Pentax K-x review – affordable & great quality dSLR with a few flaws
Thumbs Up:
Relatively fast; large viewfinder in its class; fine noise profile.
Thumbs Down:
Pentax K-x still has some drawbacks like unreliable image stabilization, slow Live View auto-focus, mediocre LCD, no HDMI connector and its viewfinder does not show AF points.
The Whiz Kid Speaks:
Pentax K-x is a 12.4-megapixel digital SLR camera that has CMOS optical sensor of 12,900,000 pixels resolution. Effective sensor resolution is 12,400,000 pixels. Maximum shutter speed is 1/6000 second, minimum is 30 second and X-sync speed is 1/180 second. ISO light sensitivity levels are ISO Auto (200-6400), ISO 200-6400, ISO 12800 and ISO 100. The dSLR features SD memory card slot, Optical (Image Sensor Shift Mechanism) Image Stabilizer and sensor dust reduction. Sensor features are Dust Reduction (image sensor vibration) and Special Protect (SP) coating.
2.7 inches LCD display has 230,000 pixels resolution and is based on TFT active matrix technology. Penax K-x dSLR has optical eye-level mirror pentaprism viewfinder that features 96% coverage and 0.85x magnification. The dioptric correction range is -2.5 to +1.5.
Exposure metering is of three types: Center-weighted, Multi-segment and Spot. Pentax K-x has 16 exposure metering zones with exposure range of EV 0-20 (ISO 100), exposure compensation of ±3EV range in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps and auto exposure bracketing of 3 steps in 1/2 or 1/3 EV steps. The exposure modes include Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, ISO priority, Program, Manual and Bulb.
The shooting programs of Pentax K-x dSLR include Night scene with portrait, Night snapshot, Portrait mode, Surf & snow, Night Scene, Landscape, Sunset, Museum, Candle, Action, Stage, Macro, Kids, Food and Pet. The special effects are High Contrast, Color Extract, Black & White, Toy camera, Monochrome, Starbust, Fisheye, Retro and Soft.
White balance of Pentax K-x is of three types: Automatic, Presets and Custom. The white balance presets include Fluorescent light (warm white), Fluorescent light (cool white), Fluorescent light (daylight), Tungsten light, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade and Flash.
Still image formats are RAW, RAW+JPEG and JPEG, whereas the digital video format is JPEG and AVI. Video capture resolution option is AVI 1280×720. The still image storage resolution options are RAW 4288×2848, JPEG 1728×1152, JPEG 3072×2048, JPEG 3936×2624 and JPEG 4288×2848.
Pentax K-x dSLR camera has pop-up flash that features 12 guide number, Wireless off-camera control, Flash +/- compensation and AF illuminator. The flash modes are Flash OFF mode, Slow synchro, Fill-in mode and Auto mode.
Aspherical zoom lens has a focal length of 18-55mm with an aperture of F/3.5-5.6 that features 3x optical zoom. Lens system mounting is Pentax KAF2, maximum view angle is 76-degree and minimum focus range is 9.8 inch. Focal length equivalent to 35mm camera is 27-82.5mm. Pentax K-x dSLR has TTL contrast and phase detection auto-focus and 11 auto-focus points. Zoom adjustment is Manual and focus adjustment is both Manual and Automatic.
Pentax K-x dSLR has hot shoe flash terminal and self timer delay function of 2 seconds and 10 seconds. The additional feature set includes Dynamic Range Enlargement (DRE), Depth-of field preview button, Automatic Pixel Mapping (APM), Display Brightness control, RGB primary color filter, Highlight point display, Digital noise reduction, 720p HD movie recording, Digital image rotation, USB 2.0 compatibility, Shadow point display, PRINT Image Matching, Sharpness control, Histogram display, Cropping an image, Date/time stamp, DPOF support, Dust Alert, AF lock and AE lock.
Pentax K-x dSLR has inbuilt mono microphone and three connectors: 1×DC power input, 1×compsotive video/audio output and 1×USB. Software supplied inside the disc are Pentax Photo Laboratory, drivers & utilities and Pentax Photo Browser. Supported operating systems are Apple Mac OS X 10.3 or later and Microsoft Windows XP/Vista. The dSLR has 4 AA NiMH rechargeable batteries. Accessories supplied inside the package are USB cable, batteries, drivers & software disc, carrying strap, shoe cap, body cap and eye-cup. Minimum operating temperature is 32 degree F and maximum is 104 degree F.
Razzle Dazzle:
Pentax K-x digital SLR camera is 3.6 inches tall, 4.8 inches wide and 2.7 inches deep and weighs 1.1 lbs. The K-x dSLR comes in white, black, navy and red colors. Our test model had red color. Its body is made up of fiber-reinforced plastic polymer and stainless steel. It feels solid and well built while taking in hands. The dSLR camera is more compact than its competitors.
