Nikon D80 or Pentax K10D

I own a Nikon Coolpix 8800 and i am shooting mostly still life.I want to upgrade

to a DSLR which i want to use for landscapes and still life.My mind is between D80

and K10D and i need some feedback.Thank you in advance.Giannis

I love my Nikons and Nikkor lenses, so I would be biased. I hear the K10D allows for a lot more lenses because of its mount, but then I would stick with Nikon for the optics anyway.

Make a short research on Pentax and Nikon dedicated forums : you'll find some user's comments. From what I know, both are very fine DSLRs and you should'nt go wrong with them, but the K10D will give you some more features for the price. I suggest you go to a shop and see by yourself : ergonomics, weight... and prices.

it was an easier choice for me early this fall, b/c I didn't want to wait for the K10D!

 

I'm very happy with the Nikon and have discovered (not part of what I originally bought it for) that I like the Nikon flash system a lot. Pentax seems in theroy to have a bit more on the market in terms of fast prime lenses, and has introduced very interesting designs in its 'limited' system, but my sense from browsing B&H etc. is that Nikon availability is much much better. For someone interested in used lenses, the K10D can make more full-featured use of older (i.e. manual focus) lenses than the D80 can, although there are also likely more total Nikon lenses on the second-hand market, so I think that may be something of a wash. It is much easier to rent equipment for Nikon, if you live in a city where you can do that at all and if is is something you'd ever realistically be interested in.

 

The D80 feels well put-together, but if you just want the camera and the kit lens and probably little more, I'd think the extra features and the more robust, sealed, body of the K10D may make it the better deal.

I've been a Nikon user all my life and will always love my old Nikon film cameras and manual focus lenses, but my next purchase will most likely be either a Pentax K100D or K10D. The K10D is actually comparable to the D200 in many ways. And Pentax glass is generally excellent. The built-in image stabilization is a huge bonus for me, as it's something that I really need, and I can't afford to buy super-expensive image-stabilized lenses. If built-in image stabilization is not important to you, and/or if you have a lot of Nikon lenses, then the D80 would make sense.

And don't forget the little 6MP brothers : D40 and K100D. Both are cheaper and less sophisticated, but easier to use (less buttons and dials to deal with). Unless you want large prints (A3 and larger), a 6MP camera is often good enough. And you'll save some cash to buy something else : a flash unit, another lens...

Also, take a look at this article on how to choose a Nikon DSLR (with some Canons thrown in for comparison):

 

http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/d200-d80-d70-d50-d40-5d-xti.htm

 

Basic summary: if you want small and inexpensive, but still very capable, get the D40. If you want heavy and extremely capable, get the D200. The D50 gets honorable mention.

The comparable Nikon camera for a K10-d, quality and features-wise, is the D200.

I have the D80 because I already had the lenses, but the Pentax has three very desireable features the D80 doesn't have: weather sealing, built-in anti-shake, and dust removal. I haven't seen the Pentax except in pictures so I don't know about the feel of it but I like what I've read and if I was starting from scratch I would give it consideration.

I have a Nikon D200 and simply love it. I have heard good things about the Pentax DSLRs

in general. One thing that needs to be mentioned is how good Nikon meters are. I think

Nikon has fantastic meters and that is so important in photography.

 

Do some research on lenses to see which brand will let you grow in the direction you want,

see which camera "feels" best when handling it, and then starting shooting great photos.

 

Just my 2 cents.

 

Good luck.

 

Mark

 

www.marksablow.com

Pentax K10D seems to be the best buy in its category if one can accept its limited range of lenses ( Pentax dedicated prime lenses are a plus thou) and that there are no upgrade bodys.

 

However I was very disappointed when I read the review at dpreview.com about its poor dynamic range ( 0,5 stop less than D80) and its primitive demosaic algoritm ( shooting RAW and use third party software solve the problem thou).

 

I would yet to read a couple of very positive reviews of the K10D before I would consider it again.

Really how daft can you get ... rubbishing a camera over half a stop less range.

JC, It was and still is my honest opinion about the K10D for myself as a consumer. I guess I have shot too many frames of high contrast landscapes from Velvia, that would have had benefit from a half stop wider range.

 

However, I addmit that my verdict was too hard an unfair as a general advice to an average user. The K10D is not rubbish. It has some useful features that D80 and others dont have, so its worth to evaluate and compare to any other camera in its category.

Without getting too technical, try this article:

http://anandtech.com/digitalcameras/showdoc.aspx?i=2896&p=1

Hello, My last film cameras were Pentax LX so I purchased an *istD. The *istD was lemon but I still wanted a Kaf mount so I purchased a K10D. Most of the tings I could do with thousands of dollars worth of camera, attachments and a darkroom can be done instantly within the camera before I down load the photo files. I have boxes full of cameras used since the early fifties. This little electronic box can preform 80% of the functions provided by the whole collection. I'm satisied. D.D.

Thank you very much, you have been great help.I think my choise will be the K10D.