Great for beginner to advanced recreational photographers

This is a very robust camera with both dust and weather seals. The camera also contains in-camera Shake Reduction, which allows all of your lenses to benefit from the technology. This is different from most Shake Reduction cameras in that the Shake Reduction is supplied in the lenses themselves (which can increase the cost of individual lenses). This camera is not considered an entry level camera (i.e. point and shoot), however, I find that it can easily suit both the novice and advanced photographer.

The camera takes great images with good color and tone right from the factory settings. However, the images are not as crisp as I liked, but this was quickly remedied by setting the camera to the RAW setting. For the novice, this camera has auto-focus and preset program modes for everyday shooting. However, the great thing about the K10D is the ability of more experienced photographers play with the extensive range of manual functions, which are fairly easily navigated through the menu window. The camera contains user definable Auto ISO, unlimited continuous shooting in JPEG mode, and unique sensitivity-priority and shutter/aperture-priority exposure modes to name a few. The large viewfinder and large, bright high-resolution LCD monitor make it easy to take pictures and quickly preview images.

Although this camera can be used right out the box as a point and shoot, it has a range of options allowing for you to grow into the camera. Even amateur photographers can play with the settings and experiment with their artistic abilities. Changing the settings is fairly intuitive using the navigation system in the menus.

A few cons include the soft image provided in the factory settings, but this can be changed by shooting RAW (and highly recommended). This camera also has about a third of a stop less highlight dynamic range than the competition. But these cons are minor and with the price of the Pentax K10D well below the $1000 price point this camera should definitely be considered and highly recommended!