New Camera!

[jjeling]

Congrats on your new camera! I bought a lens from Cameta on eBay and they are a good seller.

I thought so myself

[Iguanasan]

Toys! Toys! Toys! Nice. I'm green with envy. Happy shooting!

[Marko]

That's great news JJ - Congrats!!!

[AcadieLibre]

WTG, nothing a cool as getting your hands on a new camera (Mind out of the gutter people), hope you get many good shots with it, I know its not the camera but the photographer, but a good camera never hurts lol.

[jjeling]

WTG, nothing a cool as getting your hands on a new camera (Mind out of the gutter people), hope you get many good shots with it, I know its not the camera but the photographer, but a good camera never hurts lol.

I totally hear you on that AL. I really see no reason to upgrade my K110d now. There are 3 major things about the camera that made me upgrade, the rest are just added benefits
The weather sealing(can stand in the rain all day and take pictures)
Image Stabilazation
Ten MP(You can crop and still get a decent picture)
Two RAW formats

The weather sealing is the best thing I could ask for, and being able to immediatly open a RAW file in photoshop is going to be another winner as well. I am writing this outside since it is a nice day today and the UPS driver just set the package with my camera in my hands. TIME TO GO!!! Its always fun playing with new toys.

[F8&Bthere]

Congrats! I got my salesman's sample/factory refurb K10D from Cameta about 2 weeks ago, it had only 599 actuations and was indistinguishable from new other than that.

My other camera is a Nikon D300 and that's a nice camera too, but I've always had a place in my heart for Pentax. All my film cameras were Pentax- ME, ME Super, Super Program, and a MZ-5. Like the others have said- Pentax always offers great value. And yeah it's a slightly outdated model but US$399 for a 10 MP prosumer DSLR body with shake reduction and weather sealing, are you kidding me?

Some people question the use of SD cards, but I kinda like that they are compatible with more built in card readers on laptops/notebooks- so few can read CF cards without an external USB reader. Some question the capability of the SR at longer focal lengths but so what- most of those kind of shots should be on a tripod anyway, and have you seen prices of the longer Nikon VR lenses?

K10D has some pretty cool and somewhat unique features too. The RAW button. The Sv and TAv shooting modes. Can save RAW in either native or DNG format. And 10MP is plenty enough for me- My D300 at 12MP was a jump from 6MP from my previous camera (D70) and I already noticed how PPing was bogging down my computer. To go with a K20D at 14MP or any of the new/coming crop of higher resolution I really think I'd have to upgrade my computers as well.

[jjeling]

F8, Im there with you. Its funny that you said you bought the camera for 399. I was actually planning on buying that one, but it was sold and the one for 439 was the only one left. Guess its good to know that we got both of them. I
I totally agree with you on the RAW button. There are a few other benefits Ive found too. The ability to bracket images through 5 exposures and not 3 is a nice plus, especially at .5, 1, and 2 stop increments. Having two scroll buttons is nice too. Being able to adjust the shutter and aperture without having to use two buttons at once is pretty cool. As you are, I have a place in my heart for Pentax. Something about them just wont let me make a switch to Canon and Nikon. I understand it would have its benefits, but I would also lose a lot. Pentax's lens selection isn't great, but if its fine art your after, then Pentax is where its at, especially with all of the old primes from the 35mm era available.
I was thinking about getting the k200 instead of the K10, as they are about the same price, but the K10 was built to compete with the highest realms of consumer grade cameras. Its age may be a bit outdated, but its functionality surely is not imo.

[F8&Bthere]

F8, Im there with you. Its funny that you said you bought the camera for 399. I was actually planning on buying that one, but it was sold and the one for 439 was the only one left. Guess its good to know that we got both of them.

Well I think they have a very limited number of these trickling in from Pentax and I suspect they will dry up completely very soon. I think the difference is that your $439 version came with a few extras mine didn't

Pentax's lens selection isn't great.

Yes I know what you mean but as you said all those old primes available used for very reasonable prices on ebay and such... there's some great optics for a person on a budget willing to live with, or preferring, manual focus. And to think that everything you put on it benefits from in-body stabilization! And even within the available selection of Pentax AF lenses there are some very unique and/or well priced offerings- such as the limited/pancake lenses.

K10 was built to compete with the highest realms of consumer grade cameras

I'd put it on par with the Nikon D200, just for example, in most regards. Bet you can't get one of those factory refurb'd with well under 1,000 shutter clicks for under $500...at least not yet.....