The Pentax K-m was announced last year at the biennial imaging trade show, Photokina, held in Cologne, Germany. Then, Canon had already introduced the EOS 450D and Nikon was banking on its D60 to compete in the entry-level dSLR category. The K-m distinguished itself by drawing power from four AA-sized batteries as opposed to Lithium-ion cells, which are typically used by dSLRs.
However, the Japanese company's presence was overshadowed by the two bigger players that aggressively marketed their products. Still, in no way is the Pentax dSLR's feature set poorer than its rivals. In fact, we found its image quality rather impressive. But its design can be made more user friendly and the metering more accurate.
Design
At first glance, the K-m looks just like any other dSLR — matte-black chassis with a prominent prism hump and hand grip. When we flipped the shooter around to its rear, we noticed that it had minimal buttons. While this makes the dSLR look less intimidating to use for amateurs, the large labels for each button slightly cheapens the aesthetics of the camera. That said, older folks who have difficulty reading fine prints will appreciate the bigger fonts.
The rear command dial is too close to the optical viewfinder. (Credit: Pentax)
The hand grip is large and comfortable to hold with a groove for you to latch your middle finger onto. In addition, the rubbery texture provides a good grip on the K-m.
One gripe with the Pentax dSLR is that its rear command dial is situated too near the viewfinder. We tended to poke our face with our thumb while operating the dial. For users wearing spectacles like this reviewer, you may find yourself hitting the side of your glasses frame quite frequently.
Unlike most dSLRs, which have the flash button placed at the side, the K-m's implementation is behind the snapper, right above the LCD. This was not much of an issue once we got used to its location.
Features
The top picture is the unedited snap while the bottom has Toy Camera filter applied. (Credit: CBSi)
The K-m has several interesting features that are absent in the Canon and Nikon dSLRs. Firstly, the Pentax has digital filters, some of which can be applied while in shooting mode, with the full range available in playback. We particularly liked effects such as Toy Camera and Retro, which imitate the look of pinhole cameras and desaturated colours, respectively. However, since the K-m doesn't have a Live View function, you won't be able to preview the effects immediately, unlike the Olympus E-620 with its Art Filter function. Hence, our advice to users is to snap the shots first and then apply the effects later, but remember to use the Save As option if you want to keep the original file. We also liked the fact that we can control the amount of manipulation, and depending on what effect you want, this can vary from the colour tones to the brightness of the photograph.
Another feature we liked is the in-camera RAW file processing. Although the control is rather limited compared with precise adjustments on the computer, we still find this feature useful, say, when you are stuck in a traffic jam. You can make use of the time to quickly process some shots to JPEG and upload to the web. Take note that there are two different RAW file formats here: DNG and PEF. The CD that comes with the K-m can process both types of files, and so can the camera.
On the mode dial you will find a sensitivity priority option that allows you to tweak the ISO setting and lets the camera decide the shutter speed and aperture. This was useful when we were shooting in low-light conditions and wanted to adjust the ISO sensitivity to allow us to take photos without a tripod.
The K-m supports a variety of lens mounts, though it's all proprietary to Pentax and Samsung (the two companies collaborated on several interchangeable lens cameras). Note that certain functions such as autofocus and aperture priority may not be available with some of the older glasses.
Performance
When we turned on the K-m, the screen immediately displayed the setting the shooter was in. It was after a short delay of about two seconds that the LCD then reverted to the control panel usually displayed when shooting. However, we realised that even while the dSLR was showing the mode, you can exit it by pressing any button.
Shutter lag measured 0.1 second, which puts this on par with competitors. Writing speed was a jiffy on our Class 6 Kingston SDHC card even when we shot RAW images. What surprised us was the in-camera RAW processing speed. The developing was fast and almost instantaneous, though we wished there were options to process multiple files.
We tested the K-m with the DAL 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 kit lens and the DAL 50-200mm F4-5.6 telephoto optics. Both glasses focused on our subjects quickly, but we were perturbed by the noise the lenses produced when they were focusing. It's very loud compared with the Canon and Nikon optics, so the Pentax won't do well for taking stealth shots.
The K-m features a sensor-shift image stabiliser and we tested its capabilities with the telephoto lens. With the optics fully extended, we were able to shoot handheld indoors at a shutter speed of 1/40 second on ISO 800.
We found the metering on the K-m to be rather inconsistent. There were occasions when the dSLR underexposed our shots by about 1/3 stop and made the scene look darker than it was. However, we countered this issue by using the spot metering function.
Image quality
Picture quality-wise, the K-m delivered very clean shots at its base ISO of 100. There were no hints of digital artefact and details were well-rendered. The quality of snaps taken at ISO 200 looked similar to ISO 100, and if you don't nit-pick, you probably won't be able to tell the difference. It was only at ISO 800 that we noticed noise appearing in mid tones and darker regions, though this was negligible. At ISO 1600, the image started to look slightly soft and at its highest sensitivity of ISO 3200, details were smudged and fine lines appeared blurred.
White balance was an issue for us when we tested the K-m. In outdoor conditions, the camera delivered shots that had natural colour and skin tones. However, when we took pictures under fluorescent lighting, our photographs had a yellow tinge. Only when we switched from automatic to manual white balance mode did we manage to get images that looked natural.
Conclusion
The K-m is a decent dSLR that can produce very good pictures, but we were letdown by its inconsistent metering and white balance performance. In these two aspects, the Canon and Nikon fared better, but in general, the Pentax was able to hold its ground against the big boys.
Given current developments in which Canon and Nikon have already introduced the more powerful EOS 500D and D5000, the K-m is at a disadvantage due to its lack of an HD video-recording feature or swivelling LCD. But users looking for a basic entry-level dSLR should be content with the K-m.
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