My good lady has promised me a Dslr this xmas and now I'm spoilt for choice ideally I'd like the Pentax K10d as this satisfies all my needs(also considering Samsung gx10).But I also like the K100d super that has had good reviews and I would be able to get a zoom lens with this package as I take a lot of wildlife foto's. Whats put me off is that one reviewer stated that the K100d super is no good for action foto's.Is this true or not?
The only reason it may not be good for action shots would be if auto focus wasn't fast enough or shutter lag was serious. There's no issue with the shutter lag.
The camera body itself will be capable enough, it's really the lens choice that will decide how fast you can expose, which aperture you can select (as available) and how fast and smooth focus is.
Entry level cameras do have some issues with limited auto focus points - some have 3 or 5, but the K100D Super has 11, so should be pretty effective for action shots.
The knee-jerk sport camera at this price point is the 400D, but much of this is down to it being the little brother of Canon's sport cameras. In real terms, the advantage it has over the other cameras in the same price category in AF handling is minimal.
The Pentax has very good AF, focuses fast in low light. It's not a Canon or Nikon news camera, but it doesn't cost thousands like they do. It's also going to be infinitely better than the Nikon D40 with its limited focus points, and that's still a fine camera for action work.
In other words, most cameras at any given price perform similarly well, with minor differences between them. Try them out, see what you think. If you are worried about wildlife images, get the salesperson to growl!
I actually own a K100d super, and hand on heart i have to say it's not the model to spend your hard earned cash on if you are going to use it for sports/widlife work!.The problem is write speeds in JPEG and RAW are average to say the least,(3 images in RAW,4in HQ JPG) before the buffer is full, and thats with a fast SD card.So you will find yourself hanging around for the camera to write the images whilst the action is being missed!.If you must have a Pentax, then look further up the product range to a model with faster write times.If your budget is limited, and you don't have investment in a manufacturer's lens system you might want to check out a Nikon D40/40x, write times were vastly superior in both formats when i tried one out a while back, and the price of both have dropped due to the D60 coming out.
Unless you are working as a professional any current DSLR will be fine for any purpose. Let's put this in perspective... all current digital bodies are as capable as manual film bodies of the seventies, and yet plenty of action photos were take then and in previous decades. All of this "Pentax is no good for action" is rubbish. Of course you may have to learn photography, and not just hammer the shutter button machine-gun style.
That said, the K20D or K10D have faster response times than the K100D Super. Far more expensive cameras from Canon and Nikon improve these atttributes further.
