Pentax K100D Digital Camera

Background
I bought a Pentax 1stD body when they first came out, having a number of Pentax APO lenses, and it seemed sensible to buy a Pentax body and utilise the lenses I had,with a 50% increase in focal length (400mm becomes 600mm with a digi body), rather than go for a new package Canon/Nikon and the cost involved.
Though results with the 1st were very good, and some excellent I was not totally satisfied with the results. I tend to photograph wildlife, birds in particular, and aircraft. Both require a large apature F5.6 or lower and a fast shutter speed.

PENTAX K100D - Review
My daughters boyfriend has a Canon with 300mm Ultasonic focus and IMAGE STABILISATION produced some excellent wildlife shots from South Africa.

I bought a K100D because it had the SHAKE REDUCTION and thought it might help, and IT DOES!! Comparisons now are aginst the Pernt1st.

The first thing you notice is the larger 2 inch display and all controls and settings revolve around ONE wheel instead of 2, together with the usual menu / info button etc

I have found, and it may just be me, that both Pentax require the AV exposure value increasing by +0.5 to optimise

The SHAKE REDUCTION works! - hand held, 1/15th second exposure, natural light-no flash -portrait shot of my Granddaughter - crystal sharp!

There is also a noticable improvement in sharpness while panning with aircraft, though it is not the panicea for no blurred pictures!. The bottom line is if all factors come together, including the SR, then the improvement over the 1st is significant.

The 18-55 mm SMC Pentax DA which comes as standard is more than adequate for the job, in fact it is the only Digital lens I have, the rest are from my film camera, a SIGMA 70-300mm APO with macro, and a SIGMA 170-500mm APO. Both lenses give excellent results and caleirate to the K100D's exposure settings well.

The flash automatically pops up if needed and has given good and correct exposure on all occasions. One word of caution with flash. The camera fits to the hand well, so much so that the tendancy is to stick a finger on your left hand in front of it! - I couldn't work out initially why I was getting dark patches on the first flash pictures

I shoot all my images in RAW format. The PENTAX PHOTO BROWSER software converts them to JPEG format very quickly. Show all the RAW files in the browser, Press CTRL A to select all - Tools menu - convert to JPEG - 15 seconds the lot!

The 2 Gb SD card that came with the camera enabled me to take 350 RAW images on a recent Ireland trip before it was full. Downloading to computer takes a few minutes. I bought a SanDisk Ultra 2 -4gb SD card but it doesn't appear to be compatable with the K100D - stick to 2Gb and it should work.

One negative point . Both the K100D and the 1stD use AA rechargables and they last well (2600mha NmH). The 1stD has an extra battery pack holder(accessory) which screws to its base and effectively gives you 8 AA batteries to call on plus extra control buttons.
This is NOT compatable with the K100D, which is a shame. Carrying an extra pack of batteries is no hardship, but to go to an airshow for the day knowing the 8 batteries will last without a change is a plus!

Summary
The K100D does everything I've asked the 1stD to do with equal or better results. The SHAKE REDUCTION is a big plus and DOES WORK- but don't expect never to have a blurred picture.
It represents EXCELLENT value for money if you already have PENTAX lenses

I wanted to buy a digital camera that would take all my existing Pentax LX lenses and had the feel of the LX. I have had to wait for some time, but this camera came on the market, and as soon as I tried it, I determined it was the camera for me. It has all the functions of an advanced digital camera, but is simple to operate. It is packed with features including an anti-shake mode. The flash could be more powerful, but I can use my existing heavy duty flash gun with it. Overall, a good looking camera that is just what I wanted as a semi-pro photographer.

The Pentax K 100D camera is the ideal camera for the digital beginner, but dont worry its also very good for the more serious photographer, having Pentax`s quality build and an excellent 18mm - 55mm Super Takumar lens as standard.This camera is very user friendly having the anti shake function is a great bonus allowing a wider range of shot situations without complicated changes.I have owned a few Pentax cameras in the past but the K100D outclasses them all.Its worth shopping around for prices many shops are selling for £450, I managed an E-Bay bargain for £285, this represents excellent value for money for a brand new digital camera complete with a 2gb memory card, after researching a number of options the K100d came out on tops for me.I recently visited the London Eye and managed some quality pictures even taken through the pods curved glass screen.Weight ratio is perfect , with just the right balance, even with a 300mm zoom lens fitted. I would certainly buy one again , but I think this one will outlast me.

