Camera Labs

OK, after months of research I think I have it narrowed down to two cameras; the K10D and the K100D Super.
Two things are steering me away from the K10D:

1. I have read two reviews on other websites where they talk about phantom pixels on the K10D. On one website they even show a couple of examples of those phantom pixels on real photos. Is this a common thing? The reports do say that they only appear on pictures with lots of vertical and horizontal lines, as in photos of buildings. I really am into photographing buildings, so I would hate to have these pixels appear on lots of my pictures, and they are very evident on larger prints. These reports where from early K10Ds. Does anyone know if Pentax has done anything to fix this?

2. The other thing that keeps me from buying the K10D is the "miss-alignment" of the view finder/sensor/body. Is this very noticeable?
Is it a real problem? Are most cameras affected by this regardless of brand?

I can only think of one thing that keeps me away from the K100D Super, and it's the lack of a full RGB histogram. How important is this? I used an SLR film camera years ago, until it got stolen and never replaced it. Of course it didn't have a histogram, and until I started researching DSLRs I didn't even know what they where. Some people on some websites make it sound like they are the greatest thing. All the reviews about the K100D super speak wonders of this little camera though.

I did go to a store and played with both cameras and loved the way both of them felt in my hands. I was leaning towards a Nikon D40, I thought that was my final decision, until I had the D40 and both Pentax cameras in my hands.

Thanks all very much in advance for your help.

Bonjour FZ6guti,

Welcome to the Pentax world I'm a former owner of an *ist DL and a happy owner of a K10D. I reviewed it here.

From my point of view, main differences are

• sensor: 6 M pixels for the K100D super and 10 M pixels for the K10D,
• batteries: standard or rechargeable AA for the K100D super and specific rechargeable battery for the K10D (between USD 25~50 a pop),
• viewfinder: pentamirror for the K100D and pentaprism for the K10D, which provides more light,
• weight and size: K100D is lighter than the K10D.

Answering to your questions,

1- phantom pixels
I haven't experienced so far this problem on my K10D

2- miss-alignment
My K10D suffered from miss-alignement but I got it fixed by Pentax. Here is my full report Twisted Pictures On K10D?.

3- full RGB histogram
Actually, I never used that feature. Please note that the histogram isn't live but only on pictures previously taken. In my sense, shooting in RAW (or in JPEG + RAW) with post-processing on a computer is far more important.

4- a couple of suggestions
May I do a couple of suggestions

• A new generation is rumoured and planned to be announced end of January 2008, with K200D and
  K20D. If you could wait and you aren't in a X-mas hurry, I suggest you tto wait for the announcement so you could benefit from bargain prices on the K10D.
• Another strong point are lenses: the new DA* line is more expensive but provides just terrific quality. See Pentax DA* 16-50mm f2.8 ED/AL (IF) SDM and Pentax DA* 50-135mm f2.8 ED (IF) SDM . They are compatible for both the K100D and K10D.

I really enjoy the K10D, which provides same quality as a film camera. Nice to hear from you and your final choice

_________________
--- rei_vilo
Pentax K-5 + BG4 + DA* 16-50 + DA* 50-135 + DA* 60-250 + AF-540FGZ
reivilophotography.weebly.com