Digital Camera Winners
Pentax Joins the Digital Camera Heavyweights at the TIPA Awards
The choice just got harder for digital camera buyers with Pentax's new K10D earning recognition at the 2007 TIPA awards, styled as the Oscars of the photography industry.
The European based Technical Imaging Press Association (TIPA) represents a number of photography and imaging magazines so their awards represent a wide cross-section of imaging writers and professionals. With this sort of recognition the common camera buyer’s debate of Nikon versus Canon should now include Pentax.
This award went to Nikon for their new D40x. As with all the winners, it features a 10 megapixel sensor. TIPA commented that the image quality is superb and the camera has a fast shutter response. These are key concerns of photographers moving from compact digital cameras that all seem to suffer from the dreaded digital delay. They also praised the D40x for its lightweight and compact construction. It seems a strange place for Nikon as the company built reputation as the professional’s choice for 35mm film SLR cameras. Now in the digital age, they are suppliers of more affordable cameras as well as their professional models.
The choice of the outsider brand, Pentax, may seem a surprise considering the company’s recent decline in the SLR world. They had the legendary entry level SLR in the 1970’s with the K1000 model and their later professional standard LX is still highly regarded.
Pentax seemed to have got lost in the battle for supremacy in the professional market between Nikon and Canon. There is an aura of quality associated with all the cameras in range when top professional photographers use that brand.
The Pentax marketing departments choice of an unpronounceable name for their entry into the DSLR market *istD suggested they had lost touch with the real world. However, they started their resurgence with a new K100D. This name resonates with older photographers, and their children, linking back to the K1000 SLR. A camera that introduced many people all over world to the SLR, either as photographers or subjects.
Now with a proper name that continues the association with a photographic legend, the TIPA award suggests the K10D has performance to go with the name. TIPA mentioned the extensive dust sealing, handy for any outdoor shooting, image stabilization built into the camera body not the lens and a self-cleaning senor.
This is how they summed up the K10D, “this D-SLR represents a genuine, high quality alternative to some more expensive professional camera bodies.”
This is the big one and the Canon EOS-1D Mark III absolutely drips with features and capabilities. Canon has stolen top spot as the professional’s camera and one of the factors is they were at the forefront of professional quality lenses with image stabilization systems.
To back up the lenses the bodies must perform. A weather sealed body, and sensor cleaning system are some of the features that suggest this camera can withstand the rigours of professional use under a wide range of conditions. A very impressive 10 frames per second shooting rate allows for plenty of coverage of any sequence of events. As expected at this level there is plenty of scope for the photographer to customize camera settings for fast automatic shooting, but still with control. The verdict from TIPA is “the Canon EOS-1D Mark III [is] the ideal tool for professional sport, action and wildlife photography”.
The real winners are the photographers who now have a wider range of very capable camera brands with models to suit their needs and budgets.