I stuck with pentax because I already had a slr pentax that had given me quaulity photos and this takes all my lenses. The picture quaulity is top of the tree so much that I soon invested in a 55-200 pentax auto lense that covers all my walking photo's and the macro ones are great too I would recomend newcomers to pentax dslr's because the menu's are easy to follow and its so light to carry puts my old one to shame for weight and it needs no fancy batteries just aa's

The camera is perfect. Easy to use nice pictures. When my frends seen pictures from this camera two of them said yhey want to buy the same.

Having owned a Pentax z1, I wanted to stick with Pentax, for there quality and performance. The lens from my Z1 work well with my K100D .
Its an excellent camera, with many useful feachers.
I would recommend it to all who are looking for a slr digital.

This camera is amazing it has so many features, i am a new starter to photography but this camera makes me look proffesion.
with a 1GB sd card i can take over 600 pictures at high quality it has built in flash and the lens is perfect.
it has done me proud

I needed to play catch up and jump from film to digital slr photography within a specific price frame, whilst having all the features I need.The K100D fitted all the criteria and further allowed the use of the lenses I had acquired over the years for my Programme A. It is very user friendly and takes stunning pictures in all modes. The position of the controls are excellent and large enough.The menu programme is relatively simple to use and the viewing screen is also excellent. The manual is also comprehensive and easy to understand.

In my opinion it is a very good entry level budget priced digital slr. (I use a Nikon D70 or D80 at work).

The only aspect that should be considered is that it uses 4 x AA batteries but only Lithium or 2 x CR-V3'S support all camera functions. These can be very expensive but shopping around on the net can provide a cheap supplier.

What can i say apart from excellent!!!
Has a nice feel and doesn't feel cheap and nasty, easy to use, a good range of features to keep any photographer experimenting, Shake reduction is great and works well and finnaly for a 6mp camera, the resolution is fantastic.

If you want my advice, buy it!!! you wont be disappointed

Liked the easy to use menu system and the variation of image options
Shame about the 6.1 megapixal against the Canon EOS 400, however the multidelete selection and the price negates this
Well worth the price from Emily and lily against the Canon at over £150 saving.

I am going on a safari later this year and wanted to capture the moment. I have had digital cameras before, but knew I needed a digital SLR to get the best possible pictures. I went to several camera shops to get advice and this was the one that came out tops, as it had the "anti shake" control, ideal for in the jeep. It has the Auto function so you really can just a point and shoot. I know little if nothing about cameras, lens use etc, so needed something simple to use and this just fitted the bill.

It was not massively expensive, I bought the larger lense from ebay too at a greatly reduced price!

having only very limited experience of photography I was more attracted by the Pentax brand and the price. However experience has shown just how easy it is to start to develop some basic skills with a good camera that didn't break the bank. I know of nothing more I need in a camera for some years to come.
Very highly recommended.

My dilema was getting a balance between facilities such as aperture/shutter priority, raw capability, wide angle lens (28mm) and a reasonable telephoto (150mm) in one unit and portability, ease of use. I do not need to blow shots to A3 - just A4, so 6MP was sufficient. Also my budget was only around £300. I have had 'normal' SLR's in the past but wanted to develop my digital photography having had av average spec point & shoot up till now. I saw the Pentax K100D in Digital Review and this was 'highly recommended' - although not rated particularly in some of the mags, I rate the Digital Review people and value their reports. Additionally, when searching on Ebay, I saw a brand new one for sale with a basic 18-55mm lens decided to make a bid for it up to my £300 limit. Amazingly I won it. Yes, the camera is bigger than a point and shoot, but manageable - compared to a Nikon D80 say and, compared to what I was looking at - Panasonic TZ3, it is not too cumbersome. It does have many more facilities in all areas, is easy to use just on a point & shoot basis or you can get more technical. It's early days but I am happy that I could get into Digital SLR photography within budget - and have the possibility to develop with the additional lenses available. The flash is superb, with excellent automatic exposure - something that was always a struggle with my previous point & shoot. Recommended to the keen amateur to wants to make a move into digital SLR photography on a lower budget.

