by all accounts and images, very very very very good. It is AF too, and built well, and quite compact for what it is. There is also a A version which is not af, but auto everything else. Here is a link to information about this lens.

But good luck trying to get anyone to part with one.
 
Thanks FranchiseJuan,

How about the SMC PENTAX K 50mm f/4 MACRO PRIME LENS ??

SB
 
The new Pentax 16-50 f2.8, 50-135 f2.8, 200 f2.8 and 300 f4 all have weather sealing and perform very well. To be honest, those new lenses will fill almost anyones range collection. The K10D also received camera of the year 2007. There are hundreds of reviews all scoring very high. If I had the choice over a 400D or K10D I would opt for the Pentax, every time.
 
Thanks King Boru. Im going to look at one in the morning. As I said before, the weight and feel of it is going to be a bonus for me too.

SB
 
shrimperblue said:
Thanks FranchiseJuan,

How about the SMC PENTAX K 50mm f/4 MACRO PRIME LENS ??

SB
Click to expand...

I don't think Pentax ever made a bad 50 prime. However there is a problem with Pentax as for a while it was hard to get lenses, and so even the older lenses may be hard to find.

If you want to get something a little short, then the D FA 100 F2.8 macro might be your speed. Not too expensive and only 49 mm front thread! There is also the D FA 50 F2.8 macro. Both of these are in current production and do 1:1 reproduction.

You should also remember that Zeiss now also make some lenses in Pentax K mount, including what is arguably the best Macro ever for 35mm (this), 10 aperture blades!!!

Also Pentax battery grip design is so much more elegant then Nikon or Canon.
 
Thats very impressive.

1:1 is where I want to be. The Canon MP-E 65 is a nice lens but the price tag comes with it. If I can get a nice selection of lenses for under the price of the MP-E 65 and get high IQ then this could be the best buy.....

SB
 
Yes - incredible medium format lenses and old K-mount glass and the best 50mm f1.4, and lots of other stuff - but by FAR the best kit lens, too. The Pentax 18-55 is really solidly built, has a metal mount, internal focusing, focus ring clutch (for easy MF shift after AF lock), aspheric elements, and its sharpness is insanely good for its price. At f/8, even the edges and corners are pure crispness on the 10 megapixel K10D.

It makes the Canon one feel like a dummy lens casing for a display model.

They've also released a second version, the DA 18-55 II, which has sharpness upgraded further - to do the K20D's 14 megapixel sensor justice.

The only way I can justify upgrading from the kit lens is for speed, because it's f3.5-5.6 as expected.
 
Nice.

You see....I like Canon. The 40D is especially a nice camera to work with but im loving the pure scope for all sorts of lenses with the Pentax. Old and new.

SB
 
The K10D has also dropped in price hugely because of the arrival of the K20D. There's no better time to get one.
 
yep im doing it. Sod it!! Looking about at used/older pentax lenses and the quality of the build and images......

Why arent Pentax up there with Canon and Nikon?

SB
 
Glad to hear it :D you won't regret it!

It's all in the publicity, I think :( Pentax made the first 35mm SLR and beat Canon and Nikon into submission for years. Now, it's just not so fashionable to be a Pentax user.

Maybe white with a red ring goes better with people's handbags, purses and makeup than black with a gold ring.
 
Can you tell me what the image stabilization is like. Have you used it with Macro?

SB
 
I've owned a Pentax K10D for about a year now and I am so impressed that I bought my father one about a fortnight ago as a (special) birthday present.

He lives in the U.S. now so I bought it through Amazon.com at an absolutely fantastic price of £379.75 for a K10D & 18-55 kit lens + £99.87 for a 50-200 zoom - which is a grand total of £479.61 all together, delivered...., which is about half of what I paid for the same kit 12 months earlier.

This Pentax is my first digital SLR and I see no reason to buy another one unless it breaks. For years I've owned Nikon film SLR's and lenses, but I thought I'd upgrade my Nikon FM & FE (I also own a Canon G2 'not so' compact) and go DSLR.

I have no regrets moving my loyalties from Nikon (or for that matter Canon) because these non-pro DSLR's with their smaller sensors are different beasts altogether. At the time I bought the K10D it had a slightly better spec than both the Nikon & Canon price equivalents, but more importantly when I handled the camera's the K10D was so much 'heavier & better built'.

Much is made of the ability to use old film lenses on the K10D but in reality the modern lenses are designed for the characteristics of digital sensor and perform better so unless you own these lenses already I wouldn't recommend you necessarily look to buy any.

I still use one of my old Nikon lenses though - with a reversing ring I attatch a 50mm f1.4 to my K10D and use it as a Macro lens - and it works just great. Instead of purchasing an expensive dedicated Macro lens this set-up is very good and cost effective - this link shows you various Macro options:

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/Macro-photography

Finally, a little history - Pentax were very slow coming forward with decent digital cameras and they've lost alot of ground because of it. The K10 is their first really really good DSLR, but Canon & Nikon are way ahead on the sales and even Olympus and 'newbie' Sony have quite a head start I believe. Back before digital the Japanese SLR's went 1st Nikon, a close 2nd Canon and a distant 3rd Pentax with Olympus in 4th - analogy Conservative, Labour, Liberals & National Front - hah :lol:
 
When I got back into photography I was unsure of which camera to buy. I knew I wanted a dSLR but didn't know which one would suit me the best so I bought a Olympus E410, a Pentax K10D, a Nikon D80 and a Canon 400D. I eventually decided on the Canon mainly because of the number and quality of lenses available and the lure of the 5D, but I have to say I find myself using the K10D more and more these days. Sure it has its idiosyncrasies, but don't they all. Overall it's a cracking camera and although I originally intended to sell it together with the other non Canon cameras, I wouldn't be without it now.
 
