To eliminate the effect of the K10D’s in-camera processing and compression, we set it to record a RAW file at the same time as a *** JPEG. The K10D offers the option of recording RAW files in the proprietary Pentax PEF or open Adobe DNG formats; we opted for the latter. The JPEG and DNG RAW files measured 3.29MB and 16.1MB respectively.

Note: the RAW file was processed with Adobe Camera RAW 3.6 under Photoshop CS2 using the Camera RAW default settings (and 'As Shot' White Balance), then transferred to Photoshop with 16-bit tonal depth, before converting to 8-bit then cropping and saving using the same JPEG settings as above.

Using the Adobe Camera RAW defaults and 'As Shot' White Balance, the processed RAW file is noticeably sharper and saturated than the in-camera JPEG; indeed they look like they're from different cameras. While you may ultimately prefer the toned-down (dare we say, dull) approach of the default JPEG processing, there's no denying the K10D delivers considerably less punchy images straight out of the camera than its rivals. Personal preferences of course vary, but for more vibrant results closer to models like the Nikon D80, you should consider boosting the K10D's image parameters, or shooting in RAW mode for later processing. As always, different source material, not to mention different RAW converters may deliver different results.