Pentax K10D

Reviewed January 2007

Interface & Software

Interface

The Pentax K10D communicates with its user in three ways: by displaying information on its top LCD panel, by displaying camera settings in the viewfinder, and displaying both settings and menus on its 2.5-inch LCD monitor. To the user, the combination of all three elements means that it is almost impossible to be unaware of the current configuration of the camera.

Similarly, the camera provides a quick overview of current settings whenever the shooting mode is changed, or the camera is started.

Still, as has been observed on other Pentax cameras, Pentax continues the use of some odd abbreviations for some terms in the interface — descriptions and menus — often removing a single vowel from a word and for no apparent reason as it would have fit whole in the space on the screen.

A good example of this is the description that appears for the Program mode, presenting the word Program with the "a" removed.

Nevertheless, the menus are easily navigated, and quite legible because of the combined use of clear fonts and coloured backgrounds for the different sections of the menu.

The Setup menu, identified by a purple header, is the third section of the menu, and contains the means to do the basic configuration of the K10D, and perform tasks such as cleaning the CCD and formatting memory cards:

• USER: serves to register current camera settings to the USER position on the Mode Dial.

• Format: serves to format a memory card.
• Beep: On or Off, controls the beep sound produced by the K10D.
• Date Adjust: sets the date and time on the camera and their format.
• World Time: allows setting a secondary time which can be displayed as well, useful when travelling.
• Language selects any of twelve languages for the interface: English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Chinese Traditional or Simplified.

• Guide Display: Off or 3, 10 or 30 seconds. Controls the mode description screens, which are shown by default when a mode is being selected, or when the camera is powered on (see above).
• Brightness Level : serves to adjust the brightness of the 2.5-inch monitor.
• Video Out: decides the video output signal, NTSC or PAL.
• Transfer Mode: selects the USB protocol (PC, PC-F, PictBridge).
• Auto Power Off: sets the delay before the camera automatically shuts down when it is not in use (1, 3, 5, 10, 30 minutes or Off).

• Folder Name decides how folders are named, either using sequential numbers (101PENTX), adding the date, month and day, on which photos are captured (101_0125 = folder 101, January 25).
• Select Battery: (for use when the Battery Grip is installed) serves to tell the camera which battery to use, either the one located in the camera, or the one in the Battery Grip.
• Dust Removal: activates the CCD cleaning system that shakes the CCD to make dust fall off. The system can be activated as needed, or set to operate every time the camera is started.
• Sensor Cleaning: pops up the mirror and opens the curtain so that the CCD can be cleaned using a blower.
• Reset: returns all settings to their factory defaults with the exceptions of the time and date, language, video out and World Time.

A printed manual is supplied with the K10D, however, it often offers cryptic explanations for various functions or controls such as this one for Program Line:

"About Program Line

In [Program Line] in the [C Custom Setting] menu, choose normal Program line or one of the following. In or P, exposure is regulated according to the set Program line."

This type of convoluted language in the instructions is regrettably not unusual, and results in a user manual that is simply not up to the standards of the camera itself. On a more positive note, each of the Custom Settings offer short explanations for each option, and these are usually more understandable than the manual's version.

Software

Pentax Photo Browser is primarily a photo browsing tool with its main window divided into 4 panes, the first of which is for the folders. The second one is for the images, presented as thumbnails which can be selected to be any of four sizes, or simply as "details" which presents them as a list. The third pane, at the bottom, serves to see the shooting data associated with any currently selected image and the fourth, called the Checked Image pane, displays a selected image dragged there in a separate preview window.

Pentax Photo Laboratory is a powerful image editor for RAW images, be they PEF or DNG. Regrettably, this is not user-friendly application and users can expect a steep learning curve. Also, the interface is confusing, composed of at least 7 separate windows, which often seem to have a mind of their own, some refusing to overlap others.

The program's main window — where settings can be made and which serves to open and save files — is a small window with a dozen icons and four drop-down menus (small top left window on top of the preview image in the composite screen capture above). Moreover, changes made to images are by default shown in a Preview window (window with the image above) that only shows a coarse image that can be quickly updated.

An additional window, able to show the full resolution image, can be called up from the Preview window by clicking on a magnifying glass icon, but by default it displays only a small section of the image, and has to be stretched to a larger size to provide a clearer appreciation of changes being made.

Still, Photo Laboratory provides a wide variety of tools to adjust any RAW image: white balance, tone, detailed highlight adjustments, sensitivity, contrast, saturation, sharpness, noise reduction for random noise or spurious colour signal reduction, and complex lens aberration correction.