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Awesome (and very unique) camera,
As soon as I saw this red camera, I absolutely had to have it. I did tremendous amounts of research to figure out if it was actually worth upgrading from my D40, then ordered it the day it became available on Amazon. While a few things might have been nicer on the Nikon, this camera is a wonderful upgrade. If the color isn’t enough (this is for the red model if reviews become merged later on), it has some very nice specs to it. Ability to use essentially any Pentax lens ever made (and auto-focus), ISO 6400, 1/6000 shutter, many built-in imaging features(HDR, filters, color tweaks). This thing is truly a beast!
Body; When I first pulled it from the box, I was a little discouraged. While it is a well made camera, it does have a much lighter and cheaper feel than the Nikon had. The over-all fit and finish is fine, but the plastics don’t feel as high quality. Perhaps it’s because they’re smooth, but it’s also just my opinion. A slight concern, too, is that the red appears to be “painted”, seeing as the inside of the doors are white. Overtime there’s a chance the color could rub off, but I’m hoping this does not happen. Materials aside, the camera does have a nice feel. I have large hands with very long, slim fingers and the grip fits my hands great. The primary controls are within easy reach, with only a couple odd deviations(such as the flash and green soft-button).
The LCD on the back is average. It’s your typical resolution, but works fine for previewing. Now the viewfinder I find to be more difficult to use than the Nikon. The focal point does not illuminate, making it both difficult to find and difficult to tell what’s being focused. Also I can’t seem to see all the specs in the viewfinder. I do wear glasses so I can’t press my eye right against the eyepiece, but this wasn’t a problem with the Nikon. While this certainly isn’t a deal killer, it would be something to keep in mind.
Shooting performance is great. This camera is very fast. Start up time is essentially instant, focusing is lightning fast and it can take nearly 6FPS at it’s peak. I have found low-light focusing to be a little worse than the Nikon, but that’s also because the Pentax lacks an AF assist light. While it can use the flash, it still isn’t quite as accurate as the Nikon and it’s little light.
Image quality is very nice. Noise is well controlled under most all ISO settings. ISO6400 is very usable in average lighting conditions. But as light decreases, noise becomes more apparent. Many images from this camera do seem a bit more noisy than other cameras at similar ISO settings, but it still can produce comparable prints. Colors tend to be on the flat side using default settings, but with insane amounts of tweaks, this can be changed to whatever you please. White balance is managed very nicely too, with much better auto WB under incandescent lighting than the Nikon (though manual setting is still the best). The stabilizer works well. It’s not as apparent when taking casual shots, but when using liveview, it is very easy to watch (and hear!) it working. While still on image quality, the movie mode actually astonished me. The quality is very sharp. While this is not a movie camera, the videos produced are supurb. Just realize AF is disabled and the stabilizer does interfere with the audio.
Honest, I suppose my only real complaint about this camera are the batteries. Why Pentax decided to go with AA’s rather than a lithium pack is beyond me… Aside from being a bit clunky (4 batteries over a single pack) the system is rather buggy. I have been told the “batteries are depleted” but then restart the camera and continue to shoot for hours. Even after upgrading to firmware 1.1, the battery meter tends to jump around. If Pentax had gone with a lithium pack, this camera would be perfect 5 stars.
So to sum up, if you want a camera somewhere between the Nikon D90 and D5000 that strays away from the “normal” brands, this is a camera to consider.
–Update–
After having the camera for almost a month, I figured I’d post a little update. I still love the camera. I’ve had no problems to speak of. Pictures are looking very nice; people are always complimenting me on the camera and the photos it takes
I guess my only real complaints would still be the batteries and the white balance. The battery meter, as mentioned above, is very off. But all in all it works well enough to guess how much juice is remaining. As for the white balance, I’ve noticed it tends to be a bit more off than the Nikon was. I have a couple flashes, and it seems to be more-so with the Pentax 360FGZ so I’m not even sure if I should blame the camera or not…
These things aside, I’m really loving this camera. I’m a very difficult person to please but I’m exceptionally happy with my purchase.
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|such a great ( and unique) DSLR,
While attempting to find a good ,mid range ,entry level DSLR, I stumbled across the pentax K-x. I mean, how could I miss that flashy red color. And after extensive research it wasnt just the red color that attracted me to this camera.
First off ,after testing many of the canons and nikons around the k-x’s class. ( i.e. canon xsi, t1i, nikon D3000, D5000) I found the pentax much eaiser to pick up and get started. Being a previous canon user myself, the T1i seemed far to intimidating. Right out of the box with the K-x I was able to figure out how to adjust settings and within 15 minutes had some half decent shots.
However the only thing that did not seem to make sense to me was the placement of the delete button ( all the way over in left field). My hand has to shift to hit it. Which i suppose is not a bad thing, considering there is something heartless about a delete button on a camera. ( I love film and am stuck in my ways)
The feel of this in my hands is almost as good as my 35mm metal body film camera (gasp!)it doesnt feel like a cheap toy. Its solid, as one reviewer had also pointed out.
