Pentax K20
“Why is it so dark?”
The part that drew me to the K20 was the weather sealing and the in body shake reduction(SR). Being that I’m in Antarctica I wanted a camera I wouldn’t be afraid to bring outside and actually use. The SR being built in is a great plus. With Canon or Nikon you have to pay extra for SR lenses, but not with Pentax, or Sony. Also With Pentax that means just about every lens that is made for a K mount can be used with SR, big plus giving that this give access to hundreds of lenses, many of which can be bought used fairly cheap.
MEGAPIXELS! Don’t really mean much, though I am very pleased with the quality of the photos that the camera produces, lenses are just as much to blame or thank for the quality of the pictures you take. My first season down I had a 6MP K100D SUPER, with an 18-250mm lens that served me well. But I had hit the limits of what it could do, too much for me to not want to move up to something newer and better, both in terms of camera and Lenses.
The lenses, that’s right multiple, I’m using this year are mainly made by Pentax.
With me I have the Pentax 50mm f1.4, a great lens for the cash, lets see you get the equivalent canon lens for the same price. The Pentax 16-45mm f4, not really happy with this, I should have left it home and brought the 18-250. DA* 200mm f2.8, is really good for getting closer to the wild life. DA* 50-135mm f2.8 is my go to walk around lens, couple that with my sigma 10-20mm and I’m golden. The Sigma is just a great lens I find myself just leaving the lens on when walking about station it is just about perfect.
I’ve also the Pentax Battery grip attached to the bottom of the camera which gives me a spot for a spare battery and memory card storage. My only gripe is that one of the pins is stuck down so I need to send in for service when I get back. Because o this I can’t lock the autoexposure, but I rarely use that feature anyways...
Overall I am very happy with the camera and supper happy with most of my lenses. Though the more I read about the new K7, the more I wish I had it, but seeing as the K20 still works great it will be staying with me for a little while longer.