Pentax KP Silver Body 24.32 Ultra-Compact Weatherproof DSLR with 3" LCD, (Silver)

Update April 4, 2020 Yes I continue to use my KP constantly. You will notice underwater pics I added. Yes the KP has gone diving in a https://www.amazon.com/DiCAPac-WP-S10-DSLR-Camera-Waterproof/dp/B00169HXW2/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=underwater+housing+digipac&qid=1586025856&sr=8-2 housing in Hawaii on two separate trips. Have done more birding with KP as well and like using it with my DFA150-450 giving me an effective 275-688mm KP has been operating in 4 degs in Michigan during winter outings and heat and humidity of Hawaii.Update Feb 2018 - Added a couple shots of a scrub jay and black squirrel in thicket. Scrub jay was cropped to 60% or original. Squirrel in thicket was cropped an amazing 80% and still looks this good at iso 640Update November 24 2017. My business travel takes me many places across 2017 and the KP has been flawless. I have added a few shots from Iceland , France and Poland and some HDR images. This is the most versatile camera I have ever had and my 5 star recommendation stands maybe it should even get a 6th star. Is it durable yes. In Iceland I got confused with to many things to carry and I dropped it to the floor a couple feet. No damage or issues.Update May 3rd. Since I wrote the below late March, I have had more time with the KP and I also added the DBG-7 vertical grip. Adding the grip has made this the most comfortable camera to hold vertically, of all the Pentax cameras. The dial placement is perfect.  Pentax D-BG7 Battery Grip for KP  I would highly recommend it. The camera continues to perform flawlessly. The Depth of Field Bracketing is an exceptional feature for macro work One ease of use feature that has been of great value has been the "info" display selections. I rarely have to go into the menu anymore to change things. I included a floral picture below shot at ISO 65,000 in "Radiant" setting. It is intriguing and the high ISO may allow for some unique creativity. Love the HDR abilities of this camera.I am a true Pentaxian, having bought the following D series Pentax bodies; ist D, K10, K20, K7, K5 (bought secondhand) , K5iis, K3ii and now the KP. Why the KP. Well my 1 year old K3ii was stolen during a business trip 4 weeks ago and I really enjoyed that camera. The KP just came out and I am glad I now own the KP. Great features. Built in Wifi that that works well with the iPhone Ricoh app. The deployable screen (now you get real low shots without laying in the mud) and the new knobs; I was a bit wary, but within a day I realized the easy utility of the additional top knob and I do not miss the LCD screen that has been their prior. Easy things that I have done now include HDR images and Pixel shift. I do not miss the K3ii' GPS as I rarely ever used it and its nice to again have a pop up flash. Regarding SD card. My backup body is now my 4 year old K5iis and I got along fine with just one SD card, but I did enjoy the K3iis ability to have 2 slots and put RAWs on one card and Jpegs on the other. Ergonomically, I have big hands and am using the largest provided grip with the KP. I have vertical grips on all my Pentax' and I will add that for the KP as soon as it is available as it will improve the hold. One item that I used routinely in my other K's was the DOFP (Depth of field preview) which was on the on /off dial. Not so on the KP. You need to use one of the 3 customization FX buttons. I have replaced the RAW button as my DOFP button. That works very well for macro .As for improved ISO Here is reality. This camera allows you to shoot at ISO 25,600 at a noise and resolution quality I had at ISO 4000 w my K5iis. THE IMAGE QUALITY is SUPERB. This camera is at least 2 full ISO stops better than the K3ii and 3 full ISO stops better than the K5iis. Last usability point. The KP autofocus is superior to the K3ii. I tracked a dog today at full gallop and every shot in a sequence was dead on sharp. Never used to happen with K5iis or K3ii. I think the KP is a better action camera even down one FPS from the K-3ii. Here are my only notes that you should know that are not negatives just reality. Regarding the ISO 819,000 buzz. It is useless or maybe only for a grainy artistic style B&W. Those of us you were used to the battery horsepower of the larger D-LI90 of the earlier K5, K3 will see that the D-LI109 battery in the KP is half the life. Buy an additional battery right away. All the images attached were taken by me and were shot with either Tamron 90mm F2.8 macro, Pentax 300mm F4 Tamron 70-200 F2.8, Tamron 17-50

