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I have been browsing the net for 40D prices, and it is often priced just below a Nikon D200 at £750 to £800. Whilst browsing I stumbled across the Pentax K10D, a well specified, fairly well made camera not far off the same spec, £450. £450 !!!!
Now it is the same age as the Nikon and looks to use the same sensor etc and perhaps it is a bit slower, but not £300 worth. And it throws in body IS. Again perhaps not as good as in-lens IS, but it must make it at least equal value.
It is priced at whole class below. Why? Is it a lack of sales, because at that price all those people going in the buy Canon 400D's and nikon D40/D80's ought to be rushing towards it.
I mean Pentax has a decent name and history. There is a big range of lenses and good support from the independent's like sigma.
What gives? If I did not have a couple of decent lenses I would be pondering hard on getting one.
Come back Ben all is forgiven 
Quote: What is wrong with Pentax?
Pete uses one....could you cope with the stigma if someone mistook you for Mr Bargh?
No different from 20-odd years ago IMHO.... should I go with the Pentax'LX' or the Olympus OM4 - or the T90. What about the Nikon F3? Oh... and the Canon equivalent even?
Couldn't afford the Nikon or the Canon at the time - ended up with a pair of LX's (albeit secondhand).
Today, it's the same situation - again IMHO. Pentax were always 'up there' and still remain so. I settled on Nikon for other reasons but Pentax was certainly on my short list...
Quote: could you cope with the stigma if someone mistook you for Mr Bargh?
Ah so I get it. People do not buy Nikon for a fear of beards and sandals, and Pentax for a fear of hair loss.
But to be serious with the point Pete made, the K10D felt as solid as a 40D for example, but not as solid as a 1 series. So my view was the Pentax looked no less robust than the offering from Canon.
Quote: I have been browsing the net for 40D prices, and it is often priced just below a Nikon D200 at £750 to £800. Whilst browsing I stumbled across the Pentax K10D, a well specified, fairly well made camera not far off the same spec, £450. £450 !!!!
Now it is the same age as the Nikon and looks to use the same sensor etc and perhaps it is a bit slower, but not £300 worth. And it throws in body IS. Again perhaps not as good as in-lens IS, but it must make it at least equal value.
I agree. It's great value and it's surprising the sales are so bad. From my point of view I wouldn't consider Pentax because the lens selection is very limited, but I doubt if that's the reason they don't sell. It's just the power of the brand name - Canon and Nikon have the market sewn up, so why go against the flow.
It'll be interesting to see how Sony get on, now that they have a reasonable lens selection and a couple of good cameras. I think they'll find it harder than they anticipate. It's also entirely possible that Sony will sell their new 12Mp sensor to Pentax, so Pentax might end up with a D300 contender at half-price. But it still probably won't sell. That's the power of branding.
BTW, I don't think that in-body IS is inferior to in-lens IS. Nobody has proved this yet - it's just conjecture. Also, I'll probably be getting a new Sony A700 early next year to replace my second-hand KM 5D, and all the lenses will get up-to-date IS - allegedly equivalent to 4 stops (for a stationary subject). You can't get that with in-lens IS. Replacing all your lenses is very expensive.
Quote: Could someone say what IS lens is please?
Image Stabilisation. All the manufacturers call it by a different name. Canon call it IS, Nikon call it VR (Vibration Reduction), KM call it AS (anti-Shake), Sony call it SSS (super steady shot) - can't remember what Pentax call it.
It basically means that slight movements of the camera are cancelled out by either (in the case of in-camera IS) an equivalent movement of the sensor or (in the case of in-lens IS) by the movement of a lens element - all very clever stuff controlled by tiny gyroscopes. You would never believe it could work, but it really does.
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