Digital Shutters

I want to buy myself a good entry-level digital SLR camera. This will be my first DSLR. Which one should I buy? I first considered the Sony Alpha-100, but that being their first foray into the DSLR market, they might be able to improve it some more.

Then there’s the Canon EOS 400D, successor to the highly successful 350D, but the 400D’s tendency to churn out photos on the soft side, although not entirely a bad thing, makes me hesitate.

The Nikon D80 looks very appealing, looks and feels just right for me. Their D200, although still for amateurs, is quite too complicated for my taste, and too expensive. The D80 feels just about right.

Then along came the Pentax K10D (oh, the Pentax name. I get sentimental about it. I still have lots of photos taken with my now long-gone Pentax film camera). The Pentax K10D offers features that look solid on the specs comparison table: 10.2 megapixels, 2.5-inch LCD, ISO 100-1600, 11-point AF system…the works! You really have a solid camera here that can hold its own against all of the above. To top it all, it’s waterproof!

And yet, I can’t really dismiss the Sony Alpha-100 outright. It was well received in Tokyo when it debuted. I like its color accuracy and very good image quality; also its built-in body-based SteadyShot anti-shake system. Maybe I can live with its high noise levels at ISO 800-1600 by shooting well below that. Maybe…

The Canon EOS 400D (also known as the Rebel XTi in the US) is one fine camera, I think. But will it carry on the huge success of its predecessor the 350D? The 350D used a very competent image sensor with a more-than-adequate 8 megapixels of resolution, that’s why it produced excellent low-noise photos. But the 400D? I think they’re using a lower-sensitivity chip there, albeit with a higher 10.1-MP. Stuff more pixels on a similarly-sized sensor chip and something’s gotta give; in this case, sensitivity. Maybe I should just get the EOS 350D instead? Mmm…

But specs have gone up and the Nikon D80 has indeed raised the bar for entry-level DSLRs. I want that 10-MP resolution and that 2.5-inch LCD, that near-instant power-up time of 0.18 second and shutter-lag of only 80-milliseconds. Between the EOS 350D and the D80 I’d choose the latter for its updated specs.

But then again there’s this matter about the Pentax K10D. I passed up on their *ist DL because I can’t even pronounce it, but the K10D is different. It feels just right. Aside from the 10 megapixels, 2.5-inch LCD and other stuff that are hallmarks for its generation of DSLR, the K10D has 72 seals that make it waterproof and dust-proof, qualities that make it stand out above its batch. Then there’s the K10D’s 22-bit analogue-to-digital converter, instead of the competition’s 12 or 14 bits. It’s supposed to endow the K10D with a greater dynamic range, meaning that with a 22-bit ADC it can deliver truer color tones with richer and smoother color gradations, particularly useful in shadow areas of the object scene.

There’s this bevy of seductive pictures that tell you the K10D is no slouch in turning out beautiful photography. If they keep up with that kind of seduction I just might buy the K10D.

Ah, Pentax…I can still hear that Michael Franks song (“…you always load your Pentax when I’m in the nude…�). Told you I’d get sentimental with the Pentax name…

You can’t be sentimental when you’re about to spend maybe a thousand dollars on hardware. You gotta come down to earth and weigh things up more carefully. Then look at the specs again. Review the reviews. Consider the pros and cons…and then decide.

But it’s hard to decide when you’re faced with such a formidable array of very competent cameras. Eenie-mini-myni-mo, what in heaven’s name should I do? Should I buy a Pentax? Help!!! (chrismalinao)