Positives: Excellent image quality. Excellent range of shooting modes. Very well built. Built-in stabilization and CCD dust reduction system. RAW format. RAW button. Dual mode Depth of Field Preview/Digital Preview. Excellent ergonomic design. Excellent autonomy. Negatives: Spot Metering cannot be linked to AF point. Documentation occasionally obscure on some critical points.

The Pentax K10D is a brilliant camera. At the price it is a world-beater. It will be interesting to see how it goes in the market place where, paradoxically, its low price may count against it.

Pentax are back! With the possible exception of frame rate, made up for in part with the Shake-reduction and dual RAW capability, this camera is up there with Nikon’s D200 and Canon’s 30D. Packed with features that have been well thought out and are easily accessible in a body that has been built to withstand the pressures of hard use in typically English climates it has a lot going for it.

Simply put, I can highly recommend this camera, particularly if you have stash of old Pentax optics lurking in a cupboard somewhere.

A relatively late entrant into the 10-megapixel DSLR category, the new Pentax K10D offers a number of advantages over its competitors, starting with its more robust, body, which has dust and weatherproof sealing. The plastic case is solidly mounted on a metal chassis, which gives added weight to the camera itself. Balance is excellent and the camera-plus-lens is comfortable to hold and operate.

At just under $900 it’s a very strong proposition, so despite our reservations about the slightly soft image processing the K10D just achieves a Highly Recommended.