Gail's Digital Photography Blogs

Gail's Pentax K20D DSLR Blog

Technical editor Bernard Dery shares what he dislikes about the Pentax K20D DSLR, which isn't much.

The user must access a menu in order to change the flash mode. There is an external flash button, but it simply lifts up the flash. Once the flash is raised, this button could easily be used to cycle between the various flash modes.
The camera has a depth of field preview function like many other DSLRs, but the button used for this is also the button used to access Live View, so you have to select which feature will be associated with this button. Two separate buttons would have been better.
The back LCD smears easily when I press my nose to it while taking pictures. It doesn’t show when the LCD is in use actually, but it does show when the LCD is dark. It cleans easily, though.
You cannot change exposure settings while using Live View. That means Live View is essentially useful for manual focus and composition at awkward angles (that’s what most users want it to do so it’s not horrible, but it’s not as good as it could be).
If the main LCD is lit, changing an exposure setting immediately blanks it. In some situations, it would be useful to use the main LCD instead of the top LCD to change image settings.
Even though the menus are well structured, the “OK” button is used inconsistently. Sometimes you need to use arrows, sometimes OK, and even though the camera displays which buttons should be used, most users will naturally try to use OK to confirm selections.

The K20D blog entries were contributed by Digicamhelp technical editor Bernard Dery.