Pentax K-m DSLR – Good Quality at Entry Level Price

There are a number of products which are not really impacted by the economic downturn and one of them is the digital camera market. Especially remarkable here is the market of digital SLRs or the DSLRs as they are colloquially known. A new product on offer in this line is the Pentax K-m DSLR. This is an entry level digital SLR and come with features that would make its rivals burn in jealously. It is also priced attractively.

In comparison to other APS-C models, the Pentax product is a pretty small device. Its dimensions are 122.5 x 91.5 x 67.5mm and only the Olympus E-420 is a product that is smaller in size than this one here. On the flip side, this is a heavy product. It tips the scale at almost 525 grams. It is the heaviest in the price range. This might be because of a plastic over metal chassis. The standard color is matte black but Pentax even came out with a limited edition white product.

Specifications wise, this camera has a 10.75 MP CCD with 10.2 MP effective. It measures 23.5mm X 15.7mm. The camera comes with a standard 18-55mm lens. It can have a maximum image size of 3872 X 2592. There is a 230K pixels screen that measures 2.7 inches in the diagonal. The ISO ratings move between 100 to 3200 though you can leave that to auto if you do not know what you are doing.

Standard Flash hotshoe is available and the modes you can choose from are auto, manual, Red-eye reduction etc. You also get all the standard exposure control options like A, P, S , M. Additional modes are scene mode, Auto picture etc. Sensor shift based image stabilization is another attractive feature which is missing in the rival products. Self timer modes are available in 10 second and 2 second duration. The camera has both PAL and NTSC AV output. Memory cards that can be used are SH and SDHC. Thankfully the camera uses 4, standard AA batteries so you do not have to worry about vendor locked in batteries and chargers as is generally the case with Sony or Samsung products.

The image quality of the camera is impressive and menu navigation is useful top get the job done fast. To sum it all up, Pentax has clicked a product that is a complete winner.