Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Pentax KP Silver Body 24.32 Ultra-Compact Weatherproof Dslr Dynamic with 3" LCD, Silver

Top positive review

5 stars after 3 years of use The KP is an APS C star DSLR from Pentax. Best in class :)

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2017

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 640

Update 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 KPI 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

160 people found this helpful

Top critical review

Critical reviews›

Johnqc

May be a great camera, but.........

Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2021

This may be a great camera, but... The heading says this camera is "Weatherproof," in the bullet points it says it is "Weather resistant." There is a big difference between those terms. I have sent notes several times through the "Report incorrect product information" function, but the incorrect term, whichever it is, has not been corrected. I'd be angry if my camera was ruined because it was only weather resistant and not weatherproof. I am giving it a 1 star until the advertisement is fixed one way or the other and then adjust my rating accordingly.

109 total ratings, 62 with reviews

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From the United States

Chris Buhlmann

5 stars after 3 years of use The KP is an APS C star DSLR from Pentax. Best in class :)

Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2017

Color: SilverStyle: CameraVerified Purchase

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 640

Update 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

160 people found this helpful

Helpful

Dr. Terrence McGarty

Great Camera for Outdoor Photos

Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2019

Color: BlackStyle: CameraVerified Purchase

I use these cameras for photographing flowers which I hybridize. My needs are good quality color reproduction, sturdy unit, long lasting battery, ease of manipulation and working across a broad spectrum of light and contrast. I have used Pentax for three decades now and this unit is the best in terms of features and quality.

Overall the simplest mode is fully automatic and it has a great range of light adaptability and the focusing is near perfect. The size of a typical JPEG is about 24MB which is high but since I examine small color differences it has made a word of difference. I have used MACRO and it seems to work well. Even in low light conditions without the flash the color reproducibility is great. I compare color from the RAW with spectrochromatograph results as we try to hybridize extensively.

Overall my experience is well worth the price. This is a unit approaching professional quality.

My only two issues thus-far are:

1. The MACRO cannot change to a single exposure. I have tried multiple way ans still get triple exposures.

2. Balance of the unit is a problem. I use a 18-55 mm lens which is light but the way the camera is aligned the unit always points down and when slogging through plants in the morning I really have to cap the lens to keep moisture off. This is an ergodynamic problem as to where they placed the straps and the center of gravity is much too far forward.

5 people found this helpful

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Oldschool

Puzzling but Well-Made Entry

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2017

Color: BlackStyle: CameraVerified Purchase

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.

47 people found this helpful

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m. hiran

5 axis stabilization, tilting screen, compact size = potent camera

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2018

Color: SilverStyle: CameraVerified Purchase

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.

36 people found this helpful

Helpful

K. Lee

Underappreciated

Reviewed in the United States on December 31, 2017

Color: BlackStyle: CameraVerified Purchase

Reviews are very subjective, and what may be important to some are inconsequential to others, so I will only comment on what makes this camera a five star item to me: fantastic photos; durability; ease of use; fairly priced; nice size. I have used other brand cameras so do have a base of comparison. Pentax is constantly criticized for its AF system, but I find the KP is more than acceptable and very accurate, especially with the newer DC and PLM motorized lenses. I like to take my time when photographing and never do rapid frame shooting, so speed is of no interest to me. No 4K video? I don't care. Poor ergonomics and/or grip? I don't use cameras one-handed so its form factor suits me just fine. Pricey? Have you noticed the prices on new cameras from other brands in the same category? This is not a beginner model. Poor battery life? It may not last as long as older dslrs like my K-5, but it lasts longer than many popular mirrorless cameras. I know, because I have a few of them, too. To be fair, I like my Fuji too, but I like the KP more. I take a lot of indoor photos in very dim light lighting without flash, and of the cameras I own, the KP has the best high ISO quality. I must mention the SR on this camera is a definite advantage over non-stabilized systems. It's too bad that Pentax doesn't get more marketing attention. They make fine cameras, not just electronic gadgets.

