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