New K-x owner impressions and sample images

[Pål Jensen]

Originally Posted by Aristophanes

This forum is full of disappointments about the lack of direction for the brand. It's Pentax's major business flaw. Now you have an entire thread here saying how the K-x has a better sensor than the K-7! What's a researching newbie or switcher to think? It's a brand hard to build trust with and synchronize expectations, terrific legacy and engineering aside. It plays right into Canikon hands, undermining known Pentax advantages: we've gone from inexpensive excellent glass, to expensive glass, but inexpensive, well-appoineted bodies……all in the space of 7 months.

Pentax lack of direction notwithstanding; your post makes little sense. The K-7 and the K-x is universally regarded as one of the best cameras in their respective classes if not the best. Just look at the various reviews out there or look at the specification sheets.
Theres always whiners regardless of how good the product is.

[deadwolfbones]

Originally Posted by Aristophanes

Tell that to Amazon.com!

This time last year the K200D was the same price point as the K-x. Maybe you don't understand price points, and feature sets therein, but millions of consumers do.

1. The majority of consumers who are coming to the entry-level dSLR market aren't replacing their K200D's, they're getting their first dSLR. They won't know what the K200D cost last year, or care.

2. The K-x has the same chassis/look and many of the same features as the K-m, but upgraded. Moreover, the K-x kit ($649 MSRP) is $50 cheaper than the K-m kit was ($699 MSRP) when it debuted.

You have no case.

[Red]

I dropped by Fry's at lunch and played with the K-X. Mainly to test the AF.

I found that it is much quicker to focus (in select focus point mode) than my K10, didn't go into a hunting cycle once. I also thought the VF was nice and bright. The shutter was louder than I had expected. Menus were decent. Can't comment on IQ.


One observation. Focusing in LV mode has insanely slow. Not that I would ever use it but I would imagine P&Sers stepping up would, and be very disappointed.

Anyone else notice this?

[Eruditass]

Originally Posted by Red

I dropped by Fry's at lunch and played with the K-X. Mainly to test the AF.

I found that it is much quicker to focus (in select focus point mode) than my K10, didn't go into a hunting cycle once. I also thought the VF was nice and bright. The shutter was louder than I had expected. Menus were decent. Can't comment on IQ.


One observation. Focusing in LV mode has insanely slow. Not that I would ever use it but I would imagine P&Sers stepping up would, and be very disappointed.

Anyone else notice this?

LV contrast detect focusing is currently slow on all DSLRs. Phase-detect is much faster, but has blackout.

[Marc Sabatella]

Originally Posted by Aristophanes

This time last year the K200D was the same price point as the K-x. Maybe you don't understand price points, and feature sets therein, but millions of consumers do.

True enough. And millions of them *did not buy* the K200D, apparently deciding the weather sealing was not worth the cost (in dollars or size / weight). So Pentax did the intelligent thing - removed a feature that was *not* selling them many camera at that price point, and replaced it features like LiveView, video that are pretty much must-haves in this market. Would it *also* make sense to have to have a larger / heavier / more expensive weather sealed camera between the K-x and the K-7? Sure, if they have enough resources to maintain three product lines (while continuing work on the 645 product, developing new lenses, and perhaps working on an FF project). I think Pentax has a better idea of what kind of resources they have available than you do.

[Aristophanes]

Originally Posted by Marc Sabatella

True enough. And millions of them *did not buy* the K200D, apparently deciding the weather sealing was not worth the cost (in dollars or size / weight). So Pentax did the intelligent thing - removed a feature that was *not* selling them many camera at that price point, and replaced it features like LiveView, video that are pretty much must-haves in this market. Would it *also* make sense to have to have a larger / heavier / more expensive weather sealed camera between the K-x and the K-7? Sure, if they have enough resources to maintain three product lines (while continuing work on the 645 product, developing new lenses, and perhaps working on an FF project). I think Pentax has a better idea of what kind of resources they have available than you do.

You just made my point.

The competition did EXACTLY the same as Pentax, except the apart about REMOVING features. Line-by-line, model-by-model, they upgrade the price point.

