Pentax K-m (K2000)

Opinion: It is a nice little camera that suits anyone who does not want the bulk and cost of some higher end models. Against my old *istDS, AF is generally faster, AF better in lowlight, AWB much better for tungsten, exposure is more accurate and much less likely to underexpose. It is also much more power efficient against the DS.

Being w/o the top LCD, all settings are being displayed on the 2.7" LCD which can be set to permanently on, or by pressing the info button. While the latter method conserves battery power, altering the shutter speed or aperture will not turn on the LCD automatically. That means you must either press the info button, or peeping through the viewfinder. It would be so much nicer of the LCD would turn on automatically whenever the settings are being changed.

The ? button can be customized for different features, but none that I found useful. Perhaps future firmware might add AE-L, AE Metering and Select AF point to it too.

Image detail is a big jump from 6MP to 10MP in practice. but at the cost of inferior noise control at higher ISO. As a RAW shooter only, I feel ISO100-800 are good, but 1600 & 3200 are inferior to the 6MP model. However, SR compensates this shortcoming somewhat. SR is also the sole reason I am buying the K-m.

Opinion: If I go back in time and compare with the features my first MZ50 had, it is like comparing a horse with a rocket. I have learned to use manual settings and the new camera can help me do the "easy" way all the time. Believe me, you shall not use M mode if you can chose from an enormous amount of scene position,
And there is also the Av, Tv, sensitivity priority and so on.
My only concern, as an old analogue SRL user is why do I have to read such a big user manual to know everything about this small treasure.
If you can not make a good picture with this camera, sell it as fast as possible and quit making pictures any more.
I spent nearly a whole year on forums to decide which camera to buy. I had Pentax cameras and lenses and it was hard to decide to stay with Pentax or to move to Nikon world (D90 - D300) - (or at least Fuji S5Pro)
Then came Pentax K200, K20 and even K7 in discussion.
It was a hard fight.
Now I am completely satisfied. My former digital camera was a Fuji S7000 Bridge camera. I was satisfied with all its features. Only the extremely slow shutter reaction, lazy AF and weak depthfield were annoying.
I also had the option for another bridge camera, the fuji S100 which is filled up with a lot of gadgets, but due to the small sensor lacks the essential needs I have mentioned earlier.
As i like to go outdoors and to catch wildlife, but also my little son, I needed
If you need more than this camera offers you either are a very "professional" or you have more money than photographic skill.
In my country there is a proverb which says that you must always pay for welfare and stupidity. So, do you want to pay for more?

Opinion: I am extremely happy with this camera and compared it directly with the Canon XSI for a few weeks. I had a couple of K100d's which I liked but kept going back to Canon because of the colors and white balance but this one seems to have gotten the colors sorted out better with a lot of adjustments possible and the WB seems much better. I am going to stay with the K-M for a while and have fun with my old K-Manual lenses.

Opinion: This camera is even worse than my ex K100D super. Image quality, exposure, WB, noise are acceptable only outdoors in good light conditions. Shake Reduction rather hopeless (does it work at all?).

Fortunately I had this camera only for testing. Now I'm happy that I haven't bought it.

Opinion: Sturdy, extremely likeable, excellent camera.
I am happy with the 18-55 and 50-200 lenses.
Money well spent, the build quality is great.
24/3/2010 After 1 year camera and lenses are excellent.

Opinion: Great Camera! It's leica a small German rangefinder experience in an SLR. It is a joy to use! The build quality is great. It feels solid and "right" in your hands.

It misses some bells and whistles but nails the must haves. It it does have a number of user adjustable tone settings, assignable buttons, anti shake and a good viewfinder. AF is zippy and accurate and all my K, M, A, F, FA, DA and DAL lenses work great.

I did buy the limited edition white package which is beautiful. The 2 kit lenses are also white to match. The mounts on the lenses are plastic but tough. The 18-55 is better than the original 18-55 and one of the best kit lens but not that refined in its rendering as other Pentax lenses are. The DAL 50-200 is a keeper. It is almost as light as my F50/1.7 prime (which is small and light). It is also a far more refined lens than the 18-55. If you want to travel light and have a tele photo, this lens is a good choice.

Image quality is very good. The Silky Pix based JPEG engine does provide incredible resolution when you use the Natural Tone setting. Bright Tone as used in the DPR review does cut down on the hard edged sharpness in high contrast areas. Natural Tone approaches ACR in these high contrast situations and delivers higher resolution in more normal and lower contrast areas! The JPEG's also deliver more texture detail and more accurate representation of shading and color compared to ACR.

The K2000 does come with Silky Pix RAW converter. This will provide the benefits of RAW and will provide some additional control over shooting JPEG.

The JPEG engine is getting more out of the camera's RAW data than ACR. ACR can work well but one needs to use the camera profile, cut down on the sharpening and contrast and then add some fill light and recovery as needed. Some additional detail in extreme bright areas can be found compared to JPEG's but the JPEG's do better at the other extreme.

It is an entry level model but it does get the finer things right. IMHO it does make a great starter camera or a second, travel camera to mate with some really good, small primes.

The AF is quick and incredibly accurate with all my lenses. MF lenses can utilize the AF system which offers immediate confirmation of focus. This works even better than a split prism.

Anti Shake consistently delivers 3 - 4 stops of help. The key is to make sure you do not go beyond the range of motion.

Opinion: Seriously easy to use and get excellent results from. Battery life from the Sanyo Eneloops is very very good. Have used the the camera nearly every day since end of 2009, and still not getting tired of it.

Beatiful build quality. I think this is a seriously underrated camera.

Image quality is excellent. Am using three older lenses, one beautiful prime from the original 1975 KM. Try that on a Nikon or Canon: shake reduction is sensor based, so I get this with older lenses too.

Opinion: An excellent camera by any standards, great feature set at an entry level price. Nice and compact, especially when the "limiteds" are used. Light enough to carry around all day without noticing it is hanging around your neck.

Image quality is very good in all (there are many) jpg settings, excellent in raw.

Opinion: Low weight in the use of lithium batteries AA, makes about 1700 photos on lithium AA batteries, 3723 photos on 2300 mAh NiMh AA acum.(without flash), high-quality images up to 3200, grains like film, high speed focusing, interesting interior filters, firmware after an opportunity to use 8 filter at the same time, good system cleaning dust, reliable image stabilization, extensive use of different lenses, intuitive menu, excellent viewfinder. AF on pentax k-m is faster than on pentax k20 http://www.popco.net/zboard/view.php?id=dica_review&page=1&sn1=&divpage=reg_date&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&select_arrange=reg_date&desc=desc&no=375&ReviewUrl=PENTAX_K-m_5.htm