Inside Dope:
PENTAX Imaging Company is redefining the entry level digital SLR cameras by introducing its K-x dSLR. Despite of the fact that Pentax K-x dSLR is priced like an entry-level product, it comes in numerous colors and offers advanced features that simply does not come its price range. The company continues to have its tradition of manufacturing and offering advanced features in normally priced dSLRs. Its good example is one Pentax K-x model that comes in $650 with video recording feature and 18-55mm lens. The K-x dSLR is quick, provides great noise reduction profiles and good quality in its class. Pentax K-x dSLR of 18-55mm with 50-200mm lens costs $745.95 and its other model of 18-55mm with 55-300mm lens costs $849.95. Overall, most of the shooters will like flexible budget-friendly Pentax K-x dSLRs.
Like its predecessor, Pentax K-x dSLR runs on four AA batteries that make it a bit heavy. We prefer to have digital cameras and especially dSLRs to use lithium ion rechargeable battery for long life.
Pentax K-x digital SLR continues to have same viewfinder inherited from its predecessor. This viewfinder provides more magnification and better coverage than others. During a puzzle move, the dSLR does not exhibit auto-focus regions due to lot of basic framing lines. When you are shooting completely in auto-focus mode, you do not have any idea about selected points and when to switch out. Moreover, you have to rapidly look at LCD for confirming the selection and movement of single point AF. The K-x dSLR provides AF area indicator and various magnification choices for manual focus in Live View.
You can set the Pentax green button to override file format, reset auto focus point to center, apply an effects filter, show depth of field preview in viewfinder, select picture settings or reset the camera. Using this button, you can program the camera to override the already defined format from RAW+JPEG, RAW only and JPEG.
Pentax K-x dSLR camera has straightforward and familiar conventions, but it lacks onscreen explanation and few handholding features. The ISO screen allows selecting fixed or Auto value, whereas Status screen shows easy to scan view of frequently used settings. You can press the Info button to access all settings including lateral chromatic aberration setting, distortion correction adjustment, compression, resolution, file format, shadow correction, highlight correction, metering, auto focus mode, metering, shake reduction, auto HDR, special effects, cross processing, and Image controls for sharpness, contrast, low/high key, hue and saturation.
Pentax has also included some new features along with traditional PASM exposure modes, effects filter and Catch-in Focus of previous K-7. It has Sensitivity Priority option (Sv) that automatically adjusts aperture and shutter speeds when you scroll through user-defined ISO level range. This Sv is an alternative to trial and error approach for finding lowest ISO that delivers desired exposure.
Auto High Dynamic Range capture combines three consecutive exposure bracketed shots in single JPEG file. However, it is not so effective for producing good low light pictures like Sony. The shake reduction turns off automatically and camera does not provide advanced alignment for pictures. You can only use the fast shutter speed on tripod mount for avoiding any shake.
The time from power on to first shoot is 0.7 second. Time to focus and shot is 0.3 second in bright light and 0.5 second in low light. The shot-to-shot time with flash is 1.2 seconds and continuous shooting speed is 4.2 fps. Two consecutive JPEG takes 0.4 second and 0.6 second for RAW. The time to first shot for Canon EOS Rebel XSi and Nikon D3000 is 0.2 second, and for Sony Alpha DSLR-A330/A230 is 0.4 seconds. However, Pentax K-x dSLR succeeds all of them in other shooting options.
Pentax K-x dSLR does not provide good image stabilization like others. We captured some photographs with it for testing. Most of the photos look shaky even at modest focal lengths and high shutter speeds. The LCD display is also enough harsh that does not allow to judge the pictures. It will be difficult to see the display in sunlight. The Live View auto focus is also slow.
Overall, the Pentax K-x digital SLR camera provides excellent images with its nice noise profile and well-balanced reduction in JPEGs. The shadow details starts to degrade at ISO 800, but the images are acceptable up to ISO 1600. There is more decrease in details by ISO 3200. There are visible noise reduction and noise artifacts at ISO 6400. Overall picture retain saturation and remains passable for small size prints and Web use, still there is noticeable blotchiness and loss of shadow details. We will not recommend using ISO 12800 if you want good quality pictures. The K-x model maintains overall good colors at ISO levels.
There is little distortion even at full extended lens of default 18-55mm kit, because distortion correction of Pentax K-x dSLR performs a great job. However, lateral chromatic aberration adjustment does not work pretty. On the bright side, the default Bright image setting shows a bit of color shift above neutral but apparently bump up only sharpness and contrast. Unlike Sony, the Pentax provides this Natural option. The automatic white balance is also good. The video quality is good at 24fps, but it does not apply shake reduction. The exposure is jarring.
Nitty Gritty:
Pentax K-x digital SLR camera offers good quality pictures at all ISO levels even in low light. However, it still has some drawbacks – slow Live View auto-focus, unworthy image stabilization and unable to show AF points in viewfinder. If you need a budget friendly fast dSLR with great quality and can overcome above flaws, then you can buy new – Pentax K-x digital SLR.
