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Pentax celebrates with gold-accented K10D GP DSLR
What do you do if your camera takes home the prestigious Camera Grand Prix 2007 award? Why, you kick out a limited run of 5,000 units to let everyone know about it, that's what. Pentax is proving quite the celebratory bunch, as it has found yet another reason to don the party hat and unveil a fancy looking (but otherwise standard) K10D. The Grand Prix Package comes with the body, a battery grip, a commemorative strap, and the latest firmware pre-installed, and Pentax even applied a special dark brown rubber to the body to make sure it stood out. Additionally, a few logos and indicators are gilded to signify the limited-edition status, and the prominent serial number on each one completes the package. Don't expect to snap one up immediately though, as Pentax is keeping the pricing and available deets on the DL for the time being.[Via AmateurPhotographer]
Pentax celebrates 50 years of uh, Pentax
Is that a Pentax K10D gone vintage? Almost, the chubby digital shooter on the left is the 50th anniversary "design study model" of the original, 1957 35-mm Pentax SLR camera from Asahi Optical Company (now known as Pentax). Like the old Spotmatic on the right, it was the original Pentax with its pentaprism viewfinder that introduced the world to the concept of eye-level viewing. As such, you'll find a fixed pentaprism viewfinder on this anniversary model which aced the K10D's built-in flash to accommodate the delta roof. No worries, it's just for show with no plans for a production run. Please Pentax, promise not to bust out the gold and snakeskin again at 60... pretty please, with sugar?[Via dapreview]
DSLR dust removal / sensor cleaning shootout
We already know that megapixels don't matter (right?), but an oft hyped (but untested) feature that has emerged on DSLRs is automatic sensor cleaning. The anti-dust capabilities (or lack thereof) of Canon's EOS-400D, Olympus' E-300, Pentax's K10D, and Sony's Alpha A100 were put to the test, and although the methodology was less than scientific, the results were intriguing nonetheless. Essentially, each camera was given a before / after test shot in order to judge the results, and after the digicams sat through a dirtying process, they were "self-cleaned" 25 times and finally rated. Considering that Olympus was given credit as being the first manufacturer to include dust cleaning technology in its products, it's not too surprising that it took home the gold, but even sitting in first place, the E-300's effectiveness was only rated at 50-percent. Canon's EOS-400D came in with high expectations, but received a "poor" rating as the cleaning effectiveness clocked in a paltry five-percent. If you thought these two were bad, it only got worse when the Pentax K10D and Alpha A100 stepped to the plate, as both highly-regarded cams were deemed "useless" in the anti-dust department. So if your number one priority in a new DSLR is how well it cleans up after itself, there doesn't seem to be a standout option just yet, but feel free to hit the read link and decide for yourself.[Thanks, Romain B.]
Pentax K10D DSLR reviewed
It's been on the market for a few months now, but the folks at CNET have just now gotten around to giving Pentax's K10D DSLR a full review, finding quite a bit to like in the camera with only a few snags keeping it from joining its top-ranked competitors. On the plus side, they found the camera to be well-designed and solidly built, delivering some great-looking pictures, with good color reproduction and broad dynamic range, performing best at settings of ISO 800 or less. On the downside, the camera's overall performance was only average, with its autofocus occasionally causing some additional delays and its shake reduction feature only moderately effective. That apparently wasn't enough to hold the camera back from getting a decent 7.7 out of 10 rating, however, with its sub-$1,000 price tag working considerably in its favor.[Via Digital Photography Blog]
Pentax unveils shiny LX Gold SLR to celebrate 60 years
What better to snap oodles of pictures at your Thanksgiving feast than with a gravy-proof (and gold-plated) SLR? Taking a note from the bevy of other Midas-touched gizmos out there, the Asahi Pentax LX Gold sports a thoroughly blinding paint job with faux-alligator accents to add an extra layer of tacky to an already gaudy device. Apparently aiming to bring back a taste of 1981 (when the 10 millionth Pentax SLR rolled off the production line; pictured after the jump), the company is seemingly reintroducing the vivid shooter to celebrate 60 years of staying afloat. Of course, we aren't sure how many of these splendiferous units will be offered up (or wanted at all), but we're sure it'll rock quite a premium for those somehow interested.
Check out the E-400, K10D and NV7 in their Photokina glory
The peeps over at DigitalCameraInfo.com got their grubby mitts on some digicam hawterness over at Photokina and they've posted up their impressions for y'all to see. In the high end we have the Olympus EVOLT E-400 DSLR (top) with a £700 list price ($1324 US) for its Europe-only launch. Overall, it seems the 10 megapixel camera is a solid offering, with a particularly small form factor, but since you're not exactly going to be slipping this into your jeans pocket, that doesn't really set it apart from the crowd, and neither do the rest of its features. It should work for the more casual users, but DCI isn't really feeling this one for other higher-end uses. As for the Pentax K10D (middle), the DCI folks have pretty much nothing but praise, and are thinking it could work out as a budget alternative to the Nikon D200, and might be a fit for the pro set if the image quality is good enough. With a 10 megapixel CCD and features like shake reduction and dust reduction, all wrapped up in a well-made, weatherproof and easy to use package, the K10D could well be a worthy successor to the K1000, and at 1,000 Euros ($1,269 US), the price isn't too shabby neither. Finally, on the point and shoot end, there's the Samsung NV7 OPS. The $400 cam features an optically stabilized lens, 7.2 megapixel CCD, and an interesting "Smart Touch" interface, which involves buttons along the side of the LCD for intuitive menu navigation. Apparently the interface works great, but the rest of the camera isn't so hot. Performance is pretty clunky, and while DCI is reserving judgement on image quality until they can get the NV7 into the lab, the initial impressions weren't great. The good news is that colors looked accurate, and the image stabilization worked fine.Read - Olympus EVOLT E-400Read - Pentax K10DRead - Samsung NV7 OPS
Pentax Optio T20 is tiny, and tangibly sweet
Pentax is throwing down some lightweight love today, too, with its Optio T20 ultracompact joining the beefier K10D DSLR we just brought you. Sporting most of the niceties found on the Optio T10 -- including that ultrathin 0.77-inch enclosure and expansive 3-inch touchscreen LCD -- the Optio T20 also packs a 7 megapixel sensor, 3x optical zoom, 640 x 480 movie mode at 30fps, and a nifty stylus used to decorate your images in-camera via the "Drawing Function." You'll also find a rechargeable Li-Ion battery, 12MB of internal storage, and an SD card slot here (sorry, no SDHC just yet) -- all for a reasonable $350. Sadly, though, you'll have to wait until next month to get your hands on one of these shiny little point-and-shoots -- but hey, that's the price you pay for demanding only the freshest gadget news.
Pentax's K10D 10.2 megapixel weather-resistant DSLR
We've seen plenty of weather-proof compact shooters, but Pentax is going the extra mile with their new K10D DSLR, stuffing in 72 seals for resistance to water and dust. Pentax also has a snazzy new proprietary Shake Reduction system that doesn't require specialized anti-shake lenses, and claims to offer a 2.5 to 4 stop advantage for shots. The cam also includes a Dust Removal system to shake any dust off the CCD that might happen to get in. Pentax doesn't stop there, they've tossed in an 11 point autofocus system, SDHC card support, ISO 100 to ISO 1600 sensitivity range and a 2.5-inch LCD. With a 10.2 megapixel CCD and that beefy feature set, the K10D is going to look mighty attractive when it drops in November for $900 ($1,000 with a 18-55mm lens), but the real proof is in the pics, so we'll hold out for some hands-on reviews. Keep reading for some hot DSLR pr0n.