© mpclemens Flickr Revere Eight, Model 40 “Magazine Camera”
© mpclemens (Flickr)
Is this justified?
The answer is probably no as Pentax‘s range of DSLR’s is nothing short of superb. They generally have a different approach to their design, preferring a better built, more durable design to a feature loaded one. But that doesn’t mean they are a bad choice.
The K200D, for example, is an excellent second hand buy and competes with the likes of Canon’s 450D/Rebel XSi/Kiss X2 or Nikon’s D40 and D60.
Compared to the competition the K200D is a lot more solidly built, with a metal shell and full weather sealing it is a design that feels like it can take the knocks and come out smiling.
Also the lenses are a lot easier to understand. Like Nikon the Pentax K-Series lenses use an evolution of their long standing lens mount. This means that it’s trivial to mount a manual focus lens on this DSLR. Where Nikon have the edge of Nikon is that all Pentax DSLR’s have an auto focus motor in the body. This means all of their modern auto-focus lenses will work with fully all their bodies.
The K200D came in Black and Silver colour schemes, has a top panel LCD display and connections for USB and power. Unusually it is powered by AA batteries which have to be either rechargeable or Lithium style.
The use of AA’s does mean if a photographer is caught short and needs batteries they can pop into most high street stores for new ones. This makes the K200D an excellent choice as a backup body if the user wants the extra features of the higher level Pentax bodies.
On the negative side the ‘motor drive’ option is a bit poor, being slower than the competition and the camera lacks ‘live view’.
Overall the positives more than out way the negatives and the K200D is an excellent base level DSLR that produces high quality images. It is durable, reliable and dependable and is backed up by Pentax‘s superb range of lenses.
A highly recommended camera.