Reviews Written by Kevin

Great camera to transition from point-and-shoot

Pros: Tons of features, great value

Cons: A bit bulky, but it's a DSLR, many features to learn to fully appreciate

I have had this camera for almost one month and am really enjoying it. Years ago I used a Canon Ftb camera *with film,* and caught the photography bug. Prior to the Pentax K200D I had only used "point & shoots," which were usually adequate but quite limited.

I am still learning all of the things this camera can do. Beyond a "full auto" picture mode, there are various scene modes from macro to landscape as well as the usual aperture-priority and shutter-priority modes. Pentax has one additional mode apparently unique to it, which is sensitivity mode. This means you set the ISO you want, as opposed to the aperture or shutter speed, and the camera does the rest. I've used it a few times and it works well.

This camera also allows you to go "full manual" and adjust anything you want. A lot of the manual settings are in the menus, so learning these will take a bit of time, though the big settings like aperture, shutter speed, and exposure are accessible via a scroll wheel beneath your thumb on the back in conjunction with a secondary function button.

This camera will capture RAW images in both the proprietary PEF Pentax format and the Adobe DNG format. A dedicated RAW button is present to the left of the lens mount.

I left the "Support" review above blank because I have not had the need to use it yet. The Pentax web site seems pretty comprehensive and Pentax appears to have passionate users, so I don't think support should be a problem.

This camera uses AA batteries, which I consider an advantage due to their wide availability. You will want to buy rechargeables, however, since you will burn through disposables. That's not to say the battery life is bad (it's not), but practically and environmentally you will not want to always be buying batteries.

I would definitely recommend this camera to someone considering a move up from a point & shoot ...