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Pentax K-x 12.4 MP Digital SLR with 2.7-inch LCD and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL Lens (White)
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 (13 Reviews)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews:
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 Bought this for my ex girlfriend, March 05, 2014
By Joe Kalhor
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Too bad she rarely used the thing. Why does every girl think they're a photographer?
That being said, at the time I purchased it this was a very good camera, I'm sure it would be able to hold its own today but the one thing is that it only filmed in 720.
The variety of colors you can choose from is cool though.
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Cool, simple, and fun DSLR, December 30, 2013
By Nomaha
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I love this camera.
I'm an artist, and was looking for a sturdy, budget DSLR to shoot images of my artwork, and video for promotion, and my Pentax delivers.
Pictures I've taken with it have required minimal editing, if any.
I'm satisfied with the video quality, especially for the price. Viewing youtube videos shot by the Pentax K-X sold me on it. My only complaint is with the audio quality, but it's a problem easily fixed with something external.
I've enjoyed it for shooting regular pictures as well. The built in filters are a fun little added feature. I recently printed up a batch of photos taken with the retro filters, and they turned out beautiful.
If you're on a budget, and are looking for a fun DSLR that does everything well, I highly suggest this camera.
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 Pentax Kx, good/great budget entry level DSLR, July 14, 2012
By John A. Rench (Frankfurt, Germany)
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Pentax Kx
There's tons of reviews out there but I want to add my two cents now that I have had my Pentax Kx for 9 months of relatively heavy use. I want to thank Kx User and Pentax Forums for sharing their lovely websites, knowledge and guidance. My criterion were low cost/high value and AA batts. I found a slightly used Kx ($350, white body+ 18-55mm lens/1600shots on it at the time). At first, without in-depth reading I experienced much frustration with the initial learning curve. Some of that frustration could have been avoided had I read any book covering the basics of photography exposure. Again the Pentax forums website and member community was incredibly helpful.
Pros:
high value/budget entry DSLR
good to great IQ (most reviews reflect this)
full manual function
AA batteries Lithiums are ideal(Sanyo Eneloops rock) but any AAs work
retro usability of any Pentax K lens (research on most lenses is available at Stans Pentax Photography)
Cons:
Video shooting has no AF!!
No visual point of AF (audio beep only)
Interface/buttons layout is so-so, seems like it could be better
2 of 2 people found the above review helpful.
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A little quirky...but I like it., November 21, 2010
By MartianBabee
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This is a fun camera that looks awesome and takes great pictures with the kit lens -- particularly macro shots. It has its quirks though.
The camera should not even have Live View on it, because it barely functions and is beyond frustrating. You can make some adjustments so that it functions better, but, really, it is a disappointing feature.
I don't know if this is a common problem, but the scroll wheel does not work well -- at least on my camera. You can use it, but when trying to zoom, it'll zoom in a bit, then out, then in a bit more, then out. Not a huge deal, but a little annoying.
Other than those two things, I'm good with this camera, and I'm glad I purchased it.
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The Pentax K-x is a giant killer!, May 29, 2010
By Edgar_in_Indy (Indianapolis, IN USA)
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I recently upgraded from my beloved Olympus e-510 DSLR with the 14-42mm and 40-150mm kits lenses in order to get a DSLR with better low-light performance and HD video capabilities. I loved my Olympus, but image quality took a nose-dive at ISO 800, and I liked the idea of having an HD camcorder built into my camera to capture high quality family photos and home videos in one device. I eventually settled on the Pentax K-x after first buying, and then returning, a Canon T2i.
I know that the T2i costs almost twice as much as the K-x, and they're not direct competitors, but I think my experience illustrates what a great camera and bargain the K-x is and how, for me at least, it was a giant killer.
I initially pre-ordered a T2i for the $900 MSRP after reading the glowing reviews in the press about the 18MP sensor, the high-ISO performance and the killer 1080p video. When I received the T2i, I was surprised by how cheap and plasticky it felt. It's not that the T2i was likely to fall apart, but my Olympus felt and looked like a higher quality camera, even though it was about $200 less than the T2i when I bought it. I realize that the T2i is a Rebel, but for almost $1000, I expected something more solid.
Even worse was the Canon 18-55mm kit lens, which felt like a toy compared to my Olympus kit lenses. It looked cheap, and the zoom action felt very cheap, and you could hear plastic-on-plastic as you zoomed in and out. There was no lens hood included, and the optional lens hood was only about an inch deep and looked ridiculous. The front element rotated when auto-focusing, which makes using some filters problematic, and you had to switch off AF to manually make focus adjustments. My Olympus lenses did not rotate the front element, and allowed full time focus override without turning off AF. And build-wise, they looked and felt like a higher end lens. But worst of all, Canon kits lens's optical performance was lacking, rendering the 18MP sensor moot.
I could live with the cheap feel of the T2i body and the ugly jelly-bean design, but I came to realize that in order to get a lens that would match the performance of the body, I would need to shell out another $500 or more, and as a hobbyist I just didn't have the budget.
