[Deni]

I wonder if Deni or others who knows Tyhirtor twin flash can share their experience with the flash on K100D.

PM sent....

[MRRiley]

Mikhail, 3-shot burst is more than adequate for most sports if you plan your shots and time the first shot right. Check out the sports gallery on my photo.net gallery. Most of the bicycle racing shots there were from 3-burst series. Another thing to consider, you see all these guys at races shooting with their high-end C and N cameras and you hear this buzz as they fire off 10-20 shots as the riders go by. Frankly they are just pressing and praying. Just think of how fast their memory cards are filling up. Might they get a better shot than me? Yes, they might hit the split microsecond between my shots when the composition was just right, but then they also get 6 times the crap.

I also shot 2 days of MotoGP races (motorcycles) last weekend. I shot with my K110D and it did quite well. I'll be posting shots from it in my PN gallery sometime next week. 3-shot burst was perfectly acceptable.

As for noise at ISO800... yes, it, the K110D, tends to be a little noisier than I'd like but a single pass through Noise Ninga and things clean right up.

So, why did I just buy a K10D? 4 things, the price ($799 (even less online), SR (which I have decided I DO need. LOL), weather sealing and the front control dial (I shoot manual 90% of the time and that dial sure helps).

[axl]

I can just recomend K100D.
Haven't worked with E*S400 but had day out with my friend's E*S300D, you can't compare it Pentax. The build quality of low end Cannos is just bad. It feels like toy, and even if one poster on Dpreview forum claims to scare off bull mastiff with EOS400, K100 would crack the bones of that poor dog. It's amazingly sturdy and well put together for it's price. And I don't think D40 compares any better.
None of them (EOS400 or D40) has top plate info display, or info display at all as matter of fact. The K100D may be bit slower in writing - reading to card, and to focus, and has shallower buffer. But on the other side you have SR with all lenses and it really works.
As for the speed, do you really need it? Do you need to check your pics instantly? I'm using my Pentax for lanscapes, where I have as much time as I want, so I can live with those speeds and buffer.
ISOwise, K100D is excelent. Up to 800 it was on level with D50, and just trailing a bit on higher ISO and at 800 and 1600 compared to EOS350. But clarity of detail is at the same level as D40, even if pics will appear maybe bit more grainy.
have a read: Pentax K100D Review: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review
pages 17 to 23 may be of interrest for you.
Anyway, I don't think you can loose or regret getting K100D. Go for it...

[Mikhail]

Okay thanks guys Im heading down to a local dealer this afternoon but I think theres a very good chance of walking out of their with a new Pentax! Thanks again and great galleray Mike!

Thanks

[vinzer]

I can just recomend K100D.
Haven't worked with E*S400 but had day out with my friend's E*S300D, you can't compare it Pentax...

You really can't. The 300D is a really old Canon model, and it wouldn't be fair to compare that with the K100D. Just being fair to Canon.

Then again, the 300D's build is loads better than the build of the 400D, which says much about Canon's insistence to segregate camera models. They HAVE to create perceived value for the 30D, and Canon makes it clear that they have an upgrade path for higher-end models.

On the other hand, Pentax emphasizes value more, and that's partly why they're okay with having three in-production DSLR models (with two of those having only one feature as the difference between them). In no way do Pentax force on you an upgrade path (if they did, they'd have released the 645D already). It's more of a choice. Of course, this is a more simplistic view, in that there surely are other reasons why Pentax has only that many DSLR models (R&D budget, brouhaha over the Hoya takeover, etc.), but I think what I see in how they do business is not a stretch also.

Besides, if Pentax didn't emphasize value, then why would they go through all the trouble to make sure really old lenses can still work wonderfully on even their low-end K110D and not just limited to being able to mount the lens on? Nikon only does that for their D2xx series, and their low-end model even did away with the turning screw for old AF lenses. Canon changed their mount altogether, leaving people with FD collections high and dry.

