Gavin Stoker at Photography Blog has written up a detailed review of this summer's Pentax K100D Super. Aimed at people unfamiliar with the first iteration of the K100D, Gavin gives a complete overview of the features, image quality, and design. His conclusion? That the camera is worthy of 5 stars of 5, "Essential!"

Gavin writes: "Having the arrogance to call your camera 'Super' places it justifiably in the firing line for a critical kicking. But having used the camera for more than six weeks, that thought has never entered my head until now. That's because the Pentax K100D Super ticks very nearly all of the boxes for those wanting an easy to use DSLR that delivers images you'll want to keep straight out of the camera; and with the minimum of user input and effort to boot. That said, there is enough room to grow built in for those of us who do want to do more than simply point and shoot, and first time DSLR users will have fun experimenting. Any camera that makes photography fun again gets a big, Paul McCartney-style thumbs up in my book."

Link: Photography Blog Pentax K100D Super Review

If you were in New York last night, you probably saw the spectacular amber atmosphere around 6:30pm, thanks to low and thick overhead clouds, the humidity, and the sunset lighting it all from underneath. I was walking through Bryant Park, wishing I had my camera with me, when I spotted a woman taking a picture of the Chrysler building in this luminous atmosphere. She was using a K100D Super (I can tell these things in a heartbeat by now), and I felt like cheering her on for her choice in camera. Since its release this summer, the K100D Super has received great reviews. The most recent of which comes from Popular Photography, who appreciated that the camera's motorized lens support really speeds up focus when paired with the new DA*16-50mm F2.8 lens, and that the resolution on the camera beats previous budget winner, the Nikon D40.

"The K100D Super is the latest in a slowly evolving line that goes back to the *ist DS of 2004, and as such feels like an old friend. The ergonomics are excellent, the body is pleasantly light but very solid-feeling, and the pentamirror viewfinder is bright, with both Excellent tested accuracy and Excellent (though just barely) tested magnification.

We ran the full battery of Pop Photo Lab tests on the camera, this time using RAW capture, and got results nearly the same as those of its predecessor. Resolution went up a notch,

...

The K100D, and by extension the K110D and the K100D Super, were never designed by Pentax to have an accessory grip. There are options out there, though, so if you've got a fever for aftermarket grips, read on.

Why do people love grips so much when in contrast camera companies are trying to do everything they can to reduce the size of cameras? Usually it's because they like the added handheld stability and the usefulness of at least one of the following: motorized winders (old school SLRs only), battery packs, and vertical shutter releases.

Another reason, I assume, is one that's often unspoken. Maybe they inflate the ego. To a camera manufacturer, grips have typically been regarded as advanced amateur or professional requirements only, in other words they are lofty possessions that entry-level camera (cheap) owners aren't predisposed to purchasing. But despite what your camera looks like, especially if it's at the low end of the totem pole, you want to be taken seriously. I suppose that the iconic professional silhouette (a bulky camera that looks like an expensive and deadly ninja brick) is so much more professional looking that entry-level users who don't have one just seethe with jealousy. (I know I would if I didn't have a K10D and my wonder vertical battery grip, the BG-2. People know I mean business when I walk into a room...

June, 2007 is Pentax's month for special editions. Announced today, the 6.1MP K100D Super ($595 w. 18-55mm lens, $519 body only - official announcement here, fact sheet here) is a small fusion of K100D technology with 2 features borrowed from the K10D. Essentially, it's an update to the entry-level K100D just in time for Pentax's new lenses and a tweak to introduce some hardware updates; it's not a much different camera the way the Pentax ME Super was to the original Pentax ME back in the late '70s*, but it still deserves the "Super" name because the enhancements are the kind that K100D users will wish they had. Pentax has also debuted the AF-200FG flash ($149, fact sheet fact sheet here) they've been promising for a while, which is a clip-on flash that has greater power and reach than a pop-up flash, won't cause as much vignetting with wide angle lenses, and is less expensive than the bounce FGZ models. Both will ship in August, probably alongside the new DA* lenses.


The K100D has essentially been a retail hit for almost a year, which is a long season in camera years, but the new K100D Super, with a nearly identical look to the K100D, does not have the upgrade to a 10MP sensor that people have been wondering about. With the D40x...