Lovely to use, and designed for the beginner with easy scene modes, with lots of options for the person like me who likes manual settings. Menu system is very intuitive.In my work I see and get to critique menu systems on web pages and software, so I think I can speak confidently on this
The body feels reassuringly solid, steel chassis inside. I dropped mine on a concrete floor several weeks a ago in a camera bag, and the camera auto focus was confused for about half an hour and then came good. This is a rugged unit, or I was just plain lucky. (I think the first is correct because believe it or not, I dropped the camera onto a pine timber deck with a 210mm zoom lens, and I think the lens must have taken the brunt of the fall. No ill effects. Phew X 2!)
Shake reduction works with older lenses (I have one from 1975, and three from the 1980′s). Using an older manual lens is easy to set up. After you choose a menu item (set it just once), the camera from then will realize there is a manual lens, and ask you to confirm focal length when turning camera on. Put the camera into manual mode. Press a button to get the aperture and take the picture. The K-m focus confirmation still works. (I am really irritated a guy in a camera store told me the camera will not work with with the old manual lenses. Who knows why.)
Low-light focusing in dim light is done using a strobe from the flash, works well, and the flash seems to expose nicely, although I prefer not use it because I prefer natural light. When the light is low I use a tripod and the camera senses this and turns shake reduction off automatically. Brilliant! One less thing to remember, one less thing to forget.
Auto focus is fast. Although a lot people say they miss the focus confirmation on the screen itself, I don’t miss even though my last camera, a Canon S3IS had this feature. Focus confirmation on the K-m is by a beep and a small hexagonal light at the bottom of the viewfinder. There is no view of what you are taking in the LCD: at first this also bothered me, but after realising the viewfinder was way clearer than what I had had on the Canon S3 IS (not really a fair comparison) I prefer this way of taking the picture. Holding the camera to your face in my book also reduces the amount of blurring for a sharper picture, than holding at arm’s length. Some also say this camera misses out by not having selectable focus areas apart from the center of the screen and the other setting whatever it is (5 point focus?). Personally I give this little or no thought, as this is a feature I never used on the S3. I prefer a simple approach photography where I know without thinking where the camera is focused at the center, and leave it there.
I really like the options where you can shoot in raw, or jpg or raw and jpg (common to many DSLRs). You can turn raw files into jpgs in the camera. You can choose the files sizes 2, 6, 10 MB: very sensible if you need to speed up file transfers or save disk space: there is little need for me to save at anything above 2MB.
The camera also has a range of inbuilt art filters which at first I did not think would be that great, but some have produced (high contrast filter for one)some great shots. It has a bulb function which means the shutter can be left open for as long as you like. Wireless shutter release is available, and a year 2000 remote shutter release I kept from a Pentax Optio my father bought works with this camera.
I also really like the way you can select and delete a lot of photos quickly. Good design.
The Help button normally when pressed brings up a screen explaining a feature and what it does, not found on any other camera as far as I know. Its really useful for those who are trying to get their heads around the jump from point and shoot to DSLR, e.g my sister in law who is trying to decide what to buy. This button can be changed to other functions: I changed mine to make it take RAW photos when the light is difficult. It can be changed to one of several functions.
Buttons are in the right place: I can hold what is one of the smallest DSLRs in the world in one hand, change settings and take the shot. Before you buy, hold one, I dare you!
My camera did not come with memory card and I was pleased as these tiny cards usually are always thrown away anyway. Less landfill a good thing.
Kit lens is better than some review suggest and equal or better better than supplied with other major cameras ( some camera website reviews I read say this). I have take some (what I consider) superb shots with it: very pleased with it as I get used to to it. I am not into what they call ‘pixel peeping’: my measure is can it be printed at 8 X 11 andwill it be sharp? (I recently got 28th place in a competition online, out of 500 entries.)
After several months of owning the Pentax K-m I am still excited about owning it, an have taken over 3000 photos. And look forward to exploring all it possibilities in the years to come. I am takingpictures I am really happy with. It is a camera you can use as a very simple almost point and shoot mode camera if you feel like it (I do if I am really tired like at the end of a long walk). Or you can go in adjust lots and lots of settings. Or use it half-way between. Once again I really like the menu system because you can get to the same settings from the main screen by pressing OK or by pressing the menu button. Like that a lot.
One final thought. It bugs me that the larger lens lineup of some other brands is a supposed great advantage over buying Pentax. I think this is a myth. Pentax invented the SLR. They have made high-quality lenses for a long, long time. The marketing of the other brands does not mention that when you buy an after-market lens you are buying the image shake mechanism built into the lens, whereas Pentax cameras (and some others) have the anti-shake system in the body of the camera, which keeps Pentax lens prices more reasonable for the ordinary person’s budget. It also allows you to use all their old lenses with shake reduction. What a great way to recycle technology.
If you do some research you’ll find a lot of what what I am saying echoed again and again. Most people will only realise after they buy the camera that their future lens purchases are very expensive. Then it’s too late. And most people are only ever going to buy one two or three lenses after they buy their camera, so my opinion is a billion lenses to choose from is not the advantage its sometimes hyped up to be.
Product Description
Pentax K-m / K2000 Kit with smc DA L 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL Lens. For those new to the world of digital SLR photography, PENTAX provides a rich learning experience in a lightweight, ergonomic package. Discover the DSLR. Welcome the K2000.
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