Camera arrived today from Adorama via Amazon Prime. The camera box was damaged. No packaging material was present in the shipping container. The battery was dead so I gave it a three hour charge. The KP is solid, surprisingly hefty, and the chassis appears to be and feels well-made. The flip up flash is flimsy cheap plastic and degrades the sturdiness of an otherwise well-constructed camera. I wish Ricoh had designed the camera without flash. Dials are plastic, but feel firm enough and click with each setting. The hinged display is smallish and the resolution is nothing to write home about.The camera includes three grips which are attached by way of a hex-screw and included allen wrench. I found that the largest grip suited my hands the best. The camera is weight forward left with the 200mm f2.8 (a hefty lens). Any larger lens will require the battery grip accessory. It pairs nice and is balanced with the Pentax 55-300 HD DA WR.The camera is insanely customizable both with external buttons and dials and inner menu workings. I immediately gravitated toward the front index finger dial for adjusting shutter speed in Pentax Tav mode.Opened up I was surprised at the shutter speed. While not Nikon D500 speed, it trumps my K5 IIS. The 5-axis stabilization works and I noticed immediately better output with a 200mm, shooting some crows in flight.JPEG image output looks very good. I haven't yet done any PP work from RAW. The high ISO claims are rubbish. You can shoot ISO 819200, but the images are not presentable. Maybe peak out around 6400 or 12800 with good glass. I've been shooting with the 70mm 2.4 and missed a few shots in Auto.The Wi-Fi link through Ricoh's crappy IOs App is especially finicky. I would not bother with it.This camera is a bit of an enigma to me. The size is approximate to micro-4/3 platforms, but the camera is heavy. It's a bit of a hybrid and the price point might appeal to beginners or those upgrading. The camera has some retro charm. I'm keeping mine, but I am sick with G.A.S. I'll post some shots down the road.

Picture quality has been fantastic with image stabilization that's been rock solid. Loving the 3 wheel control - so nice to have one wheel be for iso, another wheel for shutter speed, and another for aperture - the exposure triangle is so much easier to optimize. This has a large optical viewfinder, which I prefer - things in a computer screen often look a bit different than the real world so that's why I don't like electronic viewfinders as much.I bought this to be a lighter weight and smaller camera and it fits the bill. I'm actually surprised at how light and small this thing is! Looking forward to seeing how the weight savings impact my hikes and travel.Autofocus has been great, the dynamic range of this 24 megapixel Sony sensor is amazing - I can lift exposure 2.5 stops without concern of too much noise. This pre-ceremony shot was taken at 100mm, iso200, 1/160th, f3.5 - since it was backlit, I lifted exposure in lightroom 2.3 stops and the detail is still fantastic.Get a couple extra batteries, especially if you like to use live view a lot. With the tilting screen, I find myself using live view much more often when holding the camera at very low or high angles (another reason why 5 axis stabilization is so important - these ways of holding the camera are much less stable than the typical way). Live view AF is actually pretty fast and very accurate.One thing that I didn't know about - if you shoot in RAW+ and you set the camera to a black and white mode (or any other digital filter mode like cross process etc), the camera will capture a jpg using the digital filter settings and the RAW will stay the same as if you weren't using any digital filters! Love this...Very glad I bought this camera and looking forward to creating some great images.

First of all, you really have to know what you want to shoot before you buy any camera. Consider size, lens selection, video/image quality, etc. I've had the KP for a couple of months and here are my observations and why I think it deserves 5 stars:1. Pentax KP is not a light camera even though its relatively small size. It's heavier than most other brands in it's class, BUT it's waterproof and built better than similarly priced Canon/Nikon cameras. This is the tricky part: some Pentax lenses are so small when you still get a lighter/smaller package compared to the others. Just look at the Pentax 77mm 1.8 and how it compares to similar lenses.2. Easy of use/overall interface: This is where the camera really shines for me. It is loaded with options to make it do exactly what you want it to do. It has 3 dials, one of which is pretty customizable. The UI is smooth and easy to access. It also has options like the TV/AV combo which I have not seen in other cameras. There is also the option to have higher shutter speed in lower light scenarios. I've used Sony prior to this and their interface is just horrendous. The camera also has a whole bunch of buttons you can customize for different shortcuts. Call me old fashioned but I love cameras with dials and buttons. Not a fan of touch screen interface other than focusing.3. Lenses: This camera comes with none so you have to pick your own. You have options to buy weather sealed Pentax lenses. I got a Tamron 17-50 2.8 which is also stabilized thanks to the IBIS in the camera(oh yeah, good luck finding stabilized camera for a similar price). The lens is really sharp and produces vivid colours. Sadly there are not many third party options and some companies are pulling away from Pentax. As of this moment I think only Tamron/Sigma still make K mount lenses. There are of course so many older lenses you can find for pennies on ebay but they are manual focus so you have to live with that.4. More lenses: One thing that really makes pentax stand out from the crowd are their "limited" line of lenses. They are all extremely small and light. You have lenses ranging from 15mm to 77mm. No one else except Fuji maybe has anything like this but but also look at their prices.5. Low light shooting: the camera can go as high as ISO 800000. It's not exactly usable at that value but it can produce really usable images at ISO 6400 which is really impressive in my books.6. Looks: might not be anyone's cup of tea but I love the retro look and silver colour.7. Flaws: This camera is far from perfect so better be aware of its limits. Video is the first thing that comes to mind. The KP is not meant for videos. Focusing is not fast enough(not as fast as Canons for sure) and it shoots only 1080p. If you're looking for a vide shooter better look somewhere else. Second, the battery is rather small. Better carry an extra or two. It's a pity considering it's also a heavy camera. Third, lens options from third parties. Currently there are really good lenses being made but seems support for pentax is really limited. Fourth, focusing lacks compared to rivals. 27AF points is good enough for me but might not be for many others.Conclusion: to summarize, if you want a reliable, capable and versatile PICTURE camera with options usually found in cameras costing much more, look no further. It is not a perfect camera but for what I need it serves me perfectly well.

