This review seems...very well-written for a user.  I don't doubt much
of what is said, but....

Excellent offering from Pentax
Strengths: A lot of features and excellent image quality and build.
Weaknesses: Requires good lenses to get the best out of - since a 10MP
sensor will easily show flaws in average/bad lenses.
Summary: The K10D was a highly anticipated camera ever since it was
announced in September of 2006. Now that it is out and I have been
using one for about a week I can easily recommend this dSLR to anyone
interested in a verstatile, well-built and extremely functional dSLR.
It was most definetely worth the wait and for a price tag that is very
reasonable for everything that this camera offers, it is one of the
best buys for a sub semi-pro body. The camera is in a class above the
Nikon D80 and Canon Xti yet the cost is a little more than the Xti and
in-line with the D80. A remarkable achievement by Pentax considering
the K10D pretty much skimps on nothing.

It has the superb ergonomics and handling, a big and bright pentaprism
viewfinder, excellent layout of controls and buttons, highly
