This camera is still a great buy if you want a budget SLR. I've been massively impressed with it as a replacement for my *istDS. Metering is consistently bang on the money in difficult lighting circumstances.
From a purely use in the field perspective one thing I've found great is the ability to use a thumbwheel to go from pattern to selective to spot on AF and pattern to centre weight to spot on metering without resort to menus. You can similarly tweak auto bracketing via a button and thumbwheel. Info in the viewfinder is comprehensive and the top panel is well set out and easy to understand. The Fn menu is similar to the *istDS to use and pretty quick to access.
Image quality is good; criticisms of JPEG quality are largely unfounded in most real situations and the RAW formats are stunningly crisp.
Also worth a mention is the anti-shake function. I could get a sharp image at 210mm at 1/70s hand-held but it was impossible without it, no matter how much I concentrated. Some people will get less benefit due to poor technique. and it won't save you if you are incapable of holding a camera poperly, but if you can already hold one steady this will give you great results with any Pentax lens.
I've been really impressed with this as an upgrade. I honestly can't see why anyone but a professional photographer would want any more out of a camera and I've yet to really hit any niggles. I know the K20D is out there, but at half the pricce this is well worth consideration if money is, in fact, for you, an object.
From a purely use in the field perspective one thing I've found great is the ability to use a thumbwheel to go from pattern to selective to spot on AF and pattern to centre weight to spot on metering without resort to menus. You can similarly tweak auto bracketing via a button and thumbwheel. Info in the viewfinder is comprehensive and the top panel is well set out and easy to understand. The Fn menu is similar to the *istDS to use and pretty quick to access.
Image quality is good; criticisms of JPEG quality are largely unfounded in most real situations and the RAW formats are stunningly crisp.
Also worth a mention is the anti-shake function. I could get a sharp image at 210mm at 1/70s hand-held but it was impossible without it, no matter how much I concentrated. Some people will get less benefit due to poor technique. and it won't save you if you are incapable of holding a camera poperly, but if you can already hold one steady this will give you great results with any Pentax lens.
I've been really impressed with this as an upgrade. I honestly can't see why anyone but a professional photographer would want any more out of a camera and I've yet to really hit any niggles. I know the K20D is out there, but at half the pricce this is well worth consideration if money is, in fact, for you, an object.
