4 to 4.9 Megapixels - Digital Cameras and accessories

• Disturbing picture noise is reduced to a minimum
• The PENTAX Dynamic Range Enlargement (DRE) provides an expanded contrast range of the photos
• PENTAX Shake Reduction: the special advantage is that it is integrated into the camera body so it is always available and usable with any lens
• Along with the pentaprism finder the K20D offers Live View, permitting perfect picture control directly on the wide angle (160° viewing angle) monitor. This permits easy composition from difficult camera angles
• Reliable system against dust on the sensor:

Best consumer DSLR around, 2010-07-16
Let me open this review with a simple statement: the Pentax K20D is one of the best consumer digital SLRs by any manufacturer.

The 'headline feature' is the weather sealing - competing products such as the Canon EOS 450D must be covered with a plastic bag if (or, in the west of Scotland, _when_) it rains. The K20D, on the other hand, laughs in the face of inclement weather - though the sealing is not 100% complete without a weather sealed DA* lens. The build quality - for which Pentax have a well-deserved reputation - is incredible. The camera is built like a tank, and the weather-sealing process no doubt contributes to this (since tighter tolerances are required).

If the camera has a weakness, it is perhaps the autofocus system. It is not the quickest (especially if it has to hunt), and indoors it can front-focus if given the opportunity. As a landscape photographer (with occasional forays indoors) this does not hinder me, but if you are a bird or sports photographer it might well do.

The inbuilt shake reduction is very useful indeed. There are perennial arguments between fans of the various DSLR brands as to whether in-lens stabilisation (Canon, Nikon) is superior to in-camera stabilisation (Pentax, Sony). I will leave those arguments to forum trolls, but the K20D's SR is certainly sufficient for my needs. It enables shots at shutter speeds which have no right to produce a coherent image. It has the added attraction of working with any lens you fit to the camera, whether one of the new DA 'pancake' lenses or a legendary Takumar from the 1970s. Other manufacturers will happily sell you a £1000 lens which has no stabilisation whatsoever.

This brings me on to what is arguably the most important consideration when choosing a DSLR: the camera system. When you buy a Digital SLR body, you are in truth not just buying that camera but are also buying into the manufacturer's system. If you buy a Pentax DSLR for example, you cannot buy a Sony DSLR next time without having to replace all of your lenses and accessories. You therefore need to be sure when you buy a DSLR that the camera system is right for you not just now, but in five and ten years' time too. Pentax does not have the widest range of lenses (nothing 'longer' than 300mm), nor does it offer much in the way of a budget range (it does not have the 'cheap and cheerful' primes of Canon's 35mm f2/50mm f1.8 and Nikon's 35mm f1.8/50mm f1.8). However the lenses it does have are in many cases peerless. There are the professional-grade DA* lenses, which are fully weather sealed and offer great image quality, but the real reason to buy into a Pentax system is its 'Limited' series of prime lenses. Search for "DA 35 optical paragon" to see what I mean!

To summarise, like any camera this has strengths and weaknesses. The latter are not grave enough to prevent the K20D getting five stars: it may not be suitable for fast-action sports or wildlife photography, but then it wasn't intended to be. Pentax designed this to be a real "photographer's camera": the menus are logical and well-designed, and the camera is not remotely fazed by the situations in which the average photographer might find himself. Definitely one of the greats.

This camera is almost uniquely good at some things. It is also small and robust enough to carry around with you most of the time (I often have mine in a pouch on my belt) which is a great way to come across picture opportunities.

It is great for taking ultra-close-ups. You get into a tiny world you hardly knew existed. Look into a flower and there's a curious insect gorging itself on the pollen. Here's a ladybird on the back of a blade of grass. And so on.

It's great for taking casual pictures of people, perhaps as you sit round a table in a pub garden. Because you can compose the picture looking down on the LCD people soon forget what you're doing. The *2 converter lens is very helpful here, used at wide angle.

I've found the camera excellent for sunsets (the automatic colour setting seems to cope well) and I've produced succesful ultra-wide panoramas.

The split body is useful in all sorts of ways. You can easily look up into a drooping flower head (the excellent though expensive LCD shade is very useful if the sun is bright). You can hold the camera over a map and take a picture of the bit you want. You can take a picture of that spot on your neck to see if it's getting smaller.

Because of the lens construction Nikon have been able to make truly excellent and very powerful lens converters. These have huge front elements and relatively high effective apertures. I have the 24mm equivalent wide angle (great in cathedrals) and the times 2 and times 3 telephotos (I find the times 2 most often useful, but the times 3 fills the frame with that alert heron that won't let you close). So in 35mm language I have a lens range approximately from 24mm to 465mm.

Be aware of the limitations. The main one is that the time from shutter press to picture take can be very long- this is not a camera for action pictures. Also sometimes in bright sun it's hard to see the LCD screen (although it is anti-reflective and bright)- get a shade.

This is a camera made to be much more expensive than it currently is- just handle the magnesium alloy split body. It's currently on the way out. But if it's capabilities match what you most want to photograph, you'll have a camera that is uniquely capable.

I make no bones about the fact I am a picky consumer and soon lose interest if a product doesn't perform well. The Canon S40 delights with its results. The pictures are sharp and accurate in their colour rendition both indoors and outdoors and the downloads to my PC couldn't be simpler. Movie mode is not particularly inspiring but then it isn't a camcorder. Battery life seems good too, I took around 150 shots with the LCD monitor on and the battery still seemed okay. The menu displays and ergonomics are generally effective although the zoom control takes a bit of getting used to as does the uni-directional selector button which is similar to that found on a GameBoy.

The supplied 16Mb CF card is mean and shame on Canon for this, but other manufacturers seem to do the same. The supplied software though is excellent and I won't be buying a stand alone editing package such as Photoshop for a while.

I researched this purchase carefully (and yes, the camera press seem to adore the S40 too). Although the S40 is not cheap to me it represents the "Mercedes-Benz" of compact digital cameras - it delights the user in its' performance, ergonomics and construction.

A word of advice is when you buy any digital camera buy a case at the same time. The LCD monitors on the back of most cameras are quite vulnerable to scratching if you hang the camera around your neck etc. You can also buy a clear protective film to cover the LCD panel in Jessops.

If you are willing to pay the slight price premium my advice is buy the S40 and you won't be disappointed, it reeks of quality. However, if you aren't going to produce large prints think about the 3.2MP Canon Powershot S30 which is almost identical (save the lower resolution CCD)and a bit cheaper. In summary, the Canon S40 is unreservedly recommended!