Pentax K20D review

In this Pentax K20D review I look at the rugged build quality and wealth of professional features offered by this amazing camera. The Pentax K20D is one sweet machine. The image quality is first rate with a 14.6 effective megapixels CMOS sensor. At the lower ISO settings you will be hard pressed to see the difference between this camera and much more expensive Nikons and Canons. Pentax has always been known for its excellent IQ to price ratio. At this Amazon price-point it makes an exceptional value. Especially when one considers that the lens mount will take almost all of the old Pentax lenses which can be found on eBay at reasonable prices. Even the very affordable PENTAX DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL kit lens produces some great results right out of the box. Add the in-body image stabilizer and you have a serious photographic machine.

The build quality of the Pentax K20D is quite remarkable. No other camera anywhere near this price is environmentally sealed like this! No longer do I have to cover up my camera and fret about the weather or the dust. I can go out in the rain and snow in confidence that the camera will come back in working order. I saw someone on the Pentax Forums say the camera even survived a dip in the Atlantic Ocean! I don’t plan on testing that event out myself, but it’s a nice thing to know about your gear. Add one of the premium Pentax DA * Star lenses and you are quite impervious to the worst of Mother Nature. With the added advanced dust detection and reduction features the camera will do a great job keeping the sensor clean.

This camera certainly comes with a plethora of creative features that can really produce some unique results. I think every creative photographer will want to try some of these clever ideas. The Pentax K20D has many in-camera post-processing effects like the filters for Black & White, Sepia, assorted monochrome colors, color extract, softening, illustration, HDR, Slim and brightness. I have been exploring some of the fun ones such as HDR and the color extraction seen here. The Illustration effect renders a very interesting brush-stroke effect and the HDR is a quick shortcut to the usual multiple exposure combinations one has to do in Photoshop. The K20D will of course let you bracket your exposures for later true HDR conversion if you wish. The Slim feature will allow you to make a subject seem thinner, which I suppose could be helpful when photographing someone who is a little too wide!

I have seen some criticism about the Auto White Balance on the Pentax K20D that simply has not been an issue for me. I have found the Auto WB to do a good job under neon and incandescent lights, and handle multiple assorted sources of light perfectly.

The Pentax K20D also has a D-Range exposure mode that will protect the dark areas of the photograph from under exposure. This feature will give your work a greater depth and range. But be careful about turning it on. Try it on photos you don't really care about at first before leaving it on because it boosts shadow noise. Noisier might not be desirable, but it retains more image details you might prefer. The noise can be dealt with a program like noise ninja, whereas details are lost if they are not captured in the camera's processing engine.

In summary, the essential factors to consider with the Pentax K20D are Value, Environmental Sealing, In-Body Image Stabilization, Lens Quality and Versatility, Image Quality and professional features / controls.  

The smc PENTAX FA 50mm f1.4 lens will work on a full-frame but is great on the C-crop sensor of the K20D. It comes with special Pentax multi-coating on the glass for excellent color redition. It can really produce some great depth of field effects at f1.4 too, but you will probably want to stop it down a little to avoid a too narrow DOF and to ease focusing. The speed is very useful for shooting in low light and night scenes. The price on Amazon was too high a few weeks ago, but has now come down to a much more reasonable range. My copy was manufactured in Vietnam and the build quality is just fine. A fast prime lens like this is truly a must for any serious photographers equipment! You can see the results with this lens here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/adam_t4/tags/smcpentaxfa50mmf14/

The suprisingly good kit lens smc PENTAX DA 18-55 f3.5-5.6 AL Mark I is worth mentioning here as an exceptional value for the quality of images produced. It has a really nice color rendition and resolution and it continues to impress me.

I rounded out my lens selection with the new smc PENTAX DA 50-200mm f4-5.6 WR model. Affordable, weather-sealed and compact. This is the lens I put on to go out in the rain! I just love to be able to do that. There are so many great shots to be had in bad weather.

•  Set the file to RAW+Jpeg. If it’s worth shooting it is worth shooting in RAW
•  In the Function Menu set the Jpeg to Bright +1 contrast and +2 sharpness for optimal jpeg images as suggested by PentaxForums
• · Use the dials to set the ISO range to limit noise in the Fn menu to avoid excessive noise
• · Set the File Number to record sequentially in the Rec. Menu Memory section to keep a cumulative count of your images
• · Disable the autofocus half shutter-button push and use the AF button for better autofocus control
• · Select Center-Point Autofocus and recompose after focus for better focal point composition
• · Set the color space to AdobeRGB to use the RAW files in Photoshop
• · Use magnified live-view for critical focus and preview
• · Use the Green Button to get a quick instant exposure correction
• · In Custom Menu set display sensitivity to on to keep track of your ISO for better shooting information
• · Check for the Image Stabilizer and Focus confirmation lights in the viewfinder before shooting for maximum sharpness

So, that's my Pentax K20D review, I've enjoyed writing it and it's certainly helped me to think about the many photographic possibilities of this amazing camera. Thanks for reading. Please feel free to visit my flickr page to see more.