Review: I bought a K10D for the Shake Redustion more than anything else. My hands aren't as steady as when I was younger, and many of the shots I took with the Canon Digital Rebel I used for the last two years were beyond the ability of the Unsharp Mask Filter in Photoshop Elements to make acceptable.
When my K10D was delivered, I read through the owner's manual while the battery charged, then went step by step through the cmaera's set-up menus. Finally, the moment of truth - the first exposure. I looked over the image on the rear LCD screen, and saw blurred edges!!! Then I realized, I'd forgotten to turn on the SR feature!! With SR activated, I reshot the same subject - the result convinced me I made the right choice. The SR switch hasn't been moved since.
It's now some 5 months and over 2400 exposures later, and my opinion of the K10D hasn't changed. From family events, including weddings and grandchildren's birthday parties, to botanical garden, zoo, and vacation photo sessions, to photographing a nearby house fire caused by lightning while heavy rain soaked firefighters and bystanders, the K10D delivered sharp images with accurate colors.
I don't have large hands, but the K10D seems a better fit to my grip than did the D-Rebel. The various controls, including front and rear command dials are easily found and easy to change. Focus selection, from single shot to continuous to manual is located where my left index finger falls naturally when I hold tha camera.
Even though I'm not at "pro" level photographer, I rarely used the "scene selection modes" typically found on most cameras, and don't miss them. One feature combination I do like is the "Green Button" near the shutter relaease and the lens stop-down as a spring-loaded position the On-Off switch surrounding the shutter release. With a "K" or "K-M" lens requiring metering at working aperture, it's easier to set proper exposure than it is to describe.
The weddings I attended stand out as the most difficult photo ops I've encountered so far, requiring a lot of post-processing for acceptable results. The reception hall lighting at one defied the best efforts of the K10D and AF540FGZ flash unit to obtain consistent results. One shot showed underexposure on review in the LCD screeen, but a +1 EV exposure comp dialed in on the flash resulted in highlights blown out on the next. Cutting back to +0.5 EV showed little difference, and I wound up shooting the rest of the event in RAW, having chosen the Adobe DNG format when I set up the camera.
Processing the DNG files is where I experienced problems with the Pentax Photo Lab software supplied with the camera. Maybe due to my PC not having the high level specs of the latest models (Windows XP and 256 meg of RAM), any time I attempted to invoke noise reduction on a file, the PC went unresponsive. I've had a much easier time processing DNG files using Photoshop Elements 3.0 the Adobe Camera RAW plugin.
I also had problems uploading image files directly from the camera to my PC. On either available USB setting, the camera psontaneously disconnects and reconnects, maiking me suspect a possible intermittent defect in the supplied cable. I related the problem to Pentax Customer Support via theier web site, but got no response, so I spent $25 for an SD Card reader - problem solved.
Maybe I've been spoiled, having used Canon's digital utilities for P&S digicams and the D-Rebel without incident for some time, byut this is the only aspect where the K10D didn't perform up to expectations.
I don't want to make mountains out of molehills - these difficulties haven't dimmed my overall enthusiasm for the camera and its capabilities. The camera took a good shower when I went to record a house fire on our block, and the battery was close to depleted when I started shooting. After recharging the battery, camera and lens were fine - and the 18-55 "kit" zoom I used at the house fire - were fine.
Pentax has hit a home run with the K10D. Not a grand slam, but a home run, nonetheless.
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