Reader review: Why I chose Pentax K-x over Canon 500D Nikon D3100

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Get Ahead reader Ronak Gandhi narrates his expeience of using a Pentax K-x camera and explains why he bought it instead of the much-in-fashion Canon 500D or Nikon D3100 in response to our reader invite (below).

To top it all Ronak shares his favourite shots he snapped with his new toy.

I bought my first DSLR 3 weeks back. And to surprise to a lot of people, it is a Pentax K-x. I chose to go with Pentax K-x over Nikon D3100 and Canon 500D. I get asked 'WHY Pentax?' a lot of times. Well, modern day cameras are very much advanced and are very capable. All are so close in terms of IQ that it is difficult to decide on one. Because of this, we need to consider other aspects of them to come to a conclusion.

So let's begin...

with the subject as 'I'm a tech wizard' and we will get in touch with you.

Reader review: Why I chose Pentax K-x over Canon 500D Nikon D3100

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In-body image stabilisation

Pentax offers in-body image stabilisation that both Canon and Nikon don't. Pentax has implemented image stabilisation in the camera body by using sensor shift mechanism. The sensor shifts itself (kind of vibrates) at a very fast rate to compensate with the camera shake induced by shaky hands of the photographer.

Main advantage of in-body image stabilisation is -- well, it is in body. So, ANY lens you mount on the camera becomes stabilised by default. In contrast, Canon and Nikon prefer image stabilisation in lenses, which makes the lenses bigger and of course expensive.

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Reader review: Why I chose Pentax K-x over Canon 500D Nikon D3100

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Ergonomics

My Pentax K-x just feels right in my hands. All the controls are at the right place. The body is smallest of the lot with just right amount of weight. The Canon was the worst of the lot with the Nikon coming very close to Pentax.

Low light IQ

This is where Pentax scores the most. This has become Pentax's USP since K-x, K-5 and now K-r. Pentax takes a conservative approach towards noise reduction to retain details in photos.

This enables us to process the image the way we want. The noise reduction software is getting better and better each passing day, so I'd prefer to do it in the computer with all the processing power and intelligence rather than in camera.

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Reader review: Why I chose Pentax K-x over Canon 500D Nikon D3100

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Fastest among the lot

The K-x can shoot at 4.7 frames per second. This is the fastest burst shooting rate among the three cameras. Though I won't need such high speed shooting everyday, it's a nice to have this feature.

Backward compatibility with older glass

Pentax has maintained backward compatibility with all old lenses they have ever made. So I can use ANY Pentax lens EVER made with my K-x. Some of the prime manual focus lenses are very cheap in second hand market. Though Canon and Nikon both have a larger set of lenses on offer, Pentax gives me way more choices than I will ever buy.

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Reader review: Why I chose Pentax K-x over Canon 500D Nikon D3100

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Largest and brightest viewfinder

Bang for the buck

Have you ever seen a Pentax advertisement on TV or a hoarding on a road? I haven't, because Pentax doesn't spend much on marketing. They are a very small company focused on R&D behind their products. This enables them to price their products much lower compared to Canon and Nikon. I bought my K-x along with 18-55mm and 55-300mm lenses for USD 629. In this amount with Canon I would have only got the body, or with Nikon one kit lens with the body.

One negative point for Pentax is their absence in retail outlets. Not sure why but Pentax doesn't stock enough cameras, lenses and accessories in retail electronic stores. This keeps prospective customers away from trying a Pentax camera in the store.

They don't have good service network too in most of the countries. In India, they don't have any presence at all. So if this matters to you, you may want to be safe and go with either of Canon or Nikon.

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Reader review: Why I chose Pentax K-x over Canon 500D Nikon D3100

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The main point going against the Nikon D3100 was the stripped down body. Nikon has removed the focus motor from the D3100, so the lens has to have a focus motor in order to auto focus. It also doesn't have the bracketing feature, which is considered very basic and very useful for HDR imaging. Nikon tends to do such things with their entry level DLSRs.

The main point going against the Canon was the price and how quickly they obsolete camera bodies. 500D is now two generations old camera as 550D is in the market since last few months now and 600D has already been announced.

If I had a bigger budget, I would have gone for the Pentax K-r. It is new and improved K-x with things like:

Dedicated AF assist lamp. It helps the camera in focusing in very low light (no entry level DSLR has this)
Visible focus points in viewfinder (most K-x reviews rant about this point)
3-inch LCD with 921k pixels
Even higher shooting rate of 6 fps
So there I have it, the Pentax K-x

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