On September 19 2009,
Pentax announced the K-x DSLR camera, which combines a variety of advanced features
and user-friendly functions in a compact, lightweight body.
The K-x replaces last year's K2000 model (aka K-m) in the company's lineup. The camera takes some of the impressive features from the K-7, and places them in a more consumer-friendly body whose design is almost unchanged from that of the K2000. The main changes are the 12.4 Megapixels new CMOS sensor, PRIME II imaging
engine, Pentax's 11-point SAFOX VIII AF module, the addition of both live view and 24fps high-definition video capability, and increased maximum shutter speed at 1/6000, ISO sensitivity up to a boosted ISO 12,800 and 4.7fps burst-shooting capabilities.
The Pentax K-x digital SLR comes in three different kit versions, and two body colors - either black or white. The most affordable kit version will include an smc Pentax DA L 18-55mm zoom lens for a total price of around
$650. Two twin lens kits will couple this 18-55mm lens with either an smc Pentax DA L 50-200mm zoom lens for about
$750, or with a new smc Pentax DA L 55-300mm zoom lens for approximately
$850. As with the previously announced DA L lenses, the new lens is a variant of an existing lens with certain alterations made to reduce weight and cost, such as the use of a plastic lens mount. The camera recently
ranked at #5 in the top sales ranking in Japan last month. Here is the summary of a recent review of the camera by dpreview, giving the camera an image quality rating of 9 out of 10:
"In most shooting situations the K-x is capable of producing high quality image output. At base ISO JPEG images show very good detail and natural colors out of the box. The Pentax JPEG engine is doing a very good job at squeezing all captured detail into the camera's JPEG files and therefore shooting RAW does not produce a great amount of extra detail. While the image quality at base ISO is generally very good, what we were really surprised about (in a good way) is the K-x's performance in low light. Up to very high sensitivities the Pentax output shows a very good balance between noise reduction and the retention of fine detail in JPEGs (raw output is similar to other cameras in its class). The K-x approach: leaning heavily on chroma noise with more lenient handling of luminance noise results in images with grainy, almost film-like noise characteristics, that show very good detail up to the very highest sensitivities. The K-x is surprisingly a lot better better in low light than its bigger brother K-7, and is no doubt one of the currently best performing APS-C cameras in low light.
However, there are a couple of negative points to mention as well. One of the K-x's main weaknesses is its habit to clip highlights. The problem is exacerbated by a tendency to overexpose high contrast scenes. The K-x also offers very little in terms of RAW headroom. Therefore shooting RAW will not solve the problem entirely. However, the ability to adjust the tone curve during file conversion helps to mitigate this issue. Your best bet though is to apply some negative exposure compensation when necessary. All other image quality issues are of a fairly minor nature. Auto white balance in artificial light is not 100% reliable and, despite of focus confirmation, we also had a few slightly out of focus shots within our 1000+ sample shots; only a handful though and therefore well within acceptable limits. All in all the K-x is perfectly capable of producing high quality image output, especially in low light. For beginners who primarily shoot in Auto mode the tendency to clip highlights can be slightly problematic. For everyone else it's controllable via some manual intervention.
The K-x is a very capable little camera indeed. Pentax has managed to squeeze what is, for this class of camera, an impressive feature set into the camera's miniscule, rather inconspicuous, body and the image quality, especially in low light, is the best we have seen so far in the entry-level bracket of the DSLR market. To put some icing on the cake, all of this comes at a currently, compared to the closest rivals, very attractive price point. To us the lack of visible AF points is the camera's only real drawback but if you can live with this omission you can't go wrong with the Pentax K-x."... [
Source]
Photo Album: Pentax 12.4 Megapixels K-x With 24fps HD Video Entry-Level DSLR Camera
K-x Sample Photos on Flickr
| DCRP: "Camera performance was very good. The K-x is ready to go as soon as you flip the power switch. If you're shooting with the viewfinder, you won't wait long for the camera to lock focus, courtesy of the K-x's 11-point AF system. Things change dramatically if you're using live view, most notably with..." - Mar 07 2010 More » | N/A |
| NeutralDay: "Image quality is where the K-x really shows its value. Given its low cost and ample feature-set, the fact that the Pentax K-x also happens to take some of the best pictures you'll find in any APS-C sensor DSLR camera, regardless of cost, really impressed me. The 12.4 megapixel sensor is very simila..." - Feb 20 2010 More » | |
| RiceHigh: "Indeed, the K-x is a very good camera with very high Image Quality (characteristics of low noise and high details and accurate colour rendition, too.). I can say as long as IQ is concerned, it exceeds much both the K-m and K-7 and is just unbeatable, especially considered that it is just an APS-C D..." - Jan 24 2010 More » | N/A |
| DCI: "This is not a camera for image-quality sticklers. In our lab testing for both stills and video, it came in behind the competition in most areas, with a wide dynamic range and relatively fast 4.2 shot-per-second burst rate notable exceptions. At the same time, there was nothing in our testing that w..." - Jan 01 2010 More » | |
| Photocrati: "The manual that comes with the Pentax K-x is 300+ pages long. So you can see that there is a lot of functionality built in. No, not every feature was to my liking -- especially the part about requiring four AA cells, since the camera does not come with a rechargeable Li-Ion battery pack. Grant..." - Nov 17 2009 More » | N/A |
| DigitalCameraReview: "Image quality at default settings is very faithful to what the eye sees. There is also a cool manual tool for changing the image processing called Custom Image, which allows you to use sliders to change the saturation, hue, high/low key adjustment, contrast and sharpness of your image. Among these..." - Nov 17 2009 More » | N/A |
| PhotoReview: "Pictures taken with the test camera were similar to the shots we took with the K-m. Contrast and saturation were restrained; out-of-camera sharpness was acceptable and colours were natural-looking. Autofocusing was acceptably fast and metering was accurate across a wide variety of subjects and with..." - Nov 09 2009 More » | |
| PB: "K-x's image quality is excellent. The K-x creates noise-free JPEG images from ISO 100-800, only starting to become apparent at ISO 1600, with progressively more noise and colour desaturation at the highest settings of 3200, 6400 and the attention grabbing 12,800 setting. Although the top speeds don..." - Oct 29 2009 More » | |
| TechRadar: "We liked: The K-x's image quality really stands out, and the kit lens is superb. We also like the build quality, which feels tough, and the ergonomics. And, while its video capabilities are a little hit and miss, the ability to fire off a 720p video with such gorgeous colours and depth of fiel..." - Oct 15 2009 More » | |
| ePhotoZine: "Portrait mode looks pretty good although I think it could be warmer. However, this could be down to the white balance interfering with the program as I selected a custom setting. There's plenty of detail in the hair and the exposure is pretty good. Adding flash has filled in the darker areas, added..." - Oct 13 2009 More » | |
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