 First Pentax I would recommend without reservation |
| Review Date: December 21, 2008 |
| Reviewer: E. J Tastad, Marion, IA United States |
Pros:
High quality (sturdy feeling)
Well designed
Superb Image quality
No pattern noise at high ISOs (looks more like film grain)
In body image stabilization
Cons:
No image orientation sensor (if you hold portrait style have to manually rotate)
No red focus confirmation dot (still has green dot in viewfinder at bottom)
Who should buy the K2000? Anyone also considering entry level Nikon or Canon DSLRs. This is fully competitive, but offers in body image stabilization that works with any lens (old and new). Nice feature set at a great value.
The auto focus of this camera is improved, focusing more precisely in low light than previous Pentax models, and also works with the new SDM lenses. Auto white balance is also improved. It does much better under tungsten light than some previous Pentax cameras.
The shake reduction is highly effective, as much so as most in lens systems. About 3 f-stops for me. This is a handy feature because it works with ALL lenses. You don't have to keep buying the same feature for $100 to $500 every time you buy a lens for which you want stabilization. Not to mention, when a new body comes out you get an improved stabilizer. With an in lens system, you have to replace your lenses to get improved stabilizers.
Even though this is a no frills system, it is very capable for those advanced amateurs or pro's looking for a compact body to use with the Pentax Limited prime lenses (compact lenses offering outstanding image quality). The big two haven't invested many resources in prime lenses suitable for APS-C sensors (by far the best selling dSLRs), Pentax has bucked the industry trend with their superb DA Limited series lenses.
Image quality is outstanding. I used it at a studio shoot recently, and had no issue. My only complaints were the lack of user selectable focus points (besides all or center only) and lack of orientation sensor. For the most part these were easy to work around. The picture results were stunning, even up to ISO 800. By 1600 there starts to be a fair amount of noise, but there is no pattern to it (my K20d has awful horizontal pattern noise). These photos are highly suitable for B&W conversion, and they resemble high speed film better than many digital cameras.
In conclusion, you get a lot of bang for you buck with this camera. The bundled AF200FG flash is very good compared to any built in flash offering much better range, better fill, and being off camera helps reduce red eye and shadowing from lenses. The kit lens is excellent at apertures 5.6 and up at any focal length (it is a tad soft at the corners at wide angles at apertures larger (smaller number) than f/5.6. I mounted it to the K20d and it had no problems resolving for the higher resolution sensor. I recommend this without many reservations (see my cons), and for a starter or enthusiast it is a great little camera. With my review title, it is the first time I can feel comfortable to recommend a Pentax to a non-DSLR user (previously they have been better enthusiast, non-beginner models).
Update One: First set of batteries that came with the camera have more than 1000 shots on them, many of these with the flash. This has truly amazing battery life, especially considering how much the back LCD is illuminated (no top information display). This would last many users a year!
The only other little things I have noticed is there is no slot for a cable remote and the back LCD can be bright. This camera wouldn't be the best for star trails for example, but this will only impact a small percentage of users.
I still love it! |
Pentax K2000 w/18-55mm lens and AF200FG Flash
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| Review Date: December 30, 2008 |
| Reviewer: John Five, Thousand Oaks, CA |
This is a great camera. Its pictures are stunning. The camera is well built and it feels solid in your hand. The kit lens is excellent and it uses all of my old 35mm Pentax lenses with the camera's stabilization feature.
The camera is very intuitive to use; I was able to use it right out of the box and have then progressed to use more and more powerful features by reading the manual. The features are all well thought out; this camera clearly implements many lessons learned from previous DSLR's because so many things are done so well. It is simply very well engineered.
I have had a series of point and shoot digital cameras over the last several years including a Fuji, a Sony and a couple of Canons. Before that I used a 35mm Pentax SLR and am therefore familiar with SLR operation. I also have a number of good lenses from the film SLR.
