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I have a Pentax K10D. It’s been a year since I bought it, and I love it — but I think its time to let it go and sell it. No, it’s not because the Pentax K20D is coming out!

Frankly I need a smaller camera with RAW, and the Canon Powershot G9 fits the bill. No, I am not going to buy it yet, but sometime in the future hopefully. What sealed it was reading Nick Devlin’s experience with it at Luminous Landscape. I came to the realization that what has stopped me more than once in lugging my equipment around is its size. I definitely want RAW, and no point and shoot up to now has that capability.

I feel that the important thing is taking photos, and lots of them at this stage in my photographic development, not super equipment.

Technorati Tags: pentax k10d, pentax k20d, canon powershot G9

What’s the difference between the Sanyo Eneloop Rechargeable Batteries  and regular rechargeable batteries, you ask? They retain their charge longer. Bet you didn’t know that when you charge a rechargeable battery, and you don’t use it, the charge drains?

I’ve had it happen one too many times. Of course, after charging regular non-Eneloop rechargeable batteries and storing it for the next time I need to use it, and then needing to use it, they held no charge. But of course, I said, these batteries were probably never charged. Which of course was not true, I just forgot that I did charge them!

This is especially handy if you need to store extra batteries for your digital camera or flash in your photo bag, and knowing that it will reliably hold a charge when you need it.

Technorati Tags: sanyo eneloop rechargeable batteries, eneloop, batteries, rechargeable

Now, if you are a photographer like me, you will love this gadget. When looking for my first DSLR, I was looking at the features, and I thought, GPS capability would be really cool. Wherever I travelled, after uploading my photos to Flickr for example, they could all be laid out on a map to show where I took a photo. I mean precisely where I took the photo!

I know that the Nikon D200 has this capability (with GPS add-on) but it was out of my price range. Sony also has its own doohickey (the Sony GPS-CS1 GPS) but that came with a limitation, that you needed a computer to further “tag” your photo files. This is where the ATP GPS device comes in, you don’t need a computer to geo-tag your photo files! You just insert your memory card into it (and it supports several: SD, Memory Stick, MMC). The marketing brochure says that it supports all the major camera manufacturers — but I don’t know for sure if it supports the JPEG output of the cameras, or whether the device supports tagging the RAW files also (and of course there are lots of RAW formats out there!)

All you need to do to enable geo-tagging of your photos:

1. Make sure your camera’s time is synced with the GPS device’s time
2. Turn on the GPS device before taking your photos
3. After taking your photos, take out your memory card and put it in the GPS device

Later on when you are at your computer, your already geo-tagged photo files will “automatically” be discovered by any of the photo services that supports geo data in photo files (I know Flickr does), and that will automatically plot the location of your photos onto a map.

Technorati Tags: atp gps photo finder, atp gps, gps

Every DSLR photo hobbyist needs a camera bag. Are you really going to let your expensive equipment (not to mention all that glass) be tossed around in your daypack?

I use a Crumpler 4 Million Dollar Home photography bag, costs about CAD$70 (about the same in USD, cheaper at Amazon dot com).

It’s a shoulder bag, it has one flap and two loops on each side that you can hook your tripod or other equipment with. When you open the flap, on the inside of the flap is storage (the flap inside is mesh), that I store my memory cards, spare batteries for the flash, pen, lens caps, and exposure card. On the bottom front of the bag is another flap secured by velcro, which I store the charger for my camera battery. In the main compartment, I can fit my Pentax K10D camera with Pentax 16-45mm lens attached, and there is room for another lens or a flash. I usually put my Pentax FA 50mm lens in there, but lately because of winter and the low-light conditions I have my Pentax AF360FGZ flash in there.

It’s a pretty compact bag, and you can get the Crumpler 5 Million Dollar Home bag which is much more roomier, but that takes up more space. I find it is the right size for travelling around taking pictures, and even stuffing the whole thing into a larger backpack with my MacBook Pro laptop.

Technorati Tags: photo bag, pentax, k10d, crumpler

I have to agree with CameraLab’s final verdict about the Pentax K10D (quoted below). It definitely is a more hands-on DSLR than the others. But then isn’t that the point of a SLR? It’s not a point-and-shoot.

Pentax K10D final verdict

One thing should be clear from our comments so far: the K10D is not the greatest performer using its default settings. If you want a camera that takes great-looking JPEGs straight out the box, then look elsewhere. Shooting alongside the K10D with a Nikon D80 really cemented this point home.

But the K10D undeniably offers a lot of features for the money. For starters it’s the most affordable DSLR with environmental sealing. The Shake Reduction may only have offered a couple of stops compensation in our tests, but it’s certainly better than nothing. The anti-dust system may not be as good as the Olympus SuperSonic Wave Filter, but it sure proved more effective than the Canon 400D and Sony A100 systems in our tests. The support for both proprietary and open RAW file formats, along with in-camera processing is also very welcome. And while it’s annoying not to have buttons offering direct access to the ISO and White Balance, the K10D makes up for it to some extent with its Sensitivity Priority mode and a dedicated RAW button.

Had the K10D sported superior metering and better-looking JPEGs out-the-box, it would have easily achieved our Highly Recommended rating. But the fact you need to put some effort into learning the camera when rivals are ready to go straightaway means we can only award it our lower Recommended rating.

At this point you could argue any product needs to be learnt to make the most of it, but in photography you may only have one chance at your shot – and the fact is cameras like the Nikon D80 will get it right almost every time, whereas the K10D often requires some adjustment. By that time your opportunity may have passed.

Ultimately if you’re a beginner or want the easy life, look elsewhere. But if you’re willing to learn how to get the best from the K10D, it undoubtedly represents great value for money and a compelling option. Just don’t expect miracles from the Shake Reduction and be prepared to tweak the settings.

Technorati Tags: K10D, review