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Showing all 4 reviews by Darley

Review of: Pentax K-70 by Darley on Fri April 19, 2019 | Rating: 9 View more reviews 
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Views: 88944
Reviews: 20
This is the first of a dozen or so Pentax DSLRs I've owned that I really don't like handling. The main 4-way control on the rear is nothing short of horrible to use. The camera is angular and very uncomfortable to hold. If this is the way Ricoh are going with the brand I can't see myself remaining a customer - however I am still a fan of older Pentax DSLRs and lenses. The new 18-50mm kit lens is also horrible to handle. I just can't see the point of making such a complicated lens mechanism just to shorten it by a couple of cm. It feels cheap and nasty and liable to break at any time. Image quality is good as you would expect of a camera in this price bracket, and with the kit lens autofocus is extremely rapid and accurate. High ISO images are remarkably noise-free. The feature list is long and I especially like the remote wifi control via the smartphone app - it's about time Pentax made such a feature available. It's a very capable camera but the build quality is dubious and the 2-year warranty I've come to expect with Pentax has been cut to just one. I've used Pentax DSLRs for over 10 years and still believe them to be superior to the competition but I can't help feeling standards have been lowered with this model. Three-frame composite with kit lens hand-held 1/25s,18mm, f9, ISO 200. https://live.staticflickr.com/4917/45092732464_d23875725c_o.jpg

Review of: Pentax K200D by Darley on Sun November 24, 2013 | Rating: 9 View more reviews 
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Views: 202471
Reviews: 69
I liked my first K200D so much I bought a second body. I like shooting outdoors and the build quality and WR mean I don't have to worry about the occasional knock or inhospitable conditions. This is one heavy camera (for an 'entry level' model) though and lugging two around plus lenses provides quite a work-out. As I have mentioned in detail in another post, I like CCDs. I feel they reproduce subtle tones more accurately than CMOS, especially in low light - although the maximum 1600ISO is not so good. Detail from the modest 10MP sensor is excellent, especially with some cheap fast primes glued to the front. I only ever shoot RAW so I'm not going to bother writing about the various filters and editing options. I generally use the same settings whatever the situation - centre weighted metering and AWB - and mostly use manual lenses so most of the options in the menus are irrelevant to me. I'll change ISO if the light is low but that's about it. I don't even know what all the buttons do, except they slow me down and distract me from taking photos. I like to keep it simple and as long as the IQ is good I leave well alone. Not so good is the menu system which is distinctly old-hat, and I don't like the top LCD as I prefer to see all the information on one screen. I am not a huge fan of menus for ISO, WB, Drive and flash but as I never use flash and rarely change the other settings, it's no big deal. But what I hate most is the SD card cover which simply does not open wide enough, resulting in a real struggle to remove the card. It's a minor detail and one which my K-x doesn't suffer from, but one wonders what they were thinking when they designed it. A word about image noise as other people have rated it low here. It does not possess great low-light sensitivity in the way my K-x does for example, but I don't see this as a problem. Low-light detail is better than the K-x, which just proves to me that the amount of processing needed to increase sensitivity is considerable and comes at a cost. There is noise at ISO1600 but it is not unpleasant noise - I quite like the graininess, which reminds me of old Ilford 400 B&W film. Don't moan about the noise, be creative with it. If you're a Pentax user you'll know why Pentax is best, but for anyone else reading this - just look at the lens reviews. Look how many lenses there are, the quality and the price. You don't need another reason to buy Pentax. Sample images http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7314/11018157976_865b4d0807_c.jpg http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2889/11018203486_c17389da58_c.jpg http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3765/10947415986_a44f709b20_c.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5477/10987299863_b381e40b93_c.jpg http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5501/10987169266_4f23b9c95d_c.jpg

Review of: Pentax K-x by Darley on Wed November 13, 2013 | Rating: 9 View more reviews 
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Views: 928991
Reviews: 109
Bought as a (cheap) companion to my K200D because I like using manual lenses and it's easier with live view. I much prefer the control layout on the K-x which is more akin to a *cough* Canon (which I also own) however the gimmicky HDR and other filters etc don't seem very good - definitely aimed at a different type of photographer to me. The screen is also not really sharp enough to get accurate manual focus, but better than the viewfinder. The 12MP CMOS sensor produces good images, though I have to say the 10MP CCD on the K200D produces better images. There's not a lot in it, and it boils down to the K200D producing sharper RAW images and having greater tonal range giving more scope for capturing fine detail. The K-x seems to produce quite 'soft' images although you can use in-camera sharpening and contrast to improve JPEGS. Build quality is not up to K200D standards, but then I suspect that's true of most cameras under $3000. The size and low weight do make it more suited to carrying around, but at the same time also more likely to get damaged. The K-x also eats up AA batteries faster than the K200D, presumably because of the sensor and use of live view. Would I recommend it for enthusiasts? Yes and no. If you only want one body, then no. It is clearly designed for beginners and P&S converts rather than experienced photographers. The HDR function is awful as is the cartoon-like info menu. On the plus side it has much higher ISO than the K200D and many other cameras in this price range, and personally I like the graininess of high-ISO images (being brought up on B&W 35mm film). I find it very slow writing files in RAW + JPEG and when using (not that I do) some of the special effects filters. However it is fully compatible with all the old manual lenses and thus becomes of interest to a different type of photographer. It's a mixed bag - good image quality and ease of use in manual, but apparently designed to appeal more to novice users. Then of course there's the lack of illuminated AF points. In truth it probably doesn't make much difference, but it frustrates me greatly. To save a few bucks they handicapped the camera by omitting something you just expect to find. AF seems very accurate but if you don't use the centre point you have no idea what's in focus. This really lets the camera down in my opinion. For the money I paid I can't complain - what else would I find with similar qualities? Used Pentax seem cheap in comparison to every other make, are better built, and generally well designed and user-friendly. It's a great camera, just not the greatest Pentax camera! PS To the reviewer below - you do know you can change the flash output?

Review of: Pentax Optio RS1500 by Darley on Wed October 30, 2013 | Rating: 8 View more reviews 
rs1500.jpg

Views: 9597
Reviews: 2
Just picked up one of these on feebay as it appealed to my inner child - customizing the camera! Looks like a toy and feels like a toy. No way to set aperture or speed manually. Basic point-and-shoot. Put it on a tripod and aimed it at my K200D to see if it was a toy or a camera. Personally I was amazed - better than my FZ50, better than my SX160IS and 1000D, much better than my SP810UZ. Want a cheap camera to take photos of stuff to sell? Look no further. I uploaded a full-size, full-res pic straight from the camera with no adjustments to flickr. Exposure, WB (manual) and focus are spot-on in my opinion. Maybe I underestimate cheap compacts but I have to say I was surprised at the IQ. http://www.flickr.com/photos/1630revello/sets/72157637062540825/ Ok it performs poorly in low light and most photographers will get bored with it very quickly because there ain't a lot of scope for creativity, but the performance is more than adequate for the target market which I suspect is teenagers. Would make a good gift for the kids and enable them to take decent photos.



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