[mrpromod]

I am lookink at new in the box refirbished k10d. The seller wants $325.00 for the camera, just the body. I have lenses from my 35mm pentax film cameras that i will use. My ? is can a shoot in the jpeg mode and get good results reviews i have read say to shoot in raw mode but i have no software yet for my pc. I would aslo like to use this for taking pics at the drags, would this work for me or not?

Thanks
John

[Adam]

The K10 will certainly get the job done, and nothing will beat its price, I don't think! If you want better performance for sports, a k-7 or k-5 might be better for you, but you'll pay 2-4x more

[sawicksted]

I am lookink at new in the box refirbished k10d. The seller wants $325.00 for the camera, just the body. I have lenses from my 35mm pentax film cameras that i will use. My ? is can a shoot in the jpeg mode and get good results reviews i have read say to shoot in raw mode but i have no software yet for my pc. I would aslo like to use this for taking pics at the drags, would this work for me or not?

Thanks
John

Hey John

Can't beat the price. Check the box for the pentax software disk - might be there and you'll be set. Other than that there are some decent free software downloads that work well too. Photoshop Elements always has a 30 day free trial on. GIMP is another free program to download and it works well too. There is a learning curve for all the software so don't give up at first it gets easier.
Shoot in the Raw + JPEG mode that way you get the best of both worlds even if you don't have the good software yet. You can go back later when you get the software and edit the RAW photos if you want. Memory is so cheep now that it only makes sense to shoot in RAW or Raw +JPEG. 4G SDcards are around $10 most places.
As far as lenses go - your older ones will be a real treat to use on the K10D. A standard kit lens sells for around 30 - $50 on ebay all the time. check the market place here too - there are some great deals.
I just bought a K10D a month ago and I love it so far. There are a lot of advanced features that other cameras don't have and it's not too hard to figure out.
Good luck

[hillerby]

I am lookink at new in the box refirbished k10d. The seller wants $325.00 for the camera, just the body. I have lenses from my 35mm pentax film cameras that i will use. My ? is can a shoot in the jpeg mode and get good results reviews i have read say to shoot in raw mode but i have no software yet for my pc. I would aslo like to use this for taking pics at the drags, would this work for me or not?

Thanks
John

That's a fair enough price. I've got a K-10 that I paid about the same for and it's built like a brick! It will do fine with your existing lenses. You didn't mention if they were AF lenses, but that will not make a huge difference.

[theunartist]

I am lookink at new in the box refirbished k10d. The seller wants $325.00 for the camera, just the body. I have lenses from my 35mm pentax film cameras that i will use. My ? is can a shoot in the jpeg mode and get good results reviews i have read say to shoot in raw mode but i have no software yet for my pc. I would aslo like to use this for taking pics at the drags, would this work for me or not?

Thanks
John

I have a K10d and produces very acceptable jpegs right out of camera, just adjust the WB as needed (in camera). However, they (especially indoor shots) all need a tweak here and there, so you're going to need a software, I can highly recommend Picasa, it's free and really easy to use: http://picasaweb.google.com and it's a good way to start learning about digital images. (I am almost sure if you do NOT receive the CD with your camera, you can probably download software off Pentax site, also free)

As far as using your current lenses (assuming they are not Auto Focus), I am of the opinion, that YES you should be able to just as long as you understand some dynamics of Depth of Field and Hyper Focusing. Photographers have been taking pictures of Drag Races etc. since way before Auto Focus lenses were invented, so doing it this way will just take some practice and experience...

Good luck

[noblepa]

I, too, have a K10D. It is a very good camera and the jpegs are very good, right out of the camera. I have set the color to slightly higher saturation and slightly higher contrast than the default.

The GIMP and Picassa are both good, free programs. Another one I like is Faststone Image Viewer. It is also free and is very intuitive to work with. It does accept PEF raw files, but it is not as flexible as other raw processing programs. If you're not experienced with post-processing, it is easy to use and covers most of the basics.

If your film lenses are all genuine Pentax brand, you will have no problems. There are a couple of known gotchas with some third-party lenses. First, there's the infamous "Ricoh pin", which can get jammed in the autofocus drive coupling, making the lens almost impossible to remove. Secondly, some Vivitar lenses have an overly long black guard that protects the aperture actuation lever. This guard prevents the lens from being mounted properly. Fortunately, it is easy to modify or remove.

[Just1MoreDave]

This thread has several useful ways to install the Pentax software without the CD. You have to download it from the Pentax web site. The K10D also had software for tethering which might work the same way. Also check the firmware version and see if that's the most recent.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/miscellaneous-articles/36984-how-install-...installed.html