Pentax K200D digital SLR
Not as family-friendly as Pentax proposes
Review Pentax is pretty clear about the target group for the K200D: the head of a family and digital camera beginner. Automation is the key here – most folk will simply want a camera they can pick up and shoot.
The first thing that hits you about the K200D is its size. Pentax describes it as “one of the most compact DSLRs on the market”, but we beg to differ. Compared with, say, the Nikon D40, the K200D seems large. Compared with your typical compact, it's enormous.
Pentax's K200D: hermetically sealed at over 60 points on the body
And, at 630g, it’s also quite weighty – and that’s before you add the lens and batteries. In fact, put a K200D in each hand, start pumping those arms and you’ll soon have biceps Arnold Schwarzenegger would be proud of.
Its dimensions, by the way, are 133 x 95 x 74mm. That said, the K200D feels nice and solid - it’s made of fibreglass-reinforced polycarbonate. What’s more, Pentax has made it pretty robust by hermetically sealing it with 60 seals on the body and 14 more on the camera grip.
True, you couldn’t take the K200D on a dive without proper water protection, but if you’re shooting in snow or on a beach, you can feel pretty relaxed about sand or moisture.
COMMENTS
Sony/Konica Minolta
I have a Minolta Dynax 5D and the back of it is identical to this camera, even the image stabilisation button is identical and in the same place, I wonder if this camera has some doings with Sony, seeing as Sony took over from Minolta???
are you sure about lens focal lengths...
i would have thought the lens is already corrected for the 1.6x crop factor of the APS-C sized sensor, the canon EF-S lenses are already.
infact - dont think i would swap from canon to pentax anyway
re: @caffeine addict
And Pentax uses a moving sensor system. Now, you could argue for hours over the relative merits of the two systems but, in the end, both systems give quality results and don't waste any part of the sensor.
@caffeine addict
Image Stabilisation: Thats only true of CCD based/software based image stabilisation.... most decent modern DSLRs (Nikon, Canon spring to mind) are using lens based image stabilisation. Nikon have VR series lenses (Vibration reduction), Canon have IS lenses (Image Stabilisation) and Sigma have their OS lenses (Optical stabiliser)..... so there is no loss of use of pixels on the CCD.
@ altis
Actually there are Li-ion batteries that will fit many devices that run on AA's. The rechargeable CR-V3; sometimes known as RCR-V3 is one.
As for the review, whilst a novice might not need all the functions the camera has to offer immediately, it's nice for them to have room to grow. Most dSLR's have a simple mode, where they're just point-and-shoot; so the extra features aren't a drawback if you don't need them.