Pentax looks cheap to legacy buyers and upgraders (it takes almost no marketing to sell to a current brand owner; that's a sunk marketing cost) by removing features that were there at that price point a year ago. Dumb. And the previewers all immediately noticed it, with Pentax marketing itself somewhat confused (old story there; if you don't get it right with Amazon, you have a marketing problem). Cheap is leaving the lens hood off the kit lens (and bizarre is having 3 different versions of the "kit" lens at the same time). Quit calling it "entry level". To sell, it needs to be the camera current Pentax owners move to without losing features or breaking the bank. The other brands all do. No agonizing compromises for them; mostly smooth transitions for the same relative cash outlay a year or two down the road. The money is not on the new buyer; it's the return buyer with an itch for another lens or two plus some accessories. Feet wet, they move merchandise. Subaru once calculated that a second time Outback buyer spent $7,000 more on upgrades to their new model than they did the first one.

I think Pentax has reinvented its model line so many times it has no better clue than most of the people here. They did well on the K-7 and its value, but it has a very high price point for the vast majority of consumers (and many prosumers), especially in a severe recession. Looks like the engineers flipped a coin to see which model got which sensor!

No other manufacturer has such a large feature/price gap between models. This is a very big problem in most industries. It always creates market share and marketing problems. It loses customers at the top of the consumer bell curve. APS-C is a 3 model market, plus a single FF if the numbers add up.

What does the Pentax brand stand for? Excellent, affordable glass? Largely gone (SDM, anyone? Seen the price of Nikon's new 30mm?). Rugged, durable, WR bodies? Not below $1k (well, soon). Pretty colours? Apparently that's the future.

[rawr]

Hey! Stop hijacking my K-x thread you guys, with your K200D/Pentax marketing etc talk!

[o_bender]

rawr, does the camera include the pdf manual version? if it does, could you please upload it somewhere?

i hope so, thanks!

[rawr]

Originally Posted by o_bender

rawr, does the camera include the pdf manual version? if it does, could you please upload it somewhere?

No PDF is supplied on the CD. Even if there was no copyright etc...

But Pentax have been slack in releasing a camera without also releasing manuals for it for people to download and browse. AFAIK there isn't even a glossy brochure in English available for download anywhere.

We've been asking about this for a while too:

K-x manuals, brochures, documentation?

[o_bender]

too bad.

i knew about that thread, but i thought they will include the pdf version in the camera cd, now it has been released

thanks anyway, we will keep checking pentax webpage waiting for updates

[rustynail925]

Originally Posted by rawr

Hey! Stop hijacking my K-x thread you guys, with your K200D/Pentax marketing etc talk!

rawr you really loved the Kx

[rawr]

No, I like it, but not love it. It's just a machine, no different to a photocopier. No one falls in love with photocopiers.

I got delivery of my DA 40 today... fits very well on the K-x, I must say. I now has a very light and compact street shooter.

Maybe new K-x photos with a higher quality lens like the DA40, and other lenses, will follow in the next day or so, if I can find interesting subjects to photograph.

I also was happy to discover recently that the K-x video feed does support an external AV monitor (using component video), although Pentax (cheapskates) don't include a cable to do that in the K-x box.

It was also good to find out that K-x video lets you manually control aperture as well as ISO sensitivity.

It was also handy to find out that the K-x uses the same AC adapter as the Km/K2000. But that adapter is extremely hard to find anywhere for purchase or price check, even on the Pentax website. It might be useful to have if anyone was planning on doing a lot of K-x video indoors etc, but it looks like no-one is ever going to be able to find or buy one, even on fleabay.

I'm still on my original lithiums too, but I can tell they are on their last legs now after almost 1000 RAW+ shots, as it is starting to take a little bit longer than usual for the files to be written to the SD card. But the meter is still green.

[rawr]

Although I've had my new Kx camera for 1 week now, it might sound dumb of me, but I still can't figure out how to get the SD card out of it. Can anyone help?

[tarsus]

Rawr. Darn that Pentax documentation. They never show you what to do. Hope this is helpful. No charge.

[rawr]

Hehe.

The KX was a good camera. The K and M series Pentax bodies were great. My beat-up black MX and black MV are still my favorite film Pentaxes.

Pic related:



Even though the K-x is compact, it still seems a giant compared to the old M series Pentaxes.