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. Here is the review of the camera by PhotoReview Australia, giving the camera a rating of 9 out of 10:
"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 all metering modes. The body-integrated image stabiliser enabled us to use shutter speeds approximately two f-stops slower than would have been possible with a non-stabilised camera. More than 90% of shots taken in our stabiliser tests were sharp with this degree of adjustment. Barrel distortion was noticeable in shots taken with the 18mm focal length setting, although it was largely resolved by zooming in to 35mm. No pincushion distortion was evident at 55mm. The lateral chromatic aberration we identified with the kit lens when we reviewed it with the K7 was also evident with the K-x body. Best results were obtained between 35mm and 55mm focal lengths, where CA remained in the 'negligible' band. At 24mm CA was mainly in the 'low' band, while at 18mm it moved well into the 'moderate' category. In the graph below, the red vertical line represents the boundary between 'negligible' and 'low' while the green line separates 'low' from 'moderate' CA.
Video quality from the review camera was similar to clips we shot with Nikon's D90 and D5000 models. Picture quality was reasonably good with each resolution setting (although not outstanding); audio quality was pretty ordinary. Clips often exhibited the so-called 'jello effect' in which camera shake and horizontal movement of the camera to follow moving subjects produced wobbly videos. The lack of focus tracking further reduced picture quality. You can avoid most of these problems by mounting the camera on a tripod before you start shooting video clips and by sticking with stationary subjects or slow-moving subjects that remain at the same distance from the camera. Switching on the body-integrated Shake Reduction system improved matters considerably - but not with faster-moving subjects."... [
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 » | |
| dpreview: "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 shootin..." - Dec 24 2009 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 |
| 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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