K20D owners........

[Jman02]

Just curious about the K20D owners who previously had owned the K10D.......what are your thoughts? What did you gain by upgrading? Was it worth it or would you wait for the next upgrade after the K20D? I am contemplating the K20D, but not sure if it would be worth the extra $$.

thanks all!!

[Robert Barnett]

Yes, it was worth it. The lower noise was worth the cost of the switch. I like doing existing light shots and low light shots and long exposure shots and the lower noise is very nice.

I also like to do extreme cropping and so that 4.5MP resolution increase was another big plus for me. The fact they made such a large jump and got the noise level down is amazing.

The live view was something I was interested in but turned out to be a lame junk feature. Poorly implemented. It will be a very long time before I ever consider this feature again in my upgrade decision.

Robert

[mhertel]

I should have my K20D tomorrow (is the postal service is on time) and my decision to upgrade was based on the lower noise and increased MP cound for cropping as well..
I'll post some more after I had a chance to play with it a bit more

[Stratario]

K20D brings out the best in every lens you have by fine tuning focus on up to 20 lenses. That's the most important feature for me.

[creampuff]

Why the K20D is hands down better:

1) No back or front focusing issues. If there were any, you can adjust it yourself
2) Better AF
3) Better WB control
4) Better resolution and dynamic range from the great sensor
5) Better noise control, especially at high ISOs
6) Colour rendition is better, no more oversaturated reds typical of CCD sensors
7) Jpegs are better straight from the camera
8) Bigger LCD monitor that can be calibrated
9) Better battery life
10) The intervalometer is fun to use
11) Live View may not be perfect but it's there should you need it
12) Quieter

I have owned the K100D, K100D Super and K10D before my present K20D.

[Wheatfield]

Originally Posted by Jman02

Just curious about the K20D owners who previously had owned the K10D.......what are your thoughts? What did you gain by upgrading? Was it worth it or would you wait for the next upgrade after the K20D? I am contemplating the K20D, but not sure if it would be worth the extra $$.

thanks all!!

Absolutely worth it. I shoot portraits, and the K20 sensor is a definite improvement over the K10 sensor for my work.
I gained an improvement in flesh tone rendering, which I attribute to the use of the CMOS sensor technology, the ability to dial in AF biasing for individual lenses, and while I haven't quantified it, I have a feeling that white balance has been improved as well.

[jbinpg]

Just curious about the K20D owners who previously had owned the K10D.......what are your thoughts? What did you gain by upgrading? Was it worth it or would you wait for the next upgrade after the K20D? I am contemplating the K20D, but not sure if it would be worth the extra $$.

Have never been so happy. Right from the first shots out of my K20D, I knew this was something special. The quality of the shots is staggering - not that my photography is staggering, but the potential to deliver staggering shots is there. The better the glass, the higher the IQ from the K20D's sensor. Once in a while you will get one where everything all comes together and you will find yourself astonished at the quality. This is especially so when printing. If you can rent a K20D before buying, you will appreciate what I am saying more.

And yes, the handling and feature set of the body are as good as any other Pentax. I have to laugh at some of the reviews that slam the K20D for burying changing the ISO in the Fn menu. Ummm...doesn't everybody just hold down the OK button and dial in the ISO? Can't get any easier.

Get one. You will love it.

Jack

[jsherman999]

I didn't go from K10 -> K20, I went from K100D -> K20D, and as you can imagine, the difference was vast. The K100D is a great camera, especially at high-ISO, but the 14.5MP Samsung sensor has made a world of difference - it's like a different category of camera. I feel that it's easier to discern different 'peronalities' of my lenses, because the sensor fleshes those differences out. Consequently, it's made me like lens collecting more, for better or worse

[flyinggabe]

I am very pleased with the decision of upgading. The performance of the K20D is far superior in JPEG and just now I am learing to use RAW. I have found that Pentax 16-50 and Pentax 50-135 on the other body gives me great lattitude in taking pictures. i have no regrets of upgrading.

[Duff]

Originally Posted by Jman02

Just curious about the K20D owners who previously had owned the K10D.......what are your thoughts? What did you gain by upgrading? Was it worth it or would you wait for the next upgrade after the K20D? I am contemplating the K20D, but not sure if it would be worth the extra $$.

thanks all!!

I still have both.

Faster, sharper, more features, well-worth it!

[mikeatnite]

I went from K10D to K20D and couldn't be happier. My biggest reasons outside what others have already mentioned:

1. Not a hint of VPN in the K20D that I've encountered so far.

2. The K20D seems much more forgiving in terms of dynamic range. My skill set is such that I don't always get perfect exposures. With the K20D, if I clip the highlights a little, I find it much easier to recover in software versus the K10D. Also, the red/orange colors don't seem to clip as readily on the K20D.

3. I'd sometimes get a noticeable yellowish/green cast on my K10D shots. The auto WB has worked much better for me on the K20D.

4. The ergonomics and controls are identical to the K10D so there's no learning curve. I loved those aspects of the K10D and the K20D retains it. Overall, the K20D seems to keep what was great about the K10D and just betters it in a lot of important areas.

[Dark_Mist]

I still have both.

However, the 3 things that tempted me into buying the K20D are:

• the lower noise at high ISO,
• expanded dynamic range setting,
• trap focus with AF lenses.

I use my cameras for wedding photography and these were enough of an improvement to justify the expense of a new body.

I wonder though how many people are not getting the best from their DSLR because they are using substandard lenses. I bought the K10D after a couple years of using the *istD and I was initally very disappointed with the photographs I was getting. Then I bought the DA* 16-50 and I was getting the results I expected.

I can't believe that Pentax sell the K20D with the 18-55 kit lens. I can only hope the mark 2 version has had some real magic done. The old one just didn't resolve well enough for 10 MP.

[Jewelltrail]

The live view was something I was interested in but turned out to be a lame junk feature. Poorly implemented. It will be a very long time before I ever consider this feature again in my upgrade decision.

Robert

Hi Robert:

I do Macro work with my K20 and sometimes find the Live View, with 8x magnification, indispensable for precise focus. I disagree with your assessment that it is a "lame junk feature." Sure, it is not what it should be, but it does have utility.

[marlon]

I upgraded from my trusty old (rip) K100D to K20D 3 days ago.
It's friggin awesome, the lower noise and IQ is my pluspoints. The sack loads of features my k100D didnt have and the weather sealing is another, since I spend lots of time outside, fog etc.

I have disabled Live View, don't think I will use it more than 5 times a year, but a nice feature to have on standby

I am just overall impressed and excited!
I will mis my K100D, it was strong, reliable and durable, but now I have a new baby

[dsport]

Yes, it was worth it.
I just got a second hand K20D today. White balance seems to be better and ISO really much better especially shooting indoors than my K10D. Furthermore, the pixel problem was a worry to me before but now seem to be fixed by the latest firmware.
My testing pics today.

f/2.8, (1/15), iso400


f/1.8, (1/8), iso400