Heck, even the oldest screwmounts would work on Pentax DSLRs, with stop-down metering to boot.

I don't blame people who'd go for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, etc. It's their choice. Mine is to go with the best value out there: Pentax.

Sorry for the OT. I just wanna let my feelings out. Mikhail, I really do hope you'd end up with a Pentax. You can't go wrong whichever model you choose.

[Alfisti]

The three shot burst is not the issue, the 10 second wait to fire another frame whilst it saves the RAW files is the problem. So you essentially have a TWO FRAME burst or risk losing the moment.

It's infuriating to say the least.

Mikhail, 3-shot burst is more than adequate for most sports if you plan your shots and time the first shot right. Check out the sports gallery on my photo.net gallery. Most of the bicycle racing shots there were from 3-burst series. Another thing to consider, you see all these guys at races shooting with their high-end C and N cameras and you hear this buzz as they fire off 10-20 shots as the riders go by. Frankly they are just pressing and praying. Just think of how fast their memory cards are filling up. Might they get a better shot than me? Yes, they might hit the split microsecond between my shots when the composition was just right, but then they also get 6 times the crap.

I also shot 2 days of MotoGP races (motorcycles) last weekend. I shot with my K110D and it did quite well. I'll be posting shots from it in my PN gallery sometime next week. 3-shot burst was perfectly acceptable.

As for noise at ISO800... yes, it, the K110D, tends to be a little noisier than I'd like but a single pass through Noise Ninga and things clean right up.

So, why did I just buy a K10D? 4 things, the price ($799 (even less online), SR (which I have decided I DO need. LOL), weather sealing and the front control dial (I shoot manual 90% of the time and that dial sure helps).

[MRRiley]

The three shot burst is not the issue, the 10 second wait to fire another frame whilst it saves the RAW files is the problem. So you essentially have a TWO FRAME burst or risk losing the moment.

It's infuriating to say the least.

I've never had to wait 10 seconds before being able to shoot the next 3-shot burst, 5 secs MAYBE, but never 10. Even when shooting RAW... Try a Lexar Pro 133X card. The Sandisk Ultra IIs (approx 60X) you are using may be slowing you down. Is 5 secs still too slow? Possibly, but not enough to bother me personally.

Oh and if you are saying you get 2 shots in a burst then have to wait 10 secs before the 3rd shot in the burst then there is something seriously wrong IMHO.

---

Last edited by MRRiley; 08-03-2007 at 12:19 PM.

[axl]

You really can't. The 300D is a really old Canon model, and it wouldn't be fair to compare that with the K100D. Just being fair to Canon....

Sorry mistake on my side
I meant EOS 350D, or know as Rebel XT (I believe), which is preceded K100D less than year if I'm right. I believe it was between 6-9 months, and until coming of EOS 400D it was closest rival from Cannon line-up, hence the comparing...

Again sorry for the mistake...

[khardur]

I've got the K110, the only issue I've ever run into with regards to "waiting" to take a picture because of the buffer, is due to long exposure. If you take a 20 sec exposure, from what I've read it will take another 20 sec afterwards for it to map out hot pixels. (am I correct here? I'm just repeating what I've read - I do know indeed if I take a 30 sec exposure, after the shutter closes it will be exactly 30 sec before it writes the RAW to the memory card)

I believe that's an issue only with long exposures and, frankly, if you're catching action at those long exposures you're only getting blur anyway.

Just did some quick testing right now, going from shooting mode, hit the play button on the back of the camera, and it takes roughly 1/2 second to display the last picture shot. pressing the directional arrow flips through the shots on the card, and takes maybe 3/10 or 4/10 of a second.

