Originally posted by BobD2 More nice photos being shared - thanks for sharing everyone. As for thoughts on the various Pentax bodies lately, I have a different take on it. In fact I'm sure my thoughts are a bit "out there", but I'll share anyway. I'm probably one of the few people who downgraded my Pentax - intentionally. I went from a K100D to a K20D, then to a K5, then came back to a K10D, and am very happy here with the K10D (and no intention of updating again). My first complaint has been auto focus accuracy - I've almost entirely given up on having a Pentax body that focuses accurately - both the K20D and K5 had issues with AF. The K10D may also suffer from that problem, but I wouldn't know as I've given up and just use manual focus lenses in conjunction with a KatzEye screen. But also, I found I prefer the look I get with a CCD sensor rather than a CMOS sensor. Not sure I can prove it, but images from a CCD sensor feel more film-like... punchier, better color and contrast. And the noise at 800 and 1600 in the K10D feels a bit more film-like than CMOS-based bodies. And lastly, I have come to believe that as camera companies have pushed for better high ISO performance, something goes lacking at the low or base ISO settings - images shot at ISO 100 or 200 feel a bit softer with less punchiness. Please understand, this is just my opinion - I'm sure some of you will disagree. So I'm interested in hearing what others think.
Originally posted by calicojack I have always stood up for the quality of the images coming from the CCD sensor in the K10D. I have my Auto ISO set to allow only up to 1000 to limit the amount of noise in the shadows, but on the film side of things, I never pushed Tri X past 800 either. Eventually I switched to TMax 100 then 400 and only occasionally shot Tri Xwhen I was looking for the grain effect specifically. Now, I just bought a K5ii as an upgrade from my K10D, but I have no intention of getting rid of the K10D. It's a great camera and I'm sure I'll come across situations where I'll want that over the K5ii. (unless one of the nieces or nephews actually starts to take a serious interest in photography). If I end up getting rid of the K10D for whatever reason, my wife has an almost unused K200D which has the same CCD sensor. Our next vacation will show the difference between the sensors to me very graphically. There are times that we stand near each other and shoot the same subject usually using the same "Vacation Snaps" type settings (Auto everything)
I think you both make very good points about the CCD giving better and more film like results, although I have not used a camera with a CMOS sensor myself yet to see.
I do feel that the K10 with the CCD can make very good images, but the quality of the light is an important factor. Many lower light images I have made wind up looking quite odd, even washed out. I still need to spend some time experimenting with various exposures in low light at different ISO settings though.
And of course that can be fun!