Pentax K20D

 

 

 

The 14.6-megapixel Pentax K20D has a lot going for it. It has a water-resistant camera body that is durable and tightly sealed and is backwards compatible with Pentax lenses. It is comfortable to hold and there are tons of on-camera buttons, but the features that aren’t on the body are tough to find in the lengthy and confusing menus.

 

The preproduction K20D at the show was incredibly slow in its processing speeds. It took a long time to write images after a burst sequence and even longer to open the Playback mode. Let’s hope those items are fixed by production time.

 

The biggest disappointment is the live view on the 2.7-inch LCD screen. This is Pentax’s first attempt at live view and it shows. The whole system is slow – and it may not be from being preproduction but could be because of the way the camera is constructed. We'll have to wait to test the final version before we draw any firm conclusions. The live view is provided by the CMOS sensor, but the autofocus system only works when the mirror is flipped up. And when the mirror flips up, the live view blacks out. If you’re photographing sports or other moving subjects, you won’t be able to see what you’re focusing on and if the subject is actually in the picture. We'll explore this more in our full review.

 

The live view LCD system is clunky – and that, along with the new 14.6-megapixel CMOS, is one of the camera’s best assets. The Pentax K20D will retail for $1,299 in April. It is the best option for photographers who have bags of old Pentax lenses laying around and otherwise won’t be able to use them.