The real deal-breaker with the T2i though, was the use of Quicktime format for the HD video. Quicktime is a proprietary Apple video format, and while I must assume it works well on a new Mac, the QT videos often gave PCs problems. I'd read about this from other users, but I figured that with my high-end PCs and my computer knowledge, I would be okay. But both my new Sony Vaio laptop with Windows 7, ATI 4650 graphics and 4GB of RAM and my desktop computer with Windows XP, dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM, Raptor 10K HDD and nVidia 8800GT graphics would stutter on playback of the 1080p files. And finding affordable programs to edit Quicktime HD video files is another headache. I wasn't about to buy a new Mac just to be able to work with the video from my new camera.
So back went the T2i, and my quest for a new camera continued. I was just about to pull the trigger on a Nikon D5000, when I came across the Pentax K-x.
The first thing that grabbed my attention was the styling. I thought the camera looked dead-sexy in navy blue, but when I saw the white version, I was in love. One thing I liked about my Olympus was that it was something DIFFERENT than all the Nikons and Canon Rebels you see every other parent carrying to school or sports functions. I would often get questions about it from people who didn't realize that Olympus even MADE DSLRs. With this Pentax, I would again have something out of the ordinary.
Then I started reading reviews of the K-x. One of the great things about the T2i is the high ISO image quality, and according to the reviews and the sample images I was looking at, the K-x was right there with it.
And the K-x also did HD video. There were some limitations, such as 720p and lack of full control over exposure while shooting video, but I didn't really mind since the samples I downloaded looked great, even on my 110" 1080P home theater projector. And 720p files take less space than 1080p and require less processing power to playback and edit. And best of all, the K-x uses Motion JPEG video format, which plays back great on PCs and is compatible with almost any Windows video editing program. The MJPEG format does use more disk space than the equivalent QT file, but hard drives and SD cards are cheap these days, so it's not a big deal.
Another great thing about the K-x is that it has sensor-based image stabilization in the body, so any lens you stick on the camera is stabilized. My Olympus used a similar system, and I was very happy with it. The big advantage is that you can be non-stabilized lenses so they'll be smaller, lighter, and less expensive.
I ended up buying the K-x in white with the 18-55mm lens. The K-x looks and feels like a higher quality camera than the T2i, and matches my Olympus in this department. The kit lens is also a very worthy piece of hardware.
With the money I saved on the Pentax, I was able to buy the legendary Tamron 28-75mm F2.8 lens, a Pentax 55-300mm zoom lens, and a Sigma speedlight. The flash was new, but I got great deals on the slighty-used lenses on eBay and Craigslist.
I've been using the Pentax for a couple months now, and have taken hundreds of pictures. I am absolutely thrilled with the camera and couldn't be happier with the photos and videos I'm getting. The T2i did have just slightly more detail, but other than that I would say the K-x has equal image quality. And the 12MP RAW image files of the K-x are faster to work with than the 18MP files of the T2i and take up much less space on SD cards, so you don't have to worry about filling up nearly as fast.
That's not too much negative I can say about the camera. I would like it to have a mini-HDMI port and a standard mini-USB port, and continuous auto-focus would be nice in video mode, but no other DSLR has that yet. Stereo mics would also be nice.
I suspect that the image stabilization system may not be as good as the one in my Olympus, but I can't say for sure since my 300mm is longer than the telephoto I had with the Olympus and will therefore be more prone to shake.
I get compliments on the Pentax everywhere I go, and it's been a joy to use and own. I could not be happier with my purchase.
In the future I'll probably add a Sigma 30mm F1.4 prime and a Sigma 10-20mm ultra-wide zoom to my lens kit.
Just for the record, I'm not trying to bash on the T2i. It is an amazing camera that is currently without peer in its price range. But if you're like me and you only have about $1000 to spend, I think you will get much more value by going with a less-expensive but almost-as-capable camera like the K-x, and using the extra money on high quality lenses. My F2.8 constant-aperture lens has been a revolution for me, and I recommend every budding photographer make room in their budget for something similar.
16 of 17 people found the above review helpful.
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 Great photos, looks great, has limitations, May 26, 2010
By Photostudent (Raleigh NC USA)
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Received item promply from Adorama. Fit and finish were beyond my expectations for the price of this camera. It has by far the most features of any camera in it's class, including HD video. It is compact but solid, actually a bit heavier than expected. 300 page manual, in small print, makes for a bit of a steep learning curve but Auto Pict mode can get you taking great photos right away. I would prefer more knobs rather than nested menus. As typical,LCD screen can be hard to see in bright light. I had to get into the shade at a sporting event to change focus mode. Manual also notes that leaving the Live View on for longer periods can cause over heating of camera. This suprises me as I have had many Digital cameras in over last ten years, none ever had an issue with over heating. Image quality is just outstanding. The low light capabilities of the KX are almost unbeleivable. Hand held shots, without flash, in normal room light came out beautifully. The days of red eyed, harsh shadowed pictures may be over! This camera can use all K-mount lenses. However slow focusing in lower light situations is a documented issue with Pentax's current auto focus system. Sadly my fun came to an end about three weeks purchase when the the CMOS sensor failed and all went to black. It has been returned to Pentax for repair but I am hoping this not a sign of quality issues. The quick failure of my camera is the main reason for only giving three stars.
12 of 14 people found the above review helpful.
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