Some comments of the K200D needed

weishengg · 15th June 2008

Hi people,

I have a friend who is shopping around for his 1st DSLR lately. He wanted something suitable for the outdoors, has in-body optical stabilizer as well as being value-for-money.

I recommended him the Pentax K200D which I thought fitted his bill, and its getting very good reviews all round the internet as well.

We went down to the PC show yesterday for him to take a look at the camera, and we were both surprised as a number of things, which I hope some Pentaxians could help me clarify:

1) the listed prices are bad, considering the value-for-money image we thought Pentax had. But from the forum, i gather that they're just listing the RRP, and we could get it much cheaper in OP?

2) the grip and handling is fantastic! built quality is awesome! however, i did not see the vertical grip for the k200d, which my friend would like to get as well. does it fit snugly into the body, and does the combo compromise the weathersealing as well?

3) i found the menu and settings to be a little un-responsive. sometimes i had to press the "Fn" key a few times to bring up the menu, and the 4-way direction pad is not very responsive too. is this an isolated problem with just the display set at the PC Show?

4) autofocus seemed pretty slow. the PC show lighting may be quite a challenge for most cameras to lock focus, but after trying out the other dslrs, it seems they didnt have that much a trouble with it. again, is this just an isolated problem with the display set and display kit lens at the PC Show?

My friend really like the camera a lot for its great built quality and the sample images that he sees online, but he found the unresponsive menu/buttons and slow autofocus in low light to be quite negative. Are we getting the right perception of the K200D at the PC show? or should we pop down to OP or MSC to try other units of the k200d?

Hope to get some advice here =)
Thanks!

dnaxe · 15th June 2008

1) those prices are awful

2) not sure.

3) it should be a display set problem. Check the body you get. I've never heard problems about this sort of quality issue before.

4) not really. well. not being able to lock is a problem with the display set. hsould definitely lock, but definitely slower than with other brands.

consider the k10D if you can.

felixcat8888 · 16th June 2008

Go to MS or OP to handle the cams again. You will not regret it.

15th June 2008	#1
weishengg Member Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Eastern Singalalapore Posts: 516	Some comments of the K200D needed Hi people, I have a friend who is shopping around for his 1st DSLR lately. He wanted something suitable for the outdoors, has in-body optical stabilizer as well as being value-for-money. I recommended him the Pentax K200D which I thought fitted his bill, and its getting very good reviews all round the internet as well. We went down to the PC show yesterday for him to take a look at the camera, and we were both surprised as a number of things, which I hope some Pentaxians could help me clarify: 1) the listed prices are bad, considering the value-for-money image we thought Pentax had. But from the forum, i gather that they're just listing the RRP, and we could get it much cheaper in OP? 2) the grip and handling is fantastic! built quality is awesome! however, i did not see the vertical grip for the k200d, which my friend would like to get as well. does it fit snugly into the body, and does the combo compromise the weathersealing as well? 3) i found the menu and settings to be a little un-responsive. sometimes i had to press the "Fn" key a few times to bring up the menu, and the 4-way direction pad is not very responsive too. is this an isolated problem with just the display set at the PC Show? 4) autofocus seemed pretty slow. the PC show lighting may be quite a challenge for most cameras to lock focus, but after trying out the other dslrs, it seems they didnt have that much a trouble with it. again, is this just an isolated problem with the display set and display kit lens at the PC Show? My friend really like the camera a lot for its great built quality and the sample images that he sees online, but he found the unresponsive menu/buttons and slow autofocus in low light to be quite negative. Are we getting the right perception of the K200D at the PC show? or should we pop down to OP or MSC to try other units of the k200d? Hope to get some advice here =) Thanks! __________________ Snap snap away!

15th June 2008	#2
dnaxe Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 1,214	Re: Some comments of the K200D needed 1) those prices are awful 2) not sure. 3) it should be a display set problem. Check the body you get. I've never heard problems about this sort of quality issue before. 4) not really. well. not being able to lock is a problem with the display set. hsould definitely lock, but definitely slower than with other brands. consider the k10D if you can.

16th June 2008	#3
felixcat8888 Senior Member Join Date: May 2005 Location: Delta Posts: 3,675	Re: Some comments of the K200D needed Go to MS or OP to handle the cams again. You will not regret it. __________________ Ricoh XR-P,Chinon CP-7m,Pentax Z-1SE/MZ-S/K20D+16-50mm F2.8+FA43mm F1.9 Limited,Metz 58 AF-1P