Part of my enthusiasm is this is my first DSLR and it offers so much more than the point-and-shoots and my old 35mm SLR. For example, I have been using its RAW feature and can save photos in both a Pentax and a standard Adobe RAW format, the latter I was able to use with Photoshop Elements 6 and have found all kinds of useful adjustments that were never available to me before.
I also like the fact that this camera uses regular AA batteries available anywhere.
The AF200 flash works well in my group photo shots and is a great value bundled with the camera. It has a nice diffuser cover for the flash to support wide angle shots. On the negative side, the AF200 is not extremely powerful-- I was used to a more powerful one with my old 35mm's external flash and the AF200 can not be swiveled to bounce the flash off the ceiling--another feature I miss. However, it is much more powerful than the pop-up on the camera and it too uses AA's.
Another feature I like about this camera is its low light performance. The pictures I took at night making use of high ISO and image stabilization were simply amazing.
The camera does not have live display on the LCD on the back; you have to look through the viewfinder. Despite my recent experience with the point-and-shoots which all have live view, I have not missed that feature-- looking through the viewfinder works well for me under all lighting conditions.
Overall, this has proven to be the perfect camera for me. I STRONGLY recommend it for folk coming from the point-and-shoot world and if you happen to have some old Pentax lenses (or buy some on e-bay) it makes an even more compelling purchase. Five stars! |
Good, small DSLR
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| Review Date: January 15, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Abby Normal, San Francisco, CA USA |
This is my first DSLR, upgrading from a 10x point and shoot, although I was a film SLR owner for several years. I looked at the following cameras closely before deciding on the Pentax K2000: Nikon D60, Canon Rebel SXi and the Olympus E-420. Although I'm sure that all of these cameras are good, I chose the Pentax for the following reasons:
- size: it's smaller then all of them except the Olympus and I liked the feel of it compared to the Olympus. I wanted a camera that's good for travel.
- lenses: although I'm starting fresh with no lenses, I liked the fact that you can use Pentax lenses even from the 1970s - gives me more options to pick up some good lens deals. Also, I read that Pentax has good lenses for cheaper than the others. Along with this purchase, I got a pancake Pentax 40mm lens - love it and when it's on the camera, it's really not much bigger than a point and shoot.
- good for beginners: it's very easy to use and makes it easy for people who are new to DSLR to learn.
- I also like that it uses AA batteries - good for travelers.
- I like that there's not a bright red light that beams out to help focus in low-light situations. Some cameras have that and it's very annoying when you're trying to discreetly take photos in a church or someplace.
There are some things that could be improved, like the 5-point focus system, but for the price, this is a good camera.
Overall, I just like the camera and I'm loving some of the photos I'm taking. I also like the support you can get online at the Pentax forums. I would definitely recommend the Pentax K2000. |
Excellent DSLR
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| Review Date: September 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: C. Rentsch, Midland, MI |
This is my first DLSR, I upgraded from a point-and-shoot. Just handling the Pentax K2000 you can feel a significant construction quality difference versus the Canon XSi or Nikon D40. Of course, the D40 has no auto-focus motor and the Canon Rebel series doesn't have the in-body shake reduction, but on top of that, the Pentax has a nicer build and more logical button layout.
DPReview.com has a great in-depth review of the K2000 that shows the sensor noise is quite good at high ISO speeds compared to other cameras in its class. The default setting works well - the camera will auto-select an ISO between 100 to 800. At 1600 there is visible degradation that I think starts to ruin the photo. There is no auto-select setting between ISO 800 and 1600 but if you switch over to Sv mode (sensitivity priority) you can shoot at ISO 1100 and it is still acceptable IMO.
The built-in flash has a nice color temperature. I pop it outdoors when shooting sunny scenes and faces get darkened by shadows. You can dial -2.0 to +1.0 on the flash power which is very handy: trimming back to -2.0 or -1.5 faces are lit but it doesn't look like flash was used at all.
