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K10D being recommended over Canon/Nikon by local camera shop

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EricJohnson

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I know this has been hashed out and there is no "right" answer. I have read many of the posts on this site as well as others and am more confused than ever. I am buying a camera for my work (real estate pix), family activities, nature (live in Colorado), and sports (kids starting to play soccer). All this said, my father in law likes his Canon 30D and said we can use his tele lense. Not sure how practical that is and we get along so I might leave that offer alone. Started considering the Nikon 40Dx after visiting local camera shop. The guy was raving about it. I didn't have much position after 30 minutes of playing with both of them. I then talked to Wolf Camera (Ritz subsidiary). The gal there is a lifetime Nikon user and has lenses from her dad, etc. That said, she said that if she was starting from scratch like I am, Pentax K10D - hands down.

I read the reviews and the only dig seems to be the JPEG quality in out of the box mode. Is this easily "fixed" with the settings? What is the disadvantage of shooting in RAW mode? My wife and I are both technical and she was very into 35mm photography in the 80's - we still have darkroom equipment in storage. I know they are all good but I am a second guesser by nature and really want to make sure to buy something I can build on. That seems to be a benefit to this camera (true??) over the others.

Any help is appreciated. I am going to look at the Pentax in person tonight. I will buy it from the local shop and pay a few extra bucks knowing I have them for a resource. She was espousing the value of having it cleaned yearly and their $125/year warranty covers a yearly cleaning (worth $115). I can get 1 - 5 years of warranty.

Cheers and thanks, Eric
 
Go for the Pentax. I'm glad that I did. Nothing from any of the others can touch it in it's price class. The jpeg thing is a non-issue as it is easily fixed with the camera settings. The build quality, in-camera IS, weatherproofing, lens choices are all terrific with the K10D.

Good luck!
--
Bill, Toronto, Canada
 
Bill, thanks. Thoughts on waiting for the new version of this (I was surfing the site and found this is a liklihood) or am I chasing my tail? I would like to have it for the holidays but can get by if they are going to swap it out/drop the price on this model.
 
is the memory it takes up and the (generaly) greater time needed to post process the images

altho Lightroom helps a ton with that.

also expect 1 gig to hold 94 raw images.
EricJohnson said:
I know this has been hashed out and there is no "right" answer. I
have read many of the posts on this site as well as others and am
more confused than ever. I am buying a camera for my work (real
estate pix), family activities, nature (live in Colorado), and sports
(kids starting to play soccer). All this said, my father in law
likes his Canon 30D and said we can use his tele lense. Not sure how
practical that is and we get along so I might leave that offer alone.
Started considering the Nikon 40Dx after visiting local camera shop.
The guy was raving about it. I didn't have much position after 30
minutes of playing with both of them. I then talked to Wolf Camera
(Ritz subsidiary). The gal there is a lifetime Nikon user and has
lenses from her dad, etc. That said, she said that if she was
starting from scratch like I am, Pentax K10D - hands down.

I read the reviews and the only dig seems to be the JPEG quality in
out of the box mode. Is this easily "fixed" with the settings? What
is the disadvantage of shooting in RAW mode? My wife and I are both
technical and she was very into 35mm photography in the 80's - we
still have darkroom equipment in storage. I know they are all good
but I am a second guesser by nature and really want to make sure to
buy something I can build on. That seems to be a benefit to this
camera (true??) over the others.

Any help is appreciated. I am going to look at the Pentax in person
tonight. I will buy it from the local shop and pay a few extra bucks
knowing I have them for a resource. She was espousing the value of
having it cleaned yearly and their $125/year warranty covers a yearly
cleaning (worth $115). I can get 1 - 5 years of warranty.

Cheers and thanks, Eric
Click to expand...
--
i shoot things,

fork.zenfolio.com
 
The K10D is a very good camera. The only issue I see is the low light focusing speed, which really doesn't bother me since I don't take indoor/night sport or kid moving shots.

Dave
 
EricJohnson said:
What is the disadvantage of shooting in RAW mode? My wife and I are
both technical and she was very into 35mm photography in the 80's - we
still have darkroom equipment in storage.
Click to expand...
The advantages of shooting RAW outweigh the disadvantages by far. The disadvantages are because of larger file size (less shots per memory card, faster to fill up the buffer), and there is one extra step in post-processing.

