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The Canon Ixus 800 IS is a very nice point-and-shoot camera, I'm not denying that.

But, in my case, being used to SLR (Reflex cameras) with the exchange of lens during shooting, having long zooms (70-210 for example), be able to manipulate capture parameters and all that, it occurred rather naturally to me that I needed a new SLR.

My first reaction after the stealing was to buy a used Minolta 600si as I very much enjoyed it and it can probably be found for a moderate price considering how many people are going for DSLR

After looking at the DSLR market and learning of the new players like the Canon EOS400D, Nikon D80, I found the Pentax K10D.

In theoria, it is one of the best, even having more features than its Canon and Nikon counterparts while sharing some characteristics. Even more interesting all these new DSLR are within the sub-1000 € range (camera-only of course).

I then started to look on the web, hunting for data about the K10D on several websites (like the official Pentax ones, the unofficial ones and more), subscribed to several RSS feeds to get more information.

All this helped moving forward in my choice and in fact, conforted me to go with the Pentax. It is a bit more expensive than cameras which are more than adequate for my own usage (like the K100D) but I found out that some of the features of the K10D are simply too compelling (tropicalisation, DNG support by the camera, integrated anti-shake system)…

So, I begun to look at forums too, trying to see where I could buy it, when the cameras were being delivered first in order to be sure to get one fast (when you have decided such a buy, generally you just can't wait O:-)).

Pentax K10D

So, I pre-ordered on Nov. 20th at the FNAC of Boulogne-Billancourt and got my SMS… Nov., 22nd (gee, was fast!) and was the first to get mine out of 6 pre-orders.

I'm very very happy now :-)

First feelings are pretty good: good grip on the camera, it feels a bit heavier than the D80 (which is good), maybe even better built. The lens given with the kit is a better-than-you-would-have-thought 18-55/f3.5-f5.6. I've taken the 50-200/f4-F5.6 zoom as well to have a longer lens when needed. It seems a bit on the noisy side for AF though.