Pentax K200D Review
Review Date: July 3rd 2008
Author: Mark Goldstein
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Image Quality
All of the sample images in this Review were captured using the [10M] 3872 x 2592 pixels, *** Best JPEG setting, producing a file that is around 4Mb in size.
Noise
The Pentax K200D has 5 ISO settings from 100-1600. There is no discernible noise between ISO 100-400, and ISO 800 also looks pretty good. There is some quite obvious noise at ISO 1600 together with some blurring of detail and colour artifacts, but it's still very useable. Here are some 100% crops which show the noise levels for each ISO setting.
ISO 100 (100% Crop) |
ISO 200 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 400 (100% Crop) |
ISO 800 (100% Crop) |
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ISO 1600 (100% Crop) |
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File Quality
The Pentax K200D has 3 different JPEG file quality settings available, with 10M *** Best being the highest quality JPEG option. Here are some 100% crops which show the quality of the various options, with the file size shown in brackets.
10M *** Best (3.78Mb) (100% Crop) |
10M ** Better (2.02Mb) (100% Crop) |
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10M * Good (1.02Mb) (100% Crop) |
10M RAW (11.12Mb) (100% Crop) |
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Sharpening
Here are two 100% crops which have been Saved as Web - Quality 50 in Photoshop. The right-hand image has had some sharpening applied in Photoshop. The out-of-the camera images at the default setting are just a little soft and benefit from some further sharpening in a program like Adobe Photoshop. Alternatively you can change the in-camera sharpening level if you don't like the default results.
Original
(100% Crop) |
Sharpened (100% Crop) |
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Chromatic Aberrations
The Pentax K200D's kit lens handled chromatic aberrations very well during the review, with some limited purple fringing present around the edges of the frame in particularly high-contrast situations. Here are some 100% crops which show the typical chromatic aberrations that you can expect:
Chromatic
Aberrations (100% Crop) |
Chromatic
Aberrations (100% Crop) |
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Flash
The flash settings on the Pentax K200D are Flash On, Flash On + Red-eye, Slow-speed Sync, Slow-speed Sync + Red-eye, Trailing Curtain Sync, Wireless Mode and Off. These shots of a white coloured wall were taken at a distance of 1.5m.
Flash Off - Wide Angle (28mm) |
Auto Flash - Wide Angle (28mm) |
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Flash Off - Telephoto (82mm) |
Auto Flash - Telephoto (82mm) |
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And here are some portrait shots. As you can see, neither the Flash On setting or the Flash On + Red-eye option caused any amount of red-eye.
Flash On |
Flash On (100% Crop) |
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Flash On + Red-eye |
Flash On + Red-eye (100% Crop) |
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Night Shot
The Pentax K200D's maximum shutter speed is 30 seconds and there's also a Bulb mode for really long exposures, which is great news if you're interested in night photography. The shot below was taken using a shutter speed of 15 seconds, aperture of f/11 at ISO 100. I've included a 100% crop of the image to show what the quality is like.
Night Shot |
Night Shot (100% Crop) |
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Anti Shake
The Pentax K200D has an anti-shake mechanism, which allows you to take sharp photos at slower shutter speeds than other digital cameras. To test this, I took 2 handheld shots of the same subject with the same settings. The first shot was taken with anti-shake turned off, the second with it turned on. Here is a 100% crop of the image to show the results. As you can see, with anti-shake turned on, the images are much sharper than with anti-shake turned off. This feature really does seem to make a difference and could mean capturing a successful, sharp shot or missing the opportunity altogether.
| Shutter Speed / Focal Length / Aperture |
Anti-Shake Off (100% Crop) |
Anti-Shake On (100% Crop) |
| 1/4th sec / 82mm / f/11 |  |
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| 1/15th / 82mm / f/5.6 |  |
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Overall Image Quality
The Pentax K200D produced images of excellent quality during the review period. This camera produces noise-free images at ISO 100 all the way up to ISO 800, with significant levels of noise only appearing at the fastest speed of ISO 1600. The Pentax K200D also dealt very well with chromatic aberrations, with limited purple fringing effects appearing only at the edges of the photo in high contrast situations. Anti-shake is a feature that sets this camera apart from its competitors and one that works very well when hand-holding the camera in low-light conditions or when using the telephoto end of the zoom range. The built-in flash worked well indoors, with a small amount of red-eye and good overall exposure. The night photograph was very good, with the maximum shutter speed of 30 seconds and Bulb mode allowing you to capture enough light in all situations. The 10 megapixel images were a little soft straight out of the camera at the default sharpening setting and ideally require some further sharpening in an application like Adobe Photoshop, or you can change the in-camera setting. Overall a great performance by the K200D.
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