As said above Pentax' strong point has always been their prime lenses, there's little to beat them there and they are the one company who have kept faith with their users re lens mounts.
 
shrimperblue said:
Can you tell me what the image stabilization is like. Have you used it with Macro?

SB
Click to expand...

The K100D 'shake reduction' gives you between two and three and a half stops extra - quite successfully, I might add. People rave about the K10D's - I think it's even better.

If you take a run of five or six shots handheld at about 30mm at 1/4s with SR turned on, at least one of them will be quite sharp at least. At 1/8s definitely one will be sharp.
 
Anton Roland said:
OI!!
:bat:



:D
:lol:
Click to expand...

Ahh come on Anton, we all know that L glass is little more than adequate in terms of IQ until you get to about 300mm. Then it does indeed command industry leading respect.

The shorter lenses are great for build quality but compared to any MF glass it's way way off.

Besides, it's lovely to see Pentax getting the love here. The first camera I ever felt really proud to have bought was my Pentax M series.
:):)
 
dazzajl said:
Ahh come on Anton, we all know that L glass is little more than adequate in terms of IQ until you get to about 300mm. Then it does indeed command industry leading respect.

The shorter lenses are great for build quality but compared to any MF glass it's way way off.

Besides, it's lovely to see Pentax getting the love here. The first camera I ever felt really proud to have bought was my Pentax M series.
:):)
Click to expand...

Yep!

Still own 2 K-1000 bodies, a 50mm f/1.8, a 3rd party 28-70 (that actually took our wedding pix) and a Hanimex 135mm f/2.8...

PS:
In my film days I would not have touched Canon - ignorance maybe...

Was about to get me a Mamiya MF to fool around with but then bought two new(NEW TO ME:D) D-SLRS and now I really need to get some jobs in again...

Will also always have a soft spot for Pentax. Pity they were off to such a slow start in the digital market...
 
I have had my K10D for 12 months now, shot over 9000 photos, and I love it! I even get respect from Canikon users as well now, something I never got with my *istDS :-( I chose Pentax as I already had an MZ-50 and MZ-5n (still a fine film SLR in my eyes....) Before that I had a Praktica MTL5B (still have it). So with an adapter, I can use the M42 thread lenses on the K10D and they work very well, hardly any CA in the images from them. I have also bought 55mm F1.8 135mm F2.5 and 200mm F4 manual lenses, and they work great with the K10D as well.

Last weekend on a photo shoot I took some shots in Lyme park, and the interesting thing is that the results compared to Canons that were being used, was that the colours were richer, and that was with the image tone at neutral and normal saturation. For me, the Pentax has no opposition, and with the K20D now out (I want want of those too :-) ) you can get some great deals on the K10D, but hurry, stocks are going fast.
I could wax lyrical about the K10D more and more, but I won't.........Buy one and you won't be disappointed.
 
yasuo said:
I don't think the *istD really competed with Pentax or Nikon - it was always a starter DSLR.
Click to expand...

Do you know what a *istD was? It has a view finder that was as good as the one from the 1D2, More cross type sensors then any other 1.5/1.6 crop sensor camera in it's time, better layed out interface (when I compared at the time) then either the D100 or 10D, a better designed battery grip then either. The same sensor as the D100, a more muted, natural, and film like processing compared to the Canon. A very sensibly implemented mirror lockup function......

Should we now call D100 or 10D starter cameras too? Please don't confuse the *istD, and the *istDS, which are two DIFFERENT cameras.
 
Should we now call D100 or 10D starter cameras too?
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I don't know about the nikon but that's a fair call for the 10D. Although at the time I suppose it was really both ends of the canon range. :)
 
dazzajl said:
I don't know about the nikon but that's a fair call for the 10D. Although at the time I suppose it was really both ends of the canon range. :)
Click to expand...

You know this kind of leads to the question: What is a starter camera?

The Canon 20D is a camera that some might say is a starter camera, though I shot lots of jobs with this camera, and lots of people happily shoot spreads with this camera.

Though I do wish some people would keep making CCD cameras instead of all switching to Cmos. CCD images were just sharper straight out of the camera.
 
I think if the final result is good. Your happy and, if working, the customer is happy then does it matter?

SB
 
You know this kind of leads to the question: What is a starter camera?
Click to expand...

Well that is a good question. I think of a starter camera as being one that sits in the typical budget range of most people looking for that 1st SLR.

The 10D is now the cheapest way into the EOS range and as such counts as the above. On the flip side, IIRC the 10 launched for more ££'s than the 5D didn't it. That was into a very different market of course. :)
 
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