K30 v NX10 my findings

Ian,

I am having some parallel considerations in that while I love the small presence, and fantastically sharp images produced by my NX100+30mm F2 I really couldn't justify using this camera as an "all rounder" when the 18-200mm lens costs around £600 in the UK. Given I already have a Samsung GX-10 and various lenses for the Pentax system, I purchases an X-display Pentax K-01 a few weeks ago, just before a holiday to Australia. I didn't have a great deal of trust in such a new system for such an important holiday so took along my GX-10 as well. The K-01 of course has the same sensor as the K-30.

As a holiday cam it's one of the best cameras I've ever had able to cope with all sorts of lighting environments and producing perfectly usable photos up to ISO3200.

I hardly used the GX-10 at all except for a trip out at sea where I felt it wise to have a weather protected camera.

However, in the end - I missed the NX100 + 30mm combo for those landscape, aerial and cityscape photos. With hiondsight - if I'd had the K-01 for longer beforehand I think I would not have bothered with the GX-10 (although it has it's redeeming features) - I'd have taken the NX100 + 30mm with me.

But like you - I like to get the best ot of a small(ish) budget.

I personally think that NX100 + 30mm F2, together with K-01 + Tamron 18-250mm (with a total cost to me of around £1000) is a formidable combination.

I also used my Pentaz SMC-M 50mm, Tamron 70-300mm LD Di, Pentax DA 35mm F2.4  and Zenith 16mm F2.8 on the K-01 during my 3 weeks in Australia, but the 18-250mm was stuck to the front of the K-01 for 90% of the time. Had I had an equivalent lens for the NX I might have been persuaded to take that as a backup but it costs too much when I have the systems I own.

But just to summarise my (unscientific but real-world) thoughts on the systems:

At ISO100, I don't think the NX100 can be beaten particularly with the 30mm lens. The GX-10 actually produces the next best quality (as I could see when I compared the few photos I took with it), but the K-01 produces an acceptable quality, particulalrly when using a sharp lens like the DA 35 F2.4.

I don't recall seeing any CA with any of my photos using the NX100 - perhaps because the lenses are generally better (I have the 30mm F2, 20-50mm Kit Lens and 50-200mm Tele Zoom). CA seems to be variable between the GX10 and K-01. My Tamron 18-250 doesn't propduce much CA on the GX-10, but is more noticable on the K-01. Whereas my Tamron 70-300mm is the reverse - becoming a much better lens for CA on the K-01 but still very sharp.

The fact that I had got used to the NX100 meant that I had no real issue with the lack of viewfinder in the K-01 and when you start putting lenses like the Tamron telephoto zooms on the front it doesn't really matter how thick the camera body is. I can cope nicely with both the NX100 and K-01.

What would have been really nice from my point of view is if Samsung could have put the Sony sensor in the NX100 from the start. Now that would have made people sit up. Whether the boat has been missed on that now I'm unsure.