Today i spent about 1/2 hour with a new K10D. The first impressions are pretty skimpy as i didn't even have time to run through all the menu options. But, for what it's worth, here goes:
A number of people have complained that the camera is too big or too heavy, but I didn't find that to be the case at all. While I prefer smaller cameras, the 10D is by no means to big or bulky. Ergonomically, it fits my hand perfectly, almost as if it was my hand that was used as the model around which the camera was designed. Location of the shutter release seems just about right. The wheel in the front may take some getting used to, not because it's poorly located, but because I never used a camera with that feature before. My index finger fell almost right on top of the wheel when gripping the camera. Auto focus is clearly faster (and perhaps a bit more accurate) than that of the DS. The rapidity with which the camera fires and the frame rate it can utilize, even with an 80X card, is remarkable - at least to me. Faster than I'll probably ever need. The camera feels almost machine-gun like for the first twelve or so DNG frames. The shutter seems far more responsive and offers less lag time than that of the istDS. I put the 10D on continuous shooting and was surprised at how quickly it reacted. Using DNG the camera was definitely quicker between subsequent shots than the istDS. Fit and finish and build quality seemed quite good. Certainly on par with, or better than I remember, the istD to be. Shake reduction is a definite plus, but again, I didn't experiment with it enough to put it to a serious test. I'd love to have had time to go through the camera and set the menus, and spend more time shooting than I did with the few test shots I made in the restaurant. It's possible that I'll have another sample to look at and use a bit in the next few days. Overall, the camera is a couple of big steps up from the istDS - no surprise there. The surprise is how much I liked it, even with only this brief first impression. I was concerned and skeptical about the camera's benefits and quality, and now I'd definitely interested in grabbing one for myself, as soon as finances permit. Shel -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