I bought this camera as I already have Pentax roll film camera and lenses and wanted to use existing lenses with digital camera. I have had good results and am very happy with new camera, so much so I bought my Son one for Xmas.

Fantastic camera all round.
Almost no noise at 800 Iso.
Biggest con is the slow rate at raw quality. It takes 3 pictures and makes you wait 2 or 3 seconds for the next one. Definitely not a sport action camera in Raw format.
The pentax K bayonet mount has the finest ever selection of lenses. Ricoh, Vivitar, Tamron, Sigma, Pentacon, Carl Zeiss Jenna, Zenitar. And if you search ebay for manual focus ones you can make a bargain and use an enormous quantity of excellent prime and zoom lenses with awesome apertures. It will even work with M42 lenses if you buy an adapter. An enormous quantity of adapters are available to contemplate using other brands and mounts.
Uses Lr6 a.k.a. AA batteries but can use also crv-3 batteries that take about 600 pictures until they need recharging. Unlike other cameras that give you no option of continuing to shoot whilst in the street this camera enables you to buy 4 AA batteries available everywhere and keep on shooting.
Uses SD cards which are pretty inexpensive these days. With a minor softw upgrade it also supports SDHC cards making it memory upgradable in the distant future.
Not waterproof like its descendents but I've used it in moist environments and it has survived.
Powerful Shake reduction enables you to shoot tele lenses at speeds as low as 1/30 without noticeable blur.

Got a DSLR due to sensor noise on advanced point and shoot. I see this camera as everything that I need from a photographic tool for years to come.
Was out this weekend in the "park" and I'm real pleased with the outcome.

As an wannabe amateur, ( see... http://kenrockwell.com/tech/7.htm ) and my tight, self imposed, budget I was "restricted". If I had felt more extravagant, I would have gone for the K10D as it has some more advanced features.
The thing is though... in my opinion; We as humans in the west and emergent economies are not limited by our knowledge, our technology or our ability to have. This cameras potential is only limited by me :)

Have fun!

Before I bought a K100D I was using the old Pentax K1000 film SLR which has next to no bells and whistles. The K100D has a veritable tome of a manual, but nevertheless it was very easy to get to grips with it, mostly without using the manual.

There are a lot of buttons on the camera, but whenever you push a button the LCD display screen pops up a quick description of what you've done. To begin with I found some of the markings by the buttons a bit strange, for example there is a digital zoom wheel marked with the usual icons, but the zoom wheel only zooms in on an image once it's been taken and you are viewing it- the rest of the time it's used to change shutter speed or aperture size. That said it's fairly consistent - If a button does something in one mode, it'll probably do the same in another.

The viewfinder is nice and bright and has useful crosshairs in it. It also pops red dots on what it's autofocusing on. There's also a little set of readouts in the view finder- focus on, shake reduction on, flash on, Aperture size and Shutter speed. Most of these are reproduced on the lcd on top of the camera.

The camera can be set to "Camera knows best" modes where it won't let you take a picture until it's happy (Flash on, aperture set etc.) but this can be easily overridden to "You know best" where it does as it's told! I had to do this as the internal flash on mine doesn't work, and the camera wouldn't take a picture until the flash is ready.

The menus are clear, easy to get to, easy to get rid of - an often overlooked feature - and well laid out. You can press an Info button which will tell you about the camera or about your image depending on when you press it- useful if you had it on full auto and want to know what Exposure Value it was using. There's also the option to add filters and the like in camera- mono, sepia, brighten.

The Pictures it takes are very good, and you can snap away almost as fast as you can push the button. The autofocus is usually very good, and tells you what it's focusing on. The camera will also tell you in the viewfinder if it can't autofocus on a lens.

All in all I'm very happy with the K100D. It's simple to use, lightweight (The batteries help the balance), fast and good value for money. I highly recommend it for someone just coming into SLR photography.

It is a lovely camera! Its large sensor produces very nice quality picture, better than any pocket size camera with its smaller sensor. The viewfinder is good size and the camera is a pleasure to use! It meters the light generally very well (of course, sometimes you have to interpret the conditions and, if needed, exposure or contrast can also be adjusted in the Photoshop). It also meters the light very well when using the camera's little flash. My rechargeable AA batteries last really long. I very much like the 'digital preview' button that i sometimes use to check the exposure without recording an image.