The cross processing feature sold me. I do a lot of cross processing with film , which quickly gets pricey. Although its not film , it pleases me ( and my wallet) that I can now get close results digitally. the digital filters are fun to play around with as well, most notablly: Toy camera , which imatates the ‘old school’ holgas/diana’s that hipsters die for now a days.
live view seems a bit noisy to me. I can hear the camera ‘think’ ( click )when I change settings such as the iso. But , then again , this is the first DSLR that I have owned …so it could be minor issue.
Video quality is superb.
and above all the price is right. ( much cheaper than the nikon’s and canon’s you’ll come across in its range)
I urge those looking at buying a new dslr to look into the pentax K-X . you wont be dissapointed. PLUS who else has got a RED! camera.
win win.
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|The Pentax K-x is a giant killer!,
I recently upgraded from my beloved Olympus e-510 DSLR with the 14-42mm and 40-150mm kits lenses in order to get a DSLR with better low-light performance and HD video capabilities. I loved my Olympus, but image quality took a nose-dive at ISO 800, and I liked the idea of having an HD camcorder built into my camera to capture high quality family photos and home videos in one device. I eventually settled on the Pentax K-x after first buying, and then returning, a Canon T2i.
I know that the T2i costs almost twice as much as the K-x, and they’re not direct competitors, but I think my experience illustrates what a great camera and bargain the K-x is and how, for me at least, it was a giant killer.
I initially pre-ordered a T2i for the $900 MSRP after reading the glowing reviews in the press about the 18MP sensor, the high-ISO performance and the killer 1080p video. When I received the T2i, I was surprised by how cheap and plasticky it felt. It’s not that the T2i was likely to fall apart, but my Olympus felt and looked like a higher quality camera, even though it was about $200 less than the T2i when I bought it. I realize that the T2i is a Rebel, but for almost $1000, I expected something more solid.
Even worse was the Canon 18-55mm kit lens, which felt like a toy compared to my Olympus kit lenses. It looked cheap, and the zoom action felt very cheap, and you could hear plastic-on-plastic as you zoomed in and out. There was no lens hood included, and the optional lens hood was only about an inch deep and looked ridiculous. The front element rotated when auto-focusing, which makes using some filters problematic, and you had to switch off AF to manually make focus adjustments. My Olympus lenses did not rotate the front element, and allowed full time focus override without turning off AF. And build-wise, they looked and felt like a higher end lens. But worst of all, Canon kits lens’s optical performance was lacking, rendering the 18MP sensor moot.
I could live with the cheap feel of the T2i body and the ugly jelly-bean design, but I came to realize that in order to get a lens that would match the performance of the body, I would need to shell out another $500 or more, and as a hobbyist I just didn’t have the budget.
The real deal-breaker with the T2i though, was the use of Quicktime format for the HD video. Quicktime is a proprietary Apple video format, and while I must assume it works well on a new Mac, the QT videos often gave PCs problems. I’d read about this from other users, but I figured that with my high-end PCs and my computer knowledge, I would be okay. But both my new Sony Vaio laptop with Windows 7, ATI 4650 graphics and 4GB of RAM and my desktop computer with Windows XP, dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, Raptor 10K HDD and nVidia 8800GT graphics would stutter on playback of the 1080p files. And finding affordable programs to edit Quicktime HD video files is another headache. I wasn’t about to buy a new Mac just to be able to work with the video from my new camera.
So back went the T2i, and my quest for a new camera continued. I was just about to pull the trigger on a Nikon D5000, when I came across the Pentax K-x.
The first thing that grabbed my attention was the styling. I thought the red was killer, but I wasn’t that brave. And the camera looked dead-sexy in navy blue, but when I saw the white version, I was in love. One thing I liked about my Olympus was that it was something DIFFERENT than all the Nikons and Canon Rebels you see every other parent carrying to school or sports functions. I would often get questions about it from people who didn’t realize that Olympus even MADE DSLRs. With this Pentax, I would again have something out of the ordinary.
Then I started reading reviews of the K-x. One of the great things about the T2i is the high ISO image quality, and according to the reviews and the sample images I was looking at, the K-x was right there with it.
And the K-x also did HD video. There were some limitations, such as 720p and lack of full control over exposure while shooting video, but I didn’t really mind since the samples I downloaded looked great, even on my 110″ 1080P home theater projector. And 720p files take less space than 1080p and require less processing power to playback and edit. And best of all, the K-x uses Motion JPEG video format, which plays back great on PCs and is compatible with almost any Windows video editing program. The MJPEG format does use more disk space than the equivalent QT file, but hard drives and SD cards are cheap these days, so it’s not a big deal.
Another great thing about the K-x is that it has sensor-based image stabilization in the body, so any lens you stick on the camera is stabilized. My Olympus used a similar system, and I was very happy with it. The big advantage is that you can be non-stabilized lenses so they’ll be…
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|Hey man I only wanted to write and say I enjoyed reading your website.