[chefpete1]

Coming off of my bad T2i experience I am ready to make my move.

I am debating going back to another K-x or finding a K20D at a reasonable price. The weatherproofing and 14+MP are attractive to me. Believe me I know MPs aren't everything...just read my T2i posts. Video is not important to me as my old S2 IS with built-in stereo sound goes above-and-beyond every time. By the way, it's the best 50-bucks you'll ever spend if you use it for video only. Pocketable with 20x zoom with IS and fold-out screen.

Here is my work...my passion: I shoot aerial phenomena at nighttime. I firmly believe 9 outa 10 guys have no clue when it comes to shooting at night, going away intimidated. The REAL key is to disregard the camera's instructions when focused on a point of light and to radically UNDER-expose...disregarding that 99.999% of the screen is black.

Then there are the times when I am shooting into a black VOID. The side of a mountain or a wooded river valley. This is where the K-x shines...literally. I have shot mountains on a moonless and starless night and the trees come back looking like it's late afternoon and the sky is deep blue.

Tell me if I am wrong, but my guess...because of the results in pitch dark...my guess is the K-x Sensor has some EXTREME UV sensitivity. In laymen's terms it can see residual sunshine well into the next morning.

I am usually in the 250-300mm range, f8 and down and anywhere between 12 seconds and 1/250...occasionally 1/1000 for moon shots if the UFOs stayed home and I am bored.

The K-x had pulled some remarkable images outa nowhere HOWEVER I have the occasional issue with softness at longer focal lengths and was thinking the 14MP just may solve that.

K20D? K-x? Give me your thoughts and know-how. I will make a decision by Sunday. Keep in mind if the K-x wins it will be ORANGE.

Thanks again guys and belated Happy New Year.

Best wishes always...Pete

[Ash]

Night photography will be cleaner with the K-x or K-5. Better suited sensors for this application.
K20D will suffer with long exposures even at low ISO.
Don't know whether your long exposure softness is due to camera/subject movement or the sensor, but most acclaim the K-x sensor as excellent in all respects.

[imtheguy]

For moon shots where low ISO is used the K20D can get beautiful results as my desktop image proves. But for high ISO shots of dark mountain sides it will be a lot noisier than the k-x. If can shoot your nighttime phenomena and mountain sides at ISO 400 the K20D will do great. If ISO 1600-3200 is a requirement, I would go with the k-x.

[seventhdr]

I'd even go as far as considerign a K-r with its better performance over both the K-x and the K20D.

Regards

Chris Stone