Camera Labs

We currently have Canons, a 20D, a 400D, lensed with EF-S 10-22, EF-S 17-55 IS, EF-S 17-85 IS, Sigma 18-200 OS. And now the 40D has finally arrived. The 20D was a stop gap early this year moving from a 10D and awaiting the 40D, the 400D was a present.

There is nothing "wrong" with either Canon, but the 40D HAS now arrived. Looks great in review, although Nikon may be sneaking past, but what about the Pentax K10D. I missed this little treat when the 400D was bought, but on paper, GBP for GBP (around 500GBP), the Pentax looks a bit of a steal.

We very, very rarely use Jpeg, we like it in the RAW. We don't use Scene mode, we take control. The review of the 40D makes no comparison to the K10D, in fact no sites do, although all seem to think the K10D a good piece of kit.

How does the K10D compare to the 40D in the RAW ?

Hello theonlyfoz, and welcome to the Camera Labs forum!
Let others chime in that had both cameras in their hands. But even without owning one of the discussed bodies, one thing is clear: Even if the Pentax is close to the Canon 40D in RAW (which I doubt), your investment in fine glass for your Canon will be a total waste, when you switch system. That will never turn out to be a good idea

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Hear what you're saying, but actually, the fine glass came at pretty cheap prices so could possibly make "most" back on a trade, and going for even finer glass on Canon is mucho expensive. So I guess the search is also wider, new Nikon coming, new Sony, and also take lens prices into account.

Pentax came to mind since it was suddenly brought to my attention by somebody else buying one and seemed such a deal at it's price point without "features" we don't use eg not sure about Live View either. Check out the Pentax review and it is compared well to 30D and I think the Nikons (Ignoring jpeg). Check out the 40D review and no mention of it. That's why I missed it as an option getting the 400D. Is it that far below the 40D as a RAW shoooter ?

And lenses was another trigger as was looking for a macro. The ambition has to be to go full frame some time, so refraining from MORE EF-S's. But on that basis either stay Canon and dream of new 5D, or maybe go Nikon, since Pentax ain't in the full frame frame (yet)

Well, I'm just interpreting test-results with no own experience here. So I already hear the Flak from those in the know.
But I guess that provided focus and exposure is ok, you might get an IQ from the Pentax in RAW that is in the same ballpark than from the 40D, perhaps even a little more resolution.
But the breadth of lenses from Pentax is surely much narrower than from Canon or Nikon!
The quality of AF and auto-exposure should be better with the 40D.

Let's hear Gordon on this subject...

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

The K10D wasn't mentioned in the 40D review because it's a different class. I only mentioned the D80 in the verdict because it's the best of the budget 10 Mpixel DSLRs...

I'd say if you're willing to put the work in and process RAW files, you could probably end up getting similar output from various 10 Mpixel DSLRs, so the choice boils down to look, feel, features and price...

Sorry for delay in saying thanks. Got rather tied up in problems with 20D and 17-55 F2.8 lens giving poor focus again on group shots at ISO 400. Still trying to figure out what is going wrong there but the images are not up to the standard I would expect. Portrait is fine but group shots and middle distance seem ropey. Trying to figure out if there is a problem or whether I am expecting too much.

So thanks again for the replies and do you know if the EXIF data from the 20D will be able to tell me what focus mode was used for an image (One shot or AI Servo) if I find a suitable EXIF extractor ?

Hi, I don't think the drive mode is saved in the data, but I may be wrong. Photoshop certainly wasn't revealing anything about it, but there may be more data buried in there...