RAW is like the negatives; whereas JPEG is like the prints of the 35mm days. So with your background, I just can't see why you would not shoot RAW at all times.
 
I don't think you'll have any regrets with the Pentax.

It sounds like between you and your wife you have some photography background, but just in case you hadn't thought about it, if you're going to be shooting real estate, regardless of which camera you end up with you'll need a wider lens than what the camera will most likely come with.

I suggest the 16-45mm at the least as a cost-effective option, but something like the DA12-24 would be better.
 
I bought the K10D a month ago and have been loving it ever since. Have nearly 1000 pics taken already. I started on a Pentax in High School back in the 80's but moved to Canon. I will say there are issues out of the box but the beauty of DSLR's is you can take pictures and adjust to your liking. I have learned a lot here on this site and in the first 1000 shots have been tweaking my heart out to figure out this camera and it has been all fun.
 
EricJohnson wrote:
(snip)
EricJohnson said:
I read the reviews and the only dig seems to be the JPEG quality in
out of the box mode. Is this easily "fixed" with the settings? What
is the disadvantage of shooting in RAW mode? My wife and I are both
technical and she was very into 35mm photography in the 80's - we
still have darkroom equipment in storage. I know they are all good
but I am a second guesser by nature and really want to make sure to
buy something I can build on. That seems to be a benefit to this
camera (true??) over the others.
Click to expand...
The issues with JPG quality are vastly overestimated IMO, and are only evident at very large image sizes in any case. Pentax uses a different sharpening algorithm than other camera makers, and this yields more detail but less crisp edges. K10D JPGs respond better to postprocessing than those from some other cameras (which often tend to look oversharpened), but if you want a sharper image right out of the camera you can increase the default sharpening using the settings menu.
EricJohnson said:
Any help is appreciated. I am going to look at the Pentax in person
tonight. I will buy it from the local shop and pay a few extra bucks
knowing I have them for a resource. She was espousing the value of
having it cleaned yearly and their $125/year warranty covers a yearly
cleaning (worth $115). I can get 1 - 5 years of warranty.
Click to expand...
Eric, if you want to spend the extra money for a warranty go ahead, but remember that Pentax has a one year warranty and that if a camera is going to fail, it will most likely do so within the first several months of use. I question the value of a long-term warranty because many users will upgrade their DSLR within 2-3 years to take advantage of significant improvements in sensors/electronics and added features. Also, you can do sensor cleaning yourself with a much smaller investment than $125. But YMMV; do what makes you comfortable.

It's great that some local shops have been able to stop wearing N and C blinders and see the value of the Pentax DSLR offerings. I only hope that more camera salespeople and camera buyers will begin to think for themselves and not simply continue to go with the herd.
--
Jim King - Retired Colormonger - Suburban Detroit, Michigan, USA; GMT -5h (EST)
Pentax user for over 45 years. Photo gear and collection listed in my profile.



* * * * *
A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject.
  • Sir Winston Churchill
* * * * *
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits.
  • Albert Einstein
 
Pay for the K10D with a credit card and you will extend the warranty for an additional year. Like computers, if your camera is going to go, it will happen within the first year most likely.

Just get the K10D and spare yourself the inner turmoil. Next year's model will be wonderful and expensive. Today's K10D is wonderful and relatively inexpensive and you will have use of the tool for a few months more. At a certain point in life you realize that matters.
 
Thanks to all for the support and valuable info. I plan to go with the K10D, use a CC to extend the warranty and put money into a high capacity memory card if I choose to shoot RAW. I am going to invest the savings from the extended warranty in lense(s). Interestingly enough, she indicated the Nikkor lense is pretty good out of the box for my needs and dissuaded me from considering the Camorary (sp?) telephoto that is made custom for Ritz/Wolf.

