Introduced to the market in the later part of 2006, The Pentax K10D is a 10.2 megapixel digital single-lens reflex camera. It also has a similar brand which is Samsung GX-10. Both cameras were conceived through the collaboration of Pentax of Japan and Samsung of Korea, and launched in the same year.
Pentax K20D, the successor of K10D was introduced at the start of 2008. So far, Pentax K10D has been well received in the digital market and has collected several awards from photography magazines.
Pentax K10D is a combination of a 10.2 megapixel CCD sensor, a 22 bit analog to digital converter (ADC), and a shake reduction system that also features a device to remove and prevent dust from getting into the sensor surface. It is also packed with a picture processor called PRIME or Pentax Real Image Engine. This innovation also interfaces with DD2 RAM thus making an 800MB/s bandwidth possible.With K10D captured images are rapidly saved in JPG, Pentax Raw Image Format or PEF or even the standard DNG format. It is interesting to note that among the first to support the DNG format is Pentax. The company has indeed increasingly become a major player in the technological revolution.Pentax K10D is a first
Digital SLR Camera in the sense that most of its features do not complement with the other cameras in the digital market. When it comes to the price and the size of the sensor, its closest contenders would be the Sony A100, the
Nikon D80, the Canon EOS 400D (”Digital Rebel XTi” in North America) and the Olympus E-400. These digital camera brands have 10 megapixels and were launched in the market a few months ahead of the KD10. Despite being launched several months earlier, the KD10 still remains a good competitor to the currently produced and more expensive brands such as
Nikon D200, Fujifilm S5 Pro, Fujifilm S5 Pro and the Canon EOS-1D Mark II, Canon EOS-1D Mark II, Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II.A crippled” KAF2 mount is another feature of Pentax K10D. This device has power contacts for the lens. Aside from that, it also supports power zoom and MTF information removed from the lens to the body. The device however does not have the sufficient mechanical stop-down coupler needed for complete compatibility with the most outdated Pentax K-mount lenses.
Launched as SDM by Pentax, in-lens ultrasonic focusing motors are being supported by K10D. This innovation supports quieter and faster autofocus operation. The latest weather sealed ultrasonic lenses were recently introduced.
The “crippled” KAF2 does not have enough device to mechanically sense a lens’ aperture ring setting. Because of this, it is a must to use stop-down
Metering mode when using the manual aperture ring on K-mount lenses. When the aperture ring is set to automatic, KA and KAF lenses with aperture rings are fully compatible, thus proving control over the aperture to the camera body.
Initially, Pentax had a slow progress in their entry to the digital revolution. But with K10D, the company has so far proven that it can compete with the booming digital market.