I was thinking of writing a long review, extolling the virtues of this camera. However, the review by Stan C. pretty much says it all (well written, Stan!)To be brief, here are some features you get with this camera, all for WELL under the price of the competition:1. Compatibility with ALL Pentax K-mount lenses (Including film lenses)2. Superior ISO range3. Eight (eight!) user customizable (is that a word?) function modes. Set these for your most used settings, and never go into menu again...well, hardly ever..4. Advanced in body shake reduction. This means you don't have to spend additional hundreds of dollars to get a lens with built in SR (up to 5 stops difference)5. P setting. I think this might be a Pentax exclusive (eat you hearts out Canon and Nikon) Set your camera to P, and you can adjust either Tv or Av, and ISO and whatever value you didn't use will automatically adjust. Much better than Auto, and a good compromise for M.6. Multi exposure setting. A good substitute for graduated filters, in certain conditions (like water movement).7. Weatherproof body. Again, for the price, no other competitor comes close.8. OK. This is going on too long, 'nuff said.

I bought this to upgrade myself from my K-30, which I was very happy with (until it developed the infamous K-30 aperture block problem). But I'm also very glad I upgraded to this KP, even while my K-30 was still fully functional. The KP has worked perfectly for me so far, and its image quality is stunning! I appreciate many of the little touches that make this a more pro-level upgrade from the more entry-level K-30, such as the KP's tilting screen and its third wheel. I have that wheel set to ISO, as I suspect most KP owners do. So all three values of the Exposure Triangle are on easily-accessible wheels when shooting full manual, as I usually do these days.One interesting finding: people worry about the battery life of this camera, but I've found that the ordinary D-Li109 batteries have been working fine for me. I keep a couple of fully-charged spares when I do a shoot, but almost never use them. I have noticed that the battery-charge indicator drops alarmingly fast at first, but I've found that it's misleading; I still get all the shots I need from one battery, almost every time. I've also noticed that if I shut the camera down and let it 'rest' for a few minutes, the battery-charge indicator will pop back up to almost fully charged when I turn the camera back on. So now I mostly ignore that indicator, and it's been totally fine for the way I use this camera.I'm really happy with this shiny-silver KP!

I've been using Pentax cameras since the eighties. So, when it was time to upgrade from the K-7, the KP was almost a no-brainer. But I spent a couple of weeks researching, because I also use an ancient Canon as a backup and have lenses for both. In the end, I stayed with Pentax.I'm rough on my equipment. I do a lot of water shoots, where I am chest-deep in the lake or climbing beside waterfalls. And the weather-sealing for this is a huge plus. I often adjust settings, focus, etc. with wet hands. Recently, I've been shooting in deep forest with a strong forest canopy, so the low-light was an absolute requirement.The tilt-screen is not fully-articulated, so you can only tilt up or down. It doesn't swivel out, but this isn't a big deal for me. The battery life with the LI109 batteries is horrible. But there are steps you can take to make it better. Turn off a lot of the bells and whistles you don't need. The Pentax battery grip for this model allows you to use LI90 batteries which ha twice as much capacity. So, you -can- shoot with 1x109 and 1x90.There's an immense amount of customization available--including three function-dedicated buttons (I use them to toggle wifi, display level and exposure compensation). There's also four customized presets on the control dial, allowing for real quick change from, say, outdoor shooting on a sunny day to indoor shooting under tungsten lights... Huge headache saver if you don't have to change half a dozen settings every time you move from one circumstance to another.I've had some difficulty moving images from the camera to the PC via USB. I suspect I need to update my PC drivers. But, there's nothing preventing me from removing the SD card and placing that in the PC to be read...Ricoh decided to leave out the RF receiver. This means that you can't fire the shutter with a remote-release. You can still use a wired release plugged into the microphone port (but that's no longer fully weather-sealed). However, the KP also has a wifi hotspot which allows you to remote fire via wifi with a free app (or two) linked via your smart phone. Not just that, you can change settings and review images on your smart phone. But this is wifi. it'll eat your battery right quick.So..PROS:Superior weather-sealingGreat ISO rangeGreat range of customizable settings, functions & pre-setsAssociated battery-grip can carry either D-LI109 or D-LI90 batteriesTilt-screenCONS:Tilt-screen ONLY (not swivel)Issues transferring files via USB cableNO RF Receiver, therefore no dedicated remote shutter release (wifi/smartphone only)D-LI109 battery life is pretty bad.

I was looking for compact Pentax body to replace my Pentax k-30. Since Pentax still don’t have mirrorless systems, this was my choice. And I’m totally satisfied. It’s quite fast and sensor is very sensitive. Plus metal body and compact size, which doing this model very reliable. Wifi support and possibility to use external gps for night stars shots.