More Pentax K10D

Well having messed around for a bit now I am slowly getting to grips with the operation of the kit. Whether I'll ever take a  decent photo is another matter !

What's good :

• Feels nice
• Old lenses are compatible - my old Pentax 50mm F1.7 is fab, though it takes a bit of messing around to get manual mode working how you want it - should be quicker
• Battery life was better than I expected though I do have some higher capacity batteries
• I shoot everything in JPG & RAW+ - JPG for quick pix for the wife and RAW if I want them to mess about with. May consider reducing the JPG sizes for quick usage
• Not worried about how many multi shots it will cope with like this, but then I don't really do that sort of thing
• P Mode to easily adjust either shutter or aperture, and the green button to instantly reset it
• Works nicely in Linux - I am using DarkTable and RawTherapee for the RAW files
• Generally just 'works'
• Green 'Stupid' mode for wife
• Easy to swap metering & focus points without really thinking about it
• Easy digital preview - saves a lot of wasted pictures
• Anti shake for aging hands & arms !

What's not :

• Should be a little easier to adjust the EV - keep having to take my eye off the eyepiece & find the damn button ! Once found it is relatively easy but you still need two fingers on the same hand to do it. Another wheel on the left may have helped
• 'User' Mode. Why ? Yes I know you can save settings, but really, it would have been easier to have the ability to save a number of modes/settings and then rotate through them. Just one doesn't really do much
• Seems I have to overstop (or is it under ? No idea but *I* know what I mean !) the EV quite often - a lot of times it doesn't seem to get the picture quite light enough - might be me with the metering
• Autofocus sometimes doesn't, and as always, it's when you want it most ! Bloody annoying occasionally
•  Shutter button is not so easy when the camera is in Portrait and I find I am using the middle, rather than the tip of my finger, and then taking multiple shots by mistake
• Flash seems a bit sluggish - might be my settings
• Not too hot at the point JUST before you need flash. Particularly if you are photographing in shade with bright surroundings - again, probably just me

There will be loads more I'm sure. Generally speaking I love it. The ability to set most of the common things quickly with barely a thought is great.

So now all I need to do is try and compose some decent shots !!!

A few messing about with things on FlickR

All in all a great camera to buy if you can't afford something brand new. Don't be put off by the name. Most of the skill is in the holder of the camera, not the bit of kit - you can take a good shot on a box brownie if needs be. Just go take photos and enjoy. Most won't be able to tell the difference in the quality of the shot between a Canon, Nikon or anything else. So don't be put off by the camera snobs !

And if you have some old Pentax lenses kicking about, or want to add to your kit reasonably cheaply then it is a good way to go. I want my fish eye :-) And you get Anti Shake with EVERY lens, cos it's built into the camera. Two fingers to other manufacturers !

Now I need to figure how to clean the insides after I have bumped it around a bit and a few years of muck have spread themselves around :-(

Also need to figure on how to disassemble a couple of old lenses to clean them. Standards seem easy, but I have a couple of old zooms that would be handy. They have some muck on the inside of the front lens that needs cleaning. All in good time I guess.