And I just shot off a bunch of 3-shot bursts. One holding the shutter down, burned all 3 instantly. The others pressing the shutter 3 times at different paces. No problems firing off all 3 shots when I wanted to. So the problem another user said about rediculously slow playback/write or just plain old displaying an image doesn't happen for me, but I just got new cards too. (the cheapest Patriot 2GB cards I could get off Newegg, at that)

[axl]

I've got the K110, the only issue I've ever run into with regards to "waiting" to take a picture because of the buffer, is due to long exposure. If you take a 20 sec exposure, from what I've read it will take another 20 sec afterwards for it to map out hot pixels. (am I correct here? I'm just repeating what I've read - I do know indeed if I take a 30 sec exposure, after the shutter closes it will be exactly 30 sec before it writes the RAW to the memory card)....

this happens only if you have noise reduction for long exposures turned on (you can turn it on/off in custom settings menu). As far as I know, camera takes another exposure (hence twice the time) and tries to cover hot pixels from a by good pixels from b and vice versa.
If you keep it off, the times for writing any (raw/jpeg) files will not be longer than when you have short shutter speeds

[janver]

See those things are what bother me... making me wander maybe I should get the K10D with kitlens/50-200 instead of the Sigma which costs nearly as much as K100D. Though I think I can put up with it as the camera im using at the moment it takes nearly a whole second before I can take anouther picture [ RAW ] no matter what drive mode so the K100D beats it by far...

Thanks
Mikhail

Hope I do this right as it is my first posting/reply here.

Can't comment on high ISO really. I seldom use +800.

On the speed issue I can tell you I did experience some annoyances at first. I always(!) shoot RAW. Then I got myself 2 2GB Dane-Elec x133 memory cards and ever since I never had to wait for the camera to wright a frame before I could take the next. I don't use burst-mode but I do some portrait-sessions. So my advise would be to use decent and high-speed memory-cards.

Jan V.

[Alfisti]

- Start up and shoot to shoot are fine.

- Playback of 3 to 4 10ths is awfully slow. Use a D40 next to it and the D40 will playback instantly and flip to the next image instantly, the 100D waits that little bit.

- I never said you can't shoot the three off at once but once you shoot three RAW you MUST wait what seems an age to fire of another as it clears the buffer. It needs to clear all three images before you can view any images either, it's terribly slow compared toa D40.

I think it is a better buy than the D40 but they really Must speed the thing up a little.

Just did some quick testing right now, going from shooting mode, hit the play button on the back of the camera, and it takes roughly 1/2 second to display the last picture shot. pressing the directional arrow flips through the shots on the card, and takes maybe 3/10 or 4/10 of a second.

And I just shot off a bunch of 3-shot bursts. One holding the shutter down, burned all 3 instantly. The others pressing the shutter 3 times at different paces. No problems firing off all 3 shots when I wanted to. So the problem another user said about rediculously slow playback/write or just plain old displaying an image doesn't happen for me, but I just got new cards too. (the cheapest Patriot 2GB cards I could get off Newegg, at that)

[vinzer]

this happens only if you have noise reduction for long exposures turned on (you can turn it on/off in custom settings menu). As far as I know, camera takes another exposure (hence twice the time) and tries to cover hot pixels from a by good pixels from b and vice versa.
If you keep it off, the times for writing any (raw/jpeg) files will not be longer than when you have short shutter speeds

So that's why images take so long to review when I take long exposures. Thanks for the tip. The old 300D I had did things differently (it didn't have a more sophisticated noise reduction, I guess).

[Alfisti]

OK I just timed it. After firing three RAW I have to wai tthis long for the buffer to clear ......

Sandisk Ultra II: 14 seconds

Transcend 150X superfast thingy: 10 seconds

10 freakin seconds, that is a joke honestly.

I've never had to wait 10 seconds before being able to shoot the next 3-shot burst, 5 secs MAYBE, but never 10. Even when shooting RAW... Try a Lexar Pro 133X card. The Sandisk Ultra IIs (approx 60X) you are using may be slowing you down. Is 5 secs still too slow? Possibly, but not enough to bother me personally.

Oh and if you are saying you get 2 shots in a burst then have to wait 10 secs before the 3rd shot in the burst then there is something seriously wrong IMHO.