Sony A100 or Pentax K100D

[SkateArtDylan]

Im looking to buy a camera, a big use will be for skateboarding pictures. Im looking into a fisheye also so that affects which camera. Any help as to which one is best for me would be very helpful thank you.

-I found a Sony Alpha A100 Digital SLR Camera at about $600 , it comes with a 1-Year Subscription to PCPhoto Magazine, microfiber cleaning cloth, 30 Free High Quality Prints and Enlargements, and the normal bundle in the box.

- I found a Pentax K100D Digital SLR at about $530 with $50 mail in rebate, it comes with Pentax 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Wide AL Lens, Pro Wide-Angle lens, 2gb memory card, usb card reader, tripod and the normal bundle that comes in the box.


Im not sure which way to go any coments would help greatly.

[robbobo]

I would pick the Pentax K100d. I had the *ist DS and liked it. I like the ability to take pictures in really low light and the K100d seems to be a little better than the Sony at that. Of course, it has 6 megapixel images, while the Sony has 10 megapixel images.

I may be wrong but I think there may be a wider range of lenses available for the Pentax than for the Sony which can use lenses from it "older brothers", the Konica Minolta DSLR's.

The question I have is this: where are you buying these cameras? I strongly advise you to check out etailers' ratings before buying anything from them. The prices you quote seem within reason, but ... check it out.

Personally, I would get the Pentax for less than $470 from several reputable etailers by checking on Pricegrabber. Then I would get the rest of the stuff from Newegg or a similar place. You can also get "accessory packages" very cheap on Ebay.

[griptape]

It's true the Sony isn't as good a performer at high ISO's, but with the extra 4mp over the Pentax you pretty much make up for it. One plus for the A100 is there are wireless flash setups available for it. Off camera flash is a skate photographer's best friend. I'm not sure if the Pentax has that or not without use of a slave flash. You might also take the price of future lens purchases into account to help you decide.

[SkateArtDylan]

I found them on ebay

[SpecialK]

K100D w 18-55 lens is about $419 after rebate at several popular sellers. The 10-17mm fisheye is about $329 after rebate.

[timmciglobal]

You can pickup K100D and 16-45 F4 lens for 800 and then a 150 Mail in rebate, 650 for that combo is pretty amazing.

The downsides of course are the crappy buffer (3 frames raw 4 jpeg) but for the price it's amazing.

Tim

[SkateArtDylan]

Thanks guys for all the help i decided to go with the k100d!

I cant wait to start photography!

Wish me luck

[SpecialK]

Good luck :-)