After four days and 645 frames through the K-r my usage has progressed from testing, through basic familiarization to just having fun. I took about 525 frames on the first charge of the battery, with about 100 of those with the flash, plus a couple minutes of video.
The down sides: The flash didn't work at first, but now it does. The thumbwheel started out very flaky, missing about one click in 6 on average. I just went from 1/6000 second down to 30 second on the exposure and it missed five clicks. So it seems to be getting better as the contacts wear in or something. Only one thumb wheel No external shutter jack (though I believe it'll work with an IR shutter) No external microphone jack No weather sealing. The Lithium Ion batteries are $50 each and 1050 mAh, vs. $10 for 2100 mAh hybrid AAs, or ten times the cost per mAh. I don't get to keep it. The upsides (compared with the K-x): Bigger rear display. Visible focus indicators (nearly worth the difference in price alone). Incremental, but noticeable improvement in high ISO performance. Focus assist light. Nicer feel in my hand. When they're available, the flexibility of the AA battery holder will be very nice. The single Lithium Ion battery is more convenient in many ways than the AAs. My gut feel is that focus is a bit faster, exposure is a bit more accurate, and the frame rate when bracketing is a touch higher, but those could all be wishful thinking. Is it worth upgrading to the K-r from the K-x? That's a tough call. If you need the improved performance enough to upgrade from the K-x, it's probably worth going all out and getting a K-5. If you don't need weather sealing, or the second control dial, or you need as small or light of camera possible, and the low light performance of your current camera isn't good enough, then it is probably worth upgrading from any other Pentax DSLR body. I was gobsmacked by the performance of the K-x, and this is noticeably, though not tremendously better. Is it worth the $200 difference in street price over the K-x? Almost certainly. The K-x is an amazing camera for the money. The K-r improves upon the K-x in almost every way, and isn't a lot more money. If you're looking for a cheap second or third body for emergency, or occasional use, then the cost savings of the K-x are probably worthwhile. If you can't afford the difference in price, a K-x in your camera bag is better than a K-r on your wish list. -- Larry Colen [email protected] sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
