Pentax K100D

Reviewed February 2007

Introduction

Pentax's K100D fits in between the K110D and the K10D in the company's line-up of digital SLR cameras. The K100D has a 6.1 megapixel resolution, a 2.5-inch LCD monitor, and an image stabilization system at the CCD level.

The top of the K100D's grip supports the chrome shutter release, surrounded by the power switch, which also serves as a depth of field preview when pulled to the position.

The depth of field preview can operate in either of two modes:

• the traditional way, which closes the diaphragm to the selected aperture so that the zone of sharpness of the image can be ascertained;
• or a digital way, which captures the image without saving it, displaying it on the monitor along with a histogram so it can be checked for sharpness and brightness.

The LCD Panel occupies the remaining space on the top right side of the camera. The LCD Panel is able to display all the most important settings, in addition to a number of other less critical settings: shutter speed, aperture, flash mode, continuous mode, active AF type, metering mode, bracketing if active, white balance, battery state and the remaining number of shots that can be captured. Regrettably, the LCD Panel has no back light.

The Mode Dial is on the left side of the prism housing. The dial has 13 positions, separated into 2 groups. First are the advanced capture modes:

	The Program mode sets the shutter speed and aperture. All other capture parameters are available.
	Shutter Priority makes it possible to select the shutter speed with the e-dial while the camera adjusts the aperture. The shutter speed range available covers from 1/4000 second to 30 seconds.

B stands for the Bulb mode, which leaves the shutter open as long as the release is held pressed, making it possible to capture exposures longer than 30 seconds. The mode is best used in conjunction with the optional CS-205 cable switch, or the infrared Remote Control L. (The infrared receiver is on the front of the grip.)

Next on the Mode Dial, are a group of much more automatic modes:

	Flash Off works like the Auto mode (see further), but forces the flash to stay Off.
	Night Scene Portrait captures images using the flash to light the foreground, and using a slow enough shutter speed to capture a dark background.
	Moving Object is designed to prioritize the shutter speed so as to capture a subject moving quickly.
	Macro accentuates colour and contrast for small subjects captured at short distances.
	Landscape maximizes the depth of field while emphasizing the contours and saturation of sky and trees.
	Portrait favours a shallow depth of field and optimizes sharpness and colour saturation for portraits.
	Auto automatically selects the appropriate scene mode (Portrait, Landscape, Macro, Moving Object or Night Scene Portrait). If none of the portrait modes are appropriate, the camera uses Normal mode.

One last position of the Mode dial, SCN, is an access to another set of Scene modes:

The TTL viewfinder of the K100D shows 95% of the image. The exit pupil is fitted with a removable rubber eyecup that can be replaced by a viewfinder cap that prevents stray light from entering the camera during long exposures. A dioptre correction is provided on top of the exit pupil.

The viewfinder is bright and clearly indicates the AF frame and the AF points that are available and the active areas briefly light up red when the camera focuses. Two curved brackets indicate the spot metering area.

Below, a display shows many of the current settings: flash status, AF mode, the active program mode or SCN, ISO indicator, focus indicator, shutter speed and aperture, exposure compensation indicator, AE-L indicator, the number of recordable images and a shake reduction indicator.

The e-dial is located at the top right of the K100D's back. The e-dial serves to adjust capture parameters when the camera is set to a capture mode, and when the camera is in playback, the e-dial serves to display an index of the captured images (9 per screen) when turned towards the side, and when turned towards the side, it allows zooming into an image on the monitor up to 12X.

The AE-L (Auto Exposure Lock) is to the right of the e-dial. Once the camera's meter has evaluated the scene, the AE-L can be used to lock the settings when pressed once, or release them when pressed a second time. With the camera in playback mode, the same button serves to protect images, preventing them from being accidentally erased.

The 2.5-inch monitor is composed of 215,000 pixels, and is flanked on the left by a column of four buttons, while a fifth, , above the upper left corner of the monitor, serves to manually release the built-in pop-up flash of the K100D (see further).

The 4-direction control is to the right of the monitor. Composed of four curved buttons, it has a small round button labelled OK at its centre that serves to confirm selections.

When the K100D is set to a capture mode, the 4-direction control serves to scroll through the menus, or select the AF point when it can be selected. With the camera set to the Playback mode, the control serves to review images, or move over a magnified image.

The up arrow serves to select the Drive Mode:

• Single Frame Shooting
• Continuous Shooting: allows capturing up to 3 RAW images or 5 JPEG Fine images before the capture speed drops.
• Self-Timer: 2 seconds
• Self-Timer: 12 seconds
• Remote Control (optional infrared remote)
• Remote Control: with 3-second Self-Timer

• Bracketing makes it possible to capture 3 images, one at the evaluated exposure, one overexposed, and one underexposed by a preset amount from a range of ±2 EV in either 1/2 or 1/3 EV increments.

The right arrow controls ISO Sensitivity:

• Auto: the range open to the camera can be set in the Custom Settings (see the Characteristics section of the review).
• 200 ISO
• 400 ISO
• 800 ISO
• 1600 ISO
• 3200 ISO

The down arrow serves to select the Flash Modes:

• Auto: allows the flash to pop-up automatically when the camera is set to one of the Scene modes.
• Manual: allows opening the flash manually in all modes.
• Auto with Red-eye Reduction: automatically opens the flash and uses red-eye reduction when the camera is set to a Scene mode.
• Manual with Red-eye Reduction: allows opening the flash manually in all modes and having red-eye reduction.

Finally, the left arrow allows setting the White Balance:

• Auto
• Daylight
• Shade
• Cloudy
• Fluorescent with a choice of daylight, neutral white or warm white.
• Tungsten (incandescent)
• Flash

• Manual: allows setting the white balance under ambient light using a white surface.

• The up arrow serves to set DPOF tags. The number of copies to make of any one photo can be set, as well as whether or not the date and time should be superimposed on the print. This function is not available when a RAW image is under review.
• The left arrow serves to apply a filter to an image under review: Black and White; Sepia; any of 9 Colour filters, each of which has two Tones; or filters to Soften, Slim or change Brightness. This function is not available when a RAW image is under review.

• The right arrow starts an automatic Slide Show of the images on the memory card.

Last, near the bottom of the camera, a button labelled with controls the Shake Reduction system. The Shake reduction system takes into account the focal length in use, data communicated to the camera by newer lenses. For those lenses unable to pass this data to the camera, an option of the recording menu allows selecting the lens in use using any of 34 settings that cover from 8 to 800 mm focal lengths (in 35 mm equivalent).

Directly below the Fn button, a small LED glows orange whenever the memory card is in use.

The K100D pop-up flash has a Guide number of 15.6 m at 200 ISO, and provides good coverage with focal lengths starting at 18 mm. It has a synch speed of 1/180 second.

The K100D is also equipped with a flash hotshoe that is designed to be compatible with Pentax flash units AF540FGZ and AF360FGZ. Nevertheless, using its centre contact, the hotshoe can also be used with third-party flash units in the Manual mode.

There are only a couple of small regrets about the ergonomic design of the K100D. First, the TTL viewfinder's eyepoint is near to the exit pupil and requires being very close to see the visible frame and the info clearly. Second, the LCD display on top of the camera is not backlit. In all other aspects, however, the relatively compact design of the K100D allows it to fit comfortably in hand. Its grip is well-suited to average size hands, and offers a solid hold of the camera. Similarly, the external controls are spaced sufficiently apart to make them easy to use.