The Pentax K10D SLR Camera, An Excellent Midrange Digital SLR

The Pentax K10D SLR Camera is a great camera which features both a top LCD and rear screen LCD. Being able to switch from the standard multi-zone focus mode back to center focus is really useful and the continuous Autofocus mode is reliably rapid. The colors were eye catching, with no making the background to overbearing.

Along with the normal shooting modes, Pentax has also equipped the Pentax K10D with unique Sensitivity Priority and combined Shutter and Aperture priority modes. The previous allows you to select the desired sensitivity and let the K10D work out an appropriate shutter and aperture, while the latter lets you choose a shutter and aperture, with the K10D fine-tune the sensitivity to match. In terms of image processing, the K10D offers the choice of two different RAW formats (Pentax PEF and Adobe DNG) and also supports internal RAW processing; there’s even a button dedicated to RAW. We feel the K10D’s closest rival is the Nikon D80, so in this review have compared its physical characteristics and image quality directly against this popular model.

Photo quality varies really depending on the settings you’re using. If you drag the K10D out of the box, attach the kit lens, and start shooting. However, if you tweak the settings a bit, or shoot in RAW mode then you’ll see that the K10D can produce photos of exceptional quality. For whatever reason, the K10D’s image processor produces soft images with dull colors, which aren’t terribly pleasant to the eye. The 18 – 55 mm kit lens isn’t great, with vignetting in several of my real world test photos. All things considered, the Pentax K10D is an excellent midrange digital SLR. It offers a solid, well-designed body, rocket-fast performance, and outstanding photo quality if you get away from the default settings.