The external AF200FG flash isn't too useful to me. I don't like the harsh shadows of any flash when it is a primary light source. Outdoors in direct sun when subjects are more than 15 feet away and you want to light up faces the built-in flash is useless, so the AF200FG can throw more light BUT the flash sync speed is max'd at 1/180 sec. This means the shutter can't open, fire the flash, and close any faster than that. In direct sun a 1/180 exposure means you either have to shoot pin-hole apertures like F22 or use a 4-stop neutral-density filter to get down around F5.6-F8.0. Lack of high-speed flash sync is a drawback IMO.
The camera produces extremely well-toned, bright photos right out of the box. Color saturation, white balance, and accuracy are all superb. Like most digital photos, they are somewhat soft (google: demosaicing if you are curious why) so I generally bump up the contrast and sharpness in my post processing. But even untouched, the photos look great.
The recommended Lithium Ion AA's work for about 1000 photos as promised. For me, I have been taking 1000 photos a month, so after 2 sets of $11 batteries, I bought rechargeable NiMH, which work equally well - so far they last as long as the Lithiums.
I highly recommend getting the Pentax FA 50mm F/1.4 lens. The viewfinder will be much brighter, you can autofocus in very low light, and take some stunning portraits with beautiful bokeh. I bought the lens and camera at the same time and the 50mm 1.4 has been on 99% of the time. The kit lens just doesn't produce as impressive of photos and I only attach it to do a wide-angle shot in tight spaces. The 50/1.4 is THE best of the "fast fifties" according to LuminousLandscape.com and I think it would be a shame to plunk down $500 for a camera and not spend the $200 for a truly excellent lens to compliment. I tell people who compliment my photos that it is 75% due to the lens and 25% camera.
Lack of autofocus points (only 5) and indication (which one is active) is the biggest drawback on this camera. I have ruined a couple photos because I didn't compose the subject right in the center and instead got a pin-sharp wall and blurry faces. The technique I have to use to compensate is I now reprogram the AF button to "cancel AF". I point at the subject, depress the shutter halfway to focus, then lock the AF with my thumb on the AF button, then compose the shot and release. There is NO indication in the viewfinder which AF point is selected, so I find its best to program it to always use the center.
The big LCD screen is nice, and I really like Pentax's layout of the camera settings on the status screen. MUCH nicer looking than the competition. The look and feel of a Pentax is just so much nicer than a Nikon or Canon, I will never regret doing my homework and selecting a Pentax. |
Great Value and Quality
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| Review Date: May 25, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Aldo R. Perez, Pittsburgh |
This is one great camera for those jumping to DSLR from Point and Shoot. I like that it uses AA batteries and they seem to never run out. It also uses SD memory cards so getting good deals on memory should not be a problem.
The bundle has a nice external flash. Yes, no tilting but it does have a diffuser and it is way better than any of the build in flashes of any entry level DSLR.
The kit lens is of good quality and very light. My only issue is that it has a plastic mount. I upgraded to the Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL II as my regular walk around lens but the one you get is still a great lens for a kit lens.
My favorite feature is the picture preview option where a picture is taken, not saved to memory, only to buffer and will show shadow and highlight warnings.
I recommend changing to Picture color Natural for more accurate colors. I shoot Raw (DNG in this case) and use Adobe Photoshop to develop and I get amazing quality.
Do note that Noise Reduction is disabled by default and that there is a small firmware update over at the Pentax web site. I set the Noise Reduction to weakest with good results.
The camera feels solid, shoots fast, focuses fast and the price is right.
As I said before, I got the Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL II and then plan to get the Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4.0-5.6 Di LD Macro Zoom Lens and the Pentax SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 Lens to complete my other needs.
I would recommend this bundle to anyone moving to DSLR, you will not be disappointed. I have 7 other cameras, all of them Point and Shoot and I can't match the quality pictures of this camera under any lighting condition with them. |
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