I had a few old Pentax lenses that could be mounted on my 'k100d'. But, to me personally, my old 50mm Pentax lens was a bit too long and so i decided to buy a 28mm lens (which on this camera/sensor size equals to 42mm focal length on 35mm size sensor). If anyone is interested, Pentax 28mm manual lenses are inexpensive, they cost around £20 - £30; auto-focus ones are a little more difficult to find and are more expensive (i bought my 'smc 28mm Pentax-F' on uk-ebay for £125).

It is true, i think, that the camera's shutter/mirror is a little loud. Not so much of a problem though. If one needs a quiet operation, some rangefinder or a pocket size digital camera perhaps would be a good choice.

I previously used Nikon D40 digital camera and i also like it very much. Operation controls and menu system in D40, to me, is very nice - very simple, easy to use. And it is lighter than the Pentax k100d. However, D40 has smaller viewfinder, and, if i am right (???!), you only have a choice of zoom auto-focus lenses (not tinier fixed focal length ones). For this reason i chose the Pentax, otherwise i would have prefered the lighter and LESS sofisticated Nikon d40. Maybe. And if there existed a pocket size camera with as big the sensor ("Sigma dp1 / 2" is too expensive at the moment!), i would choose it over a slr.

To conclude, Pentax k100d, from my experience, is a very good camera. The image quality is just brilliant (6x7 or large format film would too be different and would require/induce a different approach to photography). k100d's 6MP sensor produces big enough output to print lovely images at 8x12" (or slightly bigger). But showing them as a slide projection is also, i think, a fantastic option.

Just to finish, here are a few links to interesting (and free) online photography magazines: http://seesawmagazine.com/ http://www.lensculture.com/

Sorry for some difficult sentences.

All the best!

I am unashamedly biased towards this brand; of course there are other Digital SLRs out there but most of them don't use K-Mount lenses. I come from a long line of Pentax Users and have used S1a, MX , ME Super and SFX in the past. This is my first DSLR. I read up thoroughly and decided to go for this one as according to the forums, in addition to its other features the K100D has good low noise performance at high ISO (I like to shoot using available gloom). Also being on a limited budget I was able to put more funds towards a wide-angle (10-20mm) lens at the same time. Initial results are very pleasing. It goes everywhere with me. If and when I decide to trade up I shall certainly consider selling it on Ebay!

Received Item from Seller (Usa) in as new conditions, product works as advertised in the sellers listing. T

I bought this because I wanted to get those photo of my 1 year old daughter that are impossible to get with a normal digital camera. This SLR did allow me to take the fast, instant shots that gave me proof that she could look at the camera. It is very easy to use and perfect for the compete novice to use. The auto focus is a bit irritating in that it only focusses on the items close up when you have a differing landscape shot (this is on auto).

Another poor thing is that in low light the camera seems to struggle with focussing if you do not have the item in the centre of the view finder. This makes the flash sound like it is about to blow like a light bulb as it tries to get ready for the flash but the camera won't take the shot because it cannot 'see'.

It is a really easy camera to use and great fun for anyone who wants to try a digital SLR. Be warned though, it is addictive when taking so many fast shots, and it is hard to go back to a normal digital camera.

I bought this camera because Pentax have retained the same lens mount as their 35mm SLRS - this meant all my old lenses weren't consigned to the scrap heap. I have found it quite easy to use but anyone moving up from a compact camera without SLR experience will have to read the manual - and probably a few photo magazines - to get the best from it. It was a bit of a shock having to use the viewfinder again, as the lcd screen is only used for information and looking at shots after they have been taken, although there is a "preview" button allowing you to see how a picture will look before committing it to the memory chip. Personally I think this is a bit pointless unless you are running short of memory.
Overall the K100D is easy to handle, feels right and is familiar as it has a very similar layout to my previous MZ7. It is well balanced and has a sturdy feel without feeling heavy or bulky. Recommended for anyone upgrading from a film SLR or wanting more than a compact can offer.

I first saw this camera at a Digital Camera show in Exeter, and so compared it to several others of similar spec. This one proved to have the most features, and provided best value for money. The menu is very user friendly, easy to follow, and the graphics are good. It is also a bit lighter, making it less cumbersome to handle. The lenses are compatible with most other Pentax cameras. Another feature I liked was the ease of downloading to PC. All in all, an excellent entry level digital camera. Highly recommended.