I thought about the idea of waiting for the new model to come out and agree that it will likely cost a lot more. Worst case if I do decide to upgrade, I have one dedicated camera for business and my family has one for personal use. Any lenses will be used by both cameras. Thanks again! Eric
 
I'm also planning to get the Pentax K10D. Can you tell me if you think the price will drop any more in next few weeks or month? (and if so, will I run risk of it being out of stock?). And do you suggest getting it with te kit lens (costs an extra $75-100). I desperately want this camera but am a student on budget, so an extra $65 in savings matters (found it cheaper on one site, but they have a crappier warranty - I wanted to get the warranty that covers accidental damage but now not sure after reading your comments. Does anyone buy the extended warranty, and if I am going to go for it, would I be better off buying a 3 yr for $120, than 5 yr for $235? And does everyone, regardless of where they buy, get an extra yr warranty if paying with credit card?

Thanks,
Beth
 
It's about value. With the current $100 rebate, you could purchase a Pentax K10D + kit lens for $611 from BuyDig. That's simply amazing. To get comparable build quality and feature set a 40D + kit or A700 is going to be just over twice that, D200/300, Oly E3 or Fuji S5 (what i shoot) 3x that. Not to knock the K10, but if money is not object, clearly I think the some of the others are superior systems in many ways. However, think of it this way; Even if you do have $1500 or so to spend, instead of a body+kit you could have a K10D +16-50 2.8. Or the K10D plus 18-250 and a good prime. Maybe K10D + kit +55-200 + prime + flash, etc. Lots of options. It may compare to those systems I mentioned for features and quality, but it's price competition is D40, Rebel, E510, A100. Clearly the K10 is in another league from those.
 
I am looking at Wolf (local Ritz) but did see the price at BuyDig/Beach at $519 for the body after rebate. I am now not going to get the extended warranty after reading some of the experienced posters comments. I think the school of thought is that if it goes bad, it will do so in the first year.

I know the warranty covers dropping, etc but if my experience on the 3 yr warranty from HP for my laptop is any example it is a waste. A recurring USB port problem was finally resolved by expanding the one remaining one that works (it is NOT a software problem no matter how much their support group tried to troubleshoot that -- hours and hours on the phone and I gave up - they wouldn't agree to shipping it back).

I don't get the Credit card comment about another year unless that buyer has coverage through Visa, etc.
 
So if you were going to get an extended warranty that covers accidental damage (B&H's Sagemax - anyone know how good it is if you do damage or drop something? Do they follow through?)...would you go for a 3 yr for $118 ($40/yr for accidental damage - I think it's worth it), or 5 yr for $235 (closer to $50/year...but if you do drop it, it'll cost a lot more than $50 to repair or replace..but may change my mind and do 3 yr over 5 yr, and can always extend it if needed. What does everyone think? The warranty is the main reason I was going to buy from B&H. (also I'm in NJ, so buydig is cheaper but with tax, it's pretty close to B&H price)

Does anyone think price will drop more over next month, and if so, would you wait or would you be too worried it would be out of stock too quickly?

Beth
 
I really like mine. I bought it after thoroughly reading about the others and it....and I've had good success. A camera is like anything else, if you learn to use it, you will get good results out of it. I am really surprised that the Pentax is beginning to be recommended over the others because of its small portion of the market but I think they have a good product and I am glad to see it being recommended...

--
http://www.flickr.com/photos/floridainvestigator/
 
A couple hundred bucks isn't a very good investment, in my mind, when a typical repair would probably be that or less. You might see if your dealer has a different warranty available. You can probably pick up Pentax's extended warranty (an extra 2 years), for $30-$40. It doesn't cover drops, but it does cover major malfunctions. I'd put the extra money in the bank.
 
Changed from Canon 350D to Pentax K10D and have had not regretted doing so. Bit like changing from Internet Explorer to Firefox or Opera - smaller but better. (manufacturer)

Have to say for a 60 year old idiot who still clambers over rocks etc, can't think of any instance where I dropped/nearly dropped my dslr. Never carry it by the neck strap - it's always clutched in my steel like grip! Bugger extra warranty/insurance- buy an extra lens instead (possibly secondhand) - you'll feel better for it.
 
I'm not a film guy, but once you process the film to a negative, you're pretty much locked into that look, right? In the case of raw, you can process it as many times as you like, and do it differently each time. Huge amount of flexibility in that. Plus, raw processors are really good these days and the one-click processing to jpeg is very quick and usually good enough if you're just taking snapshots. There really isn't that much additional processing if you don't want it.
--
Russ
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rfortson/
http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/russfortson
Even bad photography can be fun :)

 
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