71 people found this helpful

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Kimberly Wiley

Excellent camera

Reviewed in the United States on December 12, 2019

Color: BlackStyle: CameraVerified Purchase

First off trying to decide between the KP and Fuji mirrorless after countless reviews on specs, I chose the KP. Pentax is the most underrated camera there is, however you get a top tier photo machine, I Have shot Canon and Nikon full frames but this little marvel comes very close in photo quality, you get IBIS, weather sealing, RAW files that surpass some full frame cameras and ergonomics that are just rite. Video is good however that is not very important to me. I give it 5 stars. Good replacement until mirrorless cameras get much better. But beware only issue I had was I received camera and it looks like it had been opened and someone took battery, so amazon made it rite.

3 people found this helpful

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Chris Protopapas

Amazingly good camera for the price

Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2021

Color: BlackStyle: w/ DA 50mm F1.8Verified Purchase

Got this because I had a bunch of old Pentax lenses. The quality of the sensor is remarkable, noticeably better than the Sony 24MP in the a6000-series cameras, and the in-body image stabilization is awesome, enables me to use a 35-year-old 400m Pentax telephoto as if it were a modern lens (no autofocus of course) and get stellar results. Ergonomics, as in all Pentax cameras, is excellent. Battery life is the only weak point, but it's not terrible. Recommended, especially if you have legacy Pentax K-mount lenses.

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Good camera, not suitable for GPS tagging with O-GPS1 unit

Reviewed in the United States on June 16, 2017

Color: BlackStyle: CameraVerified Purchase

I bought Pentax KP and O-GPS1 as a solution for GPS tagging travel and landscape pictures. There is nothing wrong with KP as a camera - I have owned earlier Pentax models and still own both Canon (mirrorless) and Nikon (DSLR) gear and KP is certainly the best crop sensor camera I have seen. But. It did not work well with the O-GPS1 unit attached, not wanting to detect the unit if the unit was not switched on first, and even when it was, it only detected the unit 85% of the time. This all too frequent malfunction, together with a number of serious usability issues (in daylight, the "searching for GPS lock" symbol in Pentax KP display cannot be seen, and neither is the blue LED in O-GPS1 visible), make using this combo for my primary purpose very annoying. (I also wrote a separate review for O-GPS1, and will limit this review to the details more directly involved with the camera itself). I gave it a fair try, tested it during several days but could not overcome the main problem: This camera does not detect the O-GPS1 unit reliably, and this leads into power-cycling the unit over and over again, until it finally catches it. I am returning this and opting for Pentax K-1 with built in GPS. This issue was clearly a usability issue of O-GPS1, as well as an inter-operability problem between KP and O-GPS1, and I also suspect either this KP or O-GPS1 was faulty - impossible to know which one.

11 people found this helpful

Helpful

J. Eddy

Camera worth more than the selling price.

Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2018

Color: SilverStyle: CameraVerified Purchase

I was on the fence about buying a new camera as I believe good photos are 95% photographer and 5% equipment. But WOW this thing is great! I stepped up from a K20 that I have used for 10 years (completely problem free). While you can take great photos with many cameras this just takes photography to the next level. It feels nice, a little small, wish it were a little wider. It is the most consistent camera I have used. It’s like they literally thought of everything, so much to explore. The viewfinder is bigger and brighter than its predecessors allowing me to finally be successful with my collection on vintage lenses I have been collecting since I was a kid. The colors are great, the resolution is amazing. I feel much better about low light photos than I ever have before. The battery life seems okay, got a few extras, seems like I use 2 over the course of my shooting, especially if I use live view (which is so much more mature than my K20).

Overall I am really happy that I pulled the trigger, it is like going from an old dependable Chevy pickup to a Cadillac. With more bells and whistles than I will ever be able to use!

11 people found this helpful

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William A. Fuller

Too Small, but good

Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2020

Color: BlackStyle: CameraVerified Purchase

Really hard to use without the $200+ battery grip. While 3 grips are included only the largest is even vaguely usable and that left me with a very sore hand after using it for a couple of hours. Bought the battery grip, which is way overpriced, and it became a very nice and usable camera, though the battery grip makes it a bit heavy, clunky and ugly. That being said it performs a lot better than my Pentax K70 which is a pretty decent performer in its own right. The KP makes very nice RAW images (I never bother to shoot JPEGS), focuses quickly and accurately and is loaded with useful features. My only real complaint is the ergonomics which are truly horrible without the battery grip.

2 people found this helpful

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Pentax KP Silver Body 24.32 Ultra-Compact Weatherproof Dslr Dynamic with 3" LCD, Silver

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