Overall, I'd say that he is complementary about the K10D and is evenhandedly clear in explaining its deficiencies while pointing out the amazing bargain that it is.
Curious thing, Mr. Reid tried repeatedly to receive camera and lenses from Pentax for some time: "Even after multiple contacts, over the course of several monsth, Pentax's PR staff had still not responded to (his) requests for a review copy of the K10D with lenses. Sony was much the same when looking to test an R1 and both companies, thus far, have stood in contrast to the prompt and professional communicatons and assistance he received from companies such as Leica, Zeiss, ricoh, Olympus, Canon and Nikon". Fortunately, a subscriber lent him the K10 and lenses for the review. I must assume that the very late date of his review has something to do with this.
I must say that Mr. Reid covers aspects of the camera that I've not seen in other reviews (good journalism).
He was lent the 21, 43 70 and 14mm lenses, and used two Pentax mount Zeiss lenses as well (35 and 50mm). He feels the Zeiss lenses to be very impressive, above that of the limited's.
Mr. Reids wife considered the K10D for her own photography needs, but had to drop the idea of purchasing it and six lenses because the Pentax flash system did not meet her needs.
On file quality: "I have not seen files from any camera, with a sensor this size, that are more detailed than what I see from the K10D." He takes the time to describe the weak anti-aliasing filter, which he likes and that he deals with any slight moire that might occaisionally come up - with capture one's software. "Over the past year, in particular, I've become particularly aware of how much detail some cameras throw away because of their AA filters."So I favor cameras with very weak AA filters, or none at all, simply because they do the better job of relaying a lens' full resolution to the sensor. This comes at the potential cost of moire, as one sometimes sees in Leica M8 files, but I find that I'd much rather spot-correct moire from time to time (using the Capture One Pro moire correction plug in for photoshop), than be constantly losing resolution to an overly-strong AA filter".
I'm having to leave out huge amounts of info here, it is a somewhat long and detailed article (in the best sense).
"I also found the overall color rendition, subtle color variation and tonality of the files to be quite beautiful. My gut reaction, as I looked through the files, was consistently very positive".
"All in all then, the K10D's ergonomics and controls design is mostly excellent".
"Photographers who want state of the art auto-focus won't find it in this camera. but photographers who just need reliable and reasonably quick AF should be happy with the K10D. And, of course, one of the pleasures of working with this Pentax is using manual focus lenses; and it does very well with them".
I really don't want to eat into this fellows hard earned subscription fees... he wrote the most well detailed article I've seen on the k10D and deserves praise for avoiding merely regurgitating the numbers and specs... I give high marks to his writing and organizational skills.
If anyone reading this really is on the fence about the K10D, it would be well worth seeing what he has to say, in my opinion.
He is impressed with how much camera you get for the money... in fact he compares the K10 to the Nikon D200 and D300, at some length.
He also does point out its deficiencies, such as its metering for instance and he explains why.
I trust Pentax is planning to read his review...
Last edited by solar1; 12-06-2007 at 06:36 PM.