Rating: 
Summary: Joy and Beauty in a bag
Review: I've owned lots of cameras in the last 25 years, including a pro-level Canon F-1. My last 2 cameras were Olympus point & shoot models. Just bought the ZX-30 for my wife and I'm extremely happy with it. It totally satisfies me as a knowledgeable user, and is easy enough for my non-camera-geek wife to pick up and use right away. Picture quality with the inexpensive zoom is high, exposure quality and flash are excellent. Focus is fast and accurate, and the camera feels more substantial than similarly-priced competitors from Canon/Minolta. In fact, I chose this camera mainly based on its superior feel.
Rating:
Summary: Great all-around camera
Review: I've owned lots of cameras in the last 25 years, including a pro-level Canon F-1. My last 2 cameras were Olympus point & shoot models. Just bought the ZX-30 for my wife and I'm extremely happy with it. It totally satisfies me as a knowledgeable user, and is easy enough for my non-camera-geek wife to pick up and use right away. Picture quality with the inexpensive zoom is high, exposure quality and flash are excellent. Focus is fast and accurate, and the camera feels more substantial than similarly-priced competitors from Canon/Minolta. In fact, I chose this camera mainly based on its superior feel.
Rating:
Summary: Great all-around camera
Review: I've owned lots of cameras in the last 25 years, including a pro-level Canon F-1. My last 2 cameras were Olympus point & shoot models. Just bought the ZX-30 for my wife and I'm extremely happy with it. It totally satisfies me as a knowledgeable user, and is easy enough for my non-camera-geek wife to pick up and use right away. Picture quality with the inexpensive zoom is high, exposure quality and flash are excellent. Focus is fast and accurate, and the camera feels more substantial than similarly-priced competitors from Canon/Minolta. In fact, I chose this camera mainly based on its superior feel.
Rating:
Summary: Joy and Beauty in a bag
Review: If you're looking for a SRL camera "kit" with the body, lense and case; get this one! I did hours of research (for my first SLR purchase) and this is the best quality kit available for the money.And it's a joy! The automatic features are more than a new person can comprehend. If you ever want to do everything manually it will do that too. For me, the camera is much smarter than I am. So I trust it. Last night just for fun I put it in "night mode" and took a picture of a person in near total darkness (just dim light from another room and the TV) WITHOUT the flash. The camera knew what film I was using, knew the lighting in detail, and adjusted. It left the shutter open for nearly a full second!! The result? UNBELIEVABLE - Looks like a day picture. Even when you try you can't over/underexpose with this camera. That's how smart it is. The person I photographed used to be a portrait photographer (40 years ago) and said, "It'll just be black." My research revealed that the big complaint about this camera was, "The automatic flash pops up too often." Complaints about competing kits were "horrible lense" and "it broke in 6 months". And you can disable to automatic flash with the push of a button if it bothers you. This setup is joy and beauty in a bag. I love mine. Everything I see now is a picture waiting to happen.
Rating:
Summary: Joy and Beauty in a bag
Review: If you're looking for a SRL camera "kit" with the body, lense and case; get this one! I did hours of research (for my first SLR purchase) and this is the best quality kit available for the money. And it's a joy! The automatic features are more than a new person can comprehend. If you ever want to do everything manually it will do that too. For me, the camera is much smarter than I am. So I trust it. Last night just for fun I put it in "night mode" and took a picture of a person in near total darkness (just dim light from another room and the TV) WITHOUT the flash. The camera knew what film I was using, knew the lighting in detail, and adjusted. It left the shutter open for nearly a full second!! The result? UNBELIEVABLE - Looks like a day picture. Even when you try you can't over/underexpose with this camera. That's how smart it is. The person I photographed used to be a portrait photographer (40 years ago) and said, "It'll just be black." My research revealed that the big complaint about this camera was, "The automatic flash pops up too often." Complaints about competing kits were "horrible lense" and "it broke in 6 months". And you can disable to automatic flash with the push of a button if it bothers you. This setup is joy and beauty in a bag. I love mine. Everything I see now is a picture waiting to happen.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing Quality Pictures
Review: Okay, it's now been about 6 months since I bought this camera. Last night I dug out some old shoot-and-point camera pictures and then compared the quality of the pictures with the ones that I just took with this camera and the difference is like night and day. I can proudly say I am a SLR-snob. The old pictures were grainy and fuzzy. The lens is what makes all the difference and bottom line is the smaller point-and-shoots don't have quality lens (unless you're willing to pay for it). I even took some black and white photos just last week and I can't express enough how wonderful each one of my pictures came out. Sharp, crisp and clear. Trust me, I used to be one of those people that carried a camera only on special occasions (when I remembered to). I now get excited to take it with me whenever I get the chance. I also bought some photography books that has helped me use this camera and have a better understanding on picking up my new hobby. I still have a long way to go on learning all the features on this camera and also to appreciate the skill of taking pictures. When researching to buy a camera, I was debating between the "small and carry in your pocket" point-and-shoot cameras vs. the SLR cameras. In the end decided that the quality of pictures that I want was more important to me than the size. I didn't have the money to invest in both types, so I had to choose one or the other. I have to admit one of the things that concerned me with the SLR was the size, but this Pentax is not only lighter than I had orginally anticipated and weighs slightly less than other SLR cameras out in the market. Also, I feel more comfortable, stable and secure when I take shots with this camera due to its rounded handle design. Definitely worth the long term investment and I would recommend this camera to anyone who is serious about taking quality pictures.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent SLR for starters
Review: This is a wonderful Camera that I have had for 4 years now. I have extremely enjoyed the quality pictures, and fun options that this camera has. I took several photography courses and this camera was leaps and bounds above what I needed. I would definitely recommend this camera to anyone looking into starting up or continuing photography as a hobby.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Camera
Review: This is a wonderful Camera that I have had for 4 years now. I have extremely enjoyed the quality pictures, and fun options that this camera has. I took several photography courses and this camera was leaps and bounds above what I needed. I would definitely recommend this camera to anyone looking into starting up or continuing photography as a hobby.
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