Been Testing The Pentax K-30

[Photo-John]

I've been shooting with a loaner Pentax K-30 for a few weeks now and I have to say, it's surprised me. I can't say I love everything about it, but it's definitely a great camera and it has the best image quality I've seen yet from an APS-C sensor DSLR (I haven't used the latest 24-megapixel Sony cameras, though). Here are a couple of photos I shot with it yesterday, while mountain biking in Park City. The fall colors have been incredible this year and the mountain biking right now is the best.

[Greg McCary]

Nice shoots John. Pentax is under rated.

[Photo-John]

Nice shoots John. Pentax is under rated.

Definitely! Based on the price, weatherproofing, image quality and other features, the Pentax DSLRs will be among my top recommendations for outdoor photography enthusiasts. When you compare to other cameras in the same price range the Pentax DSLRs look really, really good.

[mattb]

Nice. I like the looks of it too. I have a K-5 which I love and a K-x which has also been a great camera. I've longed for something that combines the smaller size and lower weight of the K-x with the weatherproofing and ruggedness of the K-5. Looks like the K-30 is just that camera. I'll probably get one when I eventually retire my K-x but for now it's still running strong so I might as well use it up! The K-5 has been as close to my perfect camera as I've tried but it's a little bigger and heavier than a K-x, which is plastic and isn't sealed.
One feature I like on my K-5 that the K-30 doesn't appear to have is a locking mode dial. My K-x's dial would sometimes get changed when pulling it out of my bag so sometimes I'd miss the quick grab shot because it would get switched to manual and the exposure would be all wrong.

[Photo-John]

One feature I like on my K-5 that the K-30 doesn't appear to have is a locking mode dial. My K-x's dial would sometimes get changed when pulling it out of my bag so sometimes I'd miss the quick grab shot because it would get switched to manual and the exposure would be all wrong.

Yup - that is correct. There have been a bunch of times when I pulled the camera out of the pack only to be foiled by the wrong exposure mode.

[mattb]

An unfortunate omission!

[Hohler44]

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