PENTAX digital camera

PENTAX digital camera
SENSOR 6.31MP, 6.1MP effective
LENS Interchangeable
SHUTTER SPEED 30-l/4000sec + bulb
ISO 200-3200
EXPOSURE MODES P,A,S,M + Auto and seven PICT modes
FLASH Popup and TTL hotshoe
VIEWFINDER/MONITOR TTL Optical/2.5in 210,000pixel TFT LCDS
OTHER SD storage, RAW, JPEG
POWER fourAA or twoCRV-3
DIMENSION/WEIGHT 125 x 92.5 x67mm/470g

Pentax digital camera is a small, nippy, silver-coloured D5LR that is easy to use, but has a wealth of features for the confident photographer. The on/off switch is around the shutter release button at the top of the substantial handgrip . The shutter is of the focal plane variety and has a useful range of 30-l/4000sec plus bulb. The bulb mode has its own position on the mode dial. The chip is a 23.5x15.7 6.31MP chip that delivers 6.1 million effective pixels at its maximum image size of 3008x2008 - enough for an impressive 15xl0in print at 200ppi. Images can be saved as JPEGs or Pentax proprietary PEF RAW files. The menu button givesyou access to four menus: Record, playback, set-up and custom. The menu makes it easy to find and change functions. There is an LCD top-plate display that shows the fundamentals of photographic information, and a smaller LCD under the image area in the viewfinder. While the exterior of the camera is a polymerous plastic, the heft of the camera tells you that there is a sturdy metal chassis beneath. There's no flex in the body and the lens mount is perfectly machined to fit onto the interchangeable lenses. On the handling side, button placement is sensible and the buttons have a positive click to them when pressed. The sculpting of the back and the handgrip make for a camera that is easy to hold and use too. Pentax digital camera is speedy to switch on, focus and meter, and it can capture up to three frames per second at its highest quality JPEG setting in continuous mode. All in all, this is a very easy camera to use. In its simplest configuration - set to Auto pict mode-you can just switch the camera on and you're ready to shoot virtually instantly. You can review images at any point by pressing the international standard green arrow button, and return to capture mode by pressing the same button or by pressing the shutter release half-way down. Noise is very well controlled. Some images benefit from a touch of sharpening-but only of the contrast increasing kind. On the demerit side, even with noise reduction, the ISO 3200 is a waste of space. White balance detection and selection were excellent and the camera dealt generally very well with very high contrast shots. Indoor shots were equally pleasing with the only failures being caused by camera shake. Image detail is excellent and macro shots were outstanding. More distant detail made the camera work harder. The focusing performance is absolutely brilliant.The Auto-Exposure lock allows you to take control when you think the camera will get it wrong. The camera does not let you simultaneously record JPEG and RAW. Further, the Pentax laboratory software is significantly less useful than other examples of this type of post-processing program. This is a very good digital camera indeed. It takes goodpictures witha minimum of fuss and is designed in such a way that pretty much anyone with a right hand could use ft. Tne handling is positive, the results are impressive and the camera is well-made.