[NoMaD_PS]

Hi everybody!

Searching the forum give me few information about my deal so I want to ask.

I've bought istDL for about a year from ebay, I use it together with kit lens, Super-Tak 50 f/1.4 and Helios 58 f/2. I'm waiting for the delivery of SMC Tak 135 f/3.5 from ebay.

Maybe it's just my imagination but my photos seem to me to be a bit unclear, lacking contrast and vivid colors. Maybe it's camera body, maybe my newbee hands but I'm starting to think about upgrade. The K200D is my goal but it's expensive for me right now and I stopped at K100D, K110D and K110D Super.

So please can you help me to choose from the three K1xx cameras? I found few tech differences between them, also few from my istDL.

Are there any advantages at all? Thank you.

PS. I know about shake reduction, I don't neew it much. And yes USB2.0 is an upgrade but it's not the big deal also. I'm interested in good and clear viewfinder, possibility of changing the focusing point and maybe some ergonomics.

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Last edited by NoMaD_PS; 03-18-2009 at 05:04 AM. Reason: adding

[Erik]

The K100D series will likely not be enough of an upgrade to justify the money, especially if you don't care much about SR. The K100D has the SAME sensor as the *istDL so image quality difference is negligible, especially if you're shooting in RAW, where there should be almost NO difference whatsoever. They also have the SAME pentamirror viewfinder as the *istDL, so...

Especially by going to a K110D, you're accomplishing almost nothing, except YES, you would get greater flexibility with focus points. The K100D Super would give you SDM and SR, but if you say you don't care much about that, just save your money, skip the K200D too, and get a K10D. It has a brighter, larger pentaprism viewfinder and is an improvement over the DL in almost every aspect.

Quick rundown of the differences:

* K100D Super: Has a dust removal feature (which barely works, honestly), SDHC (big SD card) support, and support for SDM lenses.
* K100D: Has shake reduction.
* K110D: A K100D without SR.


P.S. No one thinks they "need" Shake Reduction until they try it... But when you get used to it, anything else than a camera with built in SR just feels crippled.

[NoMaD_PS]

Oh that great! Thankyou very much! I was waiting the good answer from this nice forum but you surpassed it.

Now I'm thinking about SR! Maybe the shaking from my finger is the matter of the blur in the photo taken. And SDM support is good huh besides any of SDM lens costs twice the K100 body.

K10 is too good for me right now... I'll be dreaming about it.

The las one: can I choose the focusing point manually in K100D or K100Super? Thank you

[madmikess]

Well, having been a former *istDL owner for about 2 years I have to say I loved that camera a lot and gave me some really good pictures for my very novice experience. My own choice for upgrading was for a more advanced camera with a larger sensor so I went for the gusto and bought a K20D. I don't plan on changing cameras again for a while until I really learn how to even use this one. But getting back to the DL. Maybe you can post up some of your pictures as examples of lacking contrast and vivid colors. Have you tried to do any post processing on them, sometimes they need just a little tweaking by software to really bring out the color, especially for us newbies. I've passed on my *istDL to my sister with the kit lens and it's really sparked her interest in photography and it's not really a bad camera for being an entry level DSLR. I know the DL can produce some great pictures with vivid colors, just browse the PPG sometime and filter for shots by *istDL users (There are a bunch). Unless you are absolutely set on upgrading, I don't think I would give up on the DL just yet. Here are a few pictures I took with mine over the course of the last 2 years just to give you an idea, the first one if I remember correctly was with the kit lens, the other two are with my Sigma 24-135mm:







Food for thought.

[ftpaddict]

Quick rundown of the differences:

* K100D Super: Has a dust removal feature (which barely works, honestly), SDHC (big SD card) support, and support for SDM lenses.
* K100D: Has shake reduction.
* K110D: A K100D without SR.

Quick addition is that the K100D also supports SDHC cards with a firmware update. And you can get the same "SR" effect by putting the body cap on, setting manual SR focal length to 800mm, M mode set to 1/4 or 1/2 second and fire away. You'll hear the noise and feel the camera vibrating.

[madmikess]

Quick addition is that the K100D also supports SDHC cards with a firmware update. And you can get the same "SR" effect by putting the body cap on, setting manual SR focal length to 800mm, M mode set to 1/4 or 1/2 second and fire away. You'll hear the noise and feel the camera vibrating.

With the latest firmware, the *istDL also supports SDHC cards. Just wanted to insert that in here as well since it was mentioned.

[filmamigo]

I also shot with the DL for a number of years. It's a great camera, and I suggest if you aren't getting the look you like you might want to look closely at both your camera settings (color settings, sharpness, etc) and your lens choices. The lens is probably one of the biggest factors to consider. Every lens I own has a different look, some are softer than others, they have different contrast, and different colour.

Regarding the upgrade path... I also thought I might upgrade to a K100D. The K20D was VERY attractive, but was a little hard on my pocketbook. I looked for a nice K100D for a while, when I ran across a deal on a K10D that I couldn't pass up ($365 for a like-new camera). That was only a few bucks more than the K100D were available for.

I ended up keeping the DL (rather, my wife comandeered it) so I have had a chance to compare the DL to the K10D back-to-back. The K10D offers a much more professional interface and feels great in the hand... but the pictures are the same. Yes, there are slight differences and you can print a bit larger from the K10D, but honestly the DL picture quality is great. After all, the same sensor has also been used in Nikon's D100, D70, D50 and D40, and all of the 6mp Pentaxen. This is a proven sensor and by the vintage of the *ist DL, camera makers knew how to get the best out of it.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

[Erik]

K10 is too good for me right now... I'll be dreaming about it.

I don't know how the prices are in Moldova but you were considering a K200D, and at least here in Sweden, you can get a used K10D for pretty much the same price of a new K200D, and in that case I would prefer the K10D.

The las one: can I choose the focusing point manually in K100D or K100Super?

Yes. I always use manual selection mode on my K100Ds.

[GerryL]

There are a lot of K10D's I've seen selling for a lot less than a K200D.
The price range for a K10D now are from $300-$400 USD.
Usually, the $400 USD are the refurb ones or new in box or unopened.
Never get anything higher priced than this 'coz as I said legitimate camera stores are selling them as refurb or returned-new open box at $400 USD.

[rfortson]

Well, I started with the *ist DL but moved to the K100D when it came out for the shake reduction. When you use it, you'll really appreciate it.

If you can, I'd get the K100D Super as that will then allow you to use the newest SDM lenses. I don't see any reason to move from the DL to the K110D, as shake reduction is the main improvement, plus better control of the autofocus.

BTW, even though the K20D is my main camera, I just picked up a new *istDL kit for under $250 and I'm remembering just how nice that 6mp CCD is. I really like the shots from it, and the high ISO capability is nice, especially with newer post processing software (and my improved abilities) to clean them up as needed.

Go with the K100D or K100D Super. You'll be delighted.

[NoMaD_PS]

Wow! Thank you for your interest.

I wish I saw a K10D for 300-400 bucks... It's about 450 at ebay plus around 50 for delivery and around 50 bucks of custom fees. Thus there is no Pentax in Moldova at all! There are some Canons and Nikons and a couple of Olympuses. I know only one guy with Pentax in our town - me! Few of my mates heard the name Pentax at all.

And something about photos. I always shot in RAW in Av priority mode. Accidentaly the photo goes fine and I love my camera (also you know 18-55 kit and M42 Super-Tac 50 f/1.4 are good). But when I'm do trying to shoot a "masterwork" the result often killing me.

Here are some shots of mine. Maybe you'll help me find this secret magic button, you know.

This is shot with kit lens, at ISO 200, 38 mm, f/4.5, 1/60 sec. It's from RAW converter and you see is far for that rich colors I saw.
Attachment 30587

This is shot with Super-Tac 50 at ISO 200, 50 mm, f/2.8-4 (do not remember), 1/60 sec. It's from RAW converter.
Attachment 30588

And this is sharpened crop after post processing and I love it.
Attachment 30589

[amicah22]

Try stopping down a bit, especially with the kit lens. Even 5.6 will give you better results - although your photos do look pretty good.

[Erik]

#1 has pretty harsh lighting conditions -- few cameras will give you really deep colors in that kind of bright sunlight. I would probably have stopped down the lens to f/8 or so and underexposed by a half stop or so in this scene, but yeah... It's a difficult thing for any sensor/film to capture the rich tones the human eye sees in scenes like this.

[Marc Sabatella]

Another thing to keep in mind - the K1xx series not only has the same sensor, but also the same viewfinder as the DL. So SR is really the only significant improvement (SDM support if you get the K100D Super).

The K200D and K10D have the same sensor, and also cost pretty much the same (around $400 if you look hard enough), but the K10D improves the viewfinder over the DL - the K200D does not.

[al_undy]

I have the k100d and am quite happy. Might like a few more pixels but for what I do it is quite sufficient. Maybe look for K200d, they are relatively cheap.