If you are familiar with Pentax's Hyper-Program mode, you have it here again. Pentax is wonderful for tweak-ability. In "green" mode, you can set the program line to favor DOF or shutter speed. Hyper-Program mode allows you to tweak either the shutter or aperture. And, a totally manual mode is available.

There are three user-customizable banks of special tweaks, such as taking a picture before the flash full charges (option) or changing the action of a few of the buttons. In addition to a full bank of pre-set WB settings, there are three custom white balance settings which may be set using a greycard or piece of white paper. And, the viewfinder is loaded with indicators and a bar display light meter.

The best feature which made me say "wow" was the autofocus. Not only will the camera autofocus, but it flashes a red dot to show you what it is focusing on. You can manually select the focus point, or just override everything and put the focus dead center. If you don't like the red dot overlay, even that can be tweaked off.

It's fast. I took a few frames in rapid succession and was not left wanting for something faster. Of the most frustrating features of the Olympus E-10 was trying to fire off another frame - so many missed photos. Not the Pentax. When you need that little extra burst of speed, it's pretty quick.

The camera is also surprisingly light and small. The more common settings are off the program dial, such as ISO, image compression, and pixel depth. Other settings, such as sharpness, contrast, and color saturation are quickly accessed though the menu. The camera turns on fast and ready to fire. Matrix metering, center weighted metering, and spot metering all available. PC socket for external flash plus a hot shoe. Manual, automatic, and predictive continuous autofocus.

And, of course, the images are clear and crisp. It accepts up to a 1gig CF card or microdrive. A single connector provides USB and video out. If you want the LCD display on while the video output is used, well - that's a tweakable setting as well.

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 My early impression: Wow!, April 25, 2004
Reviewer: Steven Frazier
After nearly 3 years of playing with other digital cameras I finally took the leap back into SLR-land and purchased this great Pentax camera. Though I am just beginning to explore its capabilities, so far I am delighted: there are a lot of advantages to SLR camera use that I missed from the film days.
As with any of the current crop of digital SLR's, you get a ton of flexibility and shooting speed at a price that would have been unthinkable just two years ago. If you are used to using film SLR's, and have been frustrated by certain aspects of using a typical digital camera, you will be happy to be back in the land of no-shutter-lag shooting; the ability to use a ring on the lens barrel for zooming; tons of manual flexibility combined with idiot-proof program modes; and of course the flexibility of many lens choices. What has particularly driven me crazy about the current crop of high-end non-SLR digicams is the use of EVF viewfinders -- by contrast, the viewfinders on digital SLR's are great.
So why this Pentax vs the other competitive models? (The others worth considering in this price range at this time are the Canon EOS 10D; the Canon Digital Rebel; the Nikon D70; the Nikon D100; or even the Sigma models). This Pentax has the same sensor as the Nikon models, and the imaging capabilities of any of these cameras is doubtless well beyond my skills in any case. So to me it came down to ease of use, size and build quality. Size in particular is important to me: if you just look at the specs of this camera on a cubic-inch basis it's 38% smaller than the Nikon D70 and 26% smaller than the Digital Rebel. The Canon 10d is even bigger, and looks like a house sitting next to the Pentax.
After handling all of these cameras, I concluded that the Pentax is the one I would use most often. Too often my film SLR's sat at home when I was using film -- I would grab a point-and-shoot instead. I really wanted something I would use a lot.
On the other hand, some published complaints (and my conclusions) about the Pentax have been:
(1) Images are too "soft" (this is super-easy to adjust if you use something like Adobe Album, Elements or Photoshop, and in return the camera is not "sharpening" the image for you, which can introduce sharpening noise)
(2) Not as many lenses as available as in the Canon or Nikon lines (There seem to be plenty for my purposes, both new and used)
(3) Memory cards are hard to eject (Doesn't seem that hard to me; you need to be careful no matter what camera you use).
Another issue (price) with this camera has been fixed: when it was introduced it was more expensive than the others in its class. But the price has been reduced and now is typically available at a price that slots it in as a bit more expensive than the D70 and less than the 10D.
All of these current digital slr's are great, and it seems to me that if you already owned Canon or Nikon lenses you wouldn't go wrong with one of their models. On the other hand, if you are starting from scratch (or like me, you own brands you can't use on any of these), the Pentax is worthy of serious consideration.
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Answers to the two big on-line Criticisms..., May 21, 2004
Reviewer: "qwntm"
OK, if you're here, you probably have read all the online reviews. Here's my answers to some of the major criticisms I've seen about this supurbe camera on the web. (And my opinion is based on a 20 year career as a professional photographer...for what that's worth! :) )
1.)Criticism: Memory card is hard to remove. OK, maybe this could use a little work on Pentax's part. Not really a big deal if you're careful. Just be careful...it's not THAT hard!

2.)Criticism: Batteries are not proprietary and rechargeable!? WHAT? THANK GOD! This is in my opinion not a mistake but a MAJOR PLUS! Only Pentax would have the forsight and understanding to give the user TWO (more if you consider all the AA posibilities...)onboard options for battery power both available almost anywhere for Pete's sake! Batteries are the life blood of digital photography, more options can only be better! For my part I'm running 2300 milliamp hour rechargable AA's and am thrilled with the performance!

Well that addresses the two biggies I've read about. As for the rest of it, the price is now where it should be and the camera performs fantastically. Now that Pentax has a 14mm coming out, all is wonderful in the digital world. My advice, BUY IT and you won't ever look back! The 13x19 prints are superb, I shoot weddings and fine art landscapes, and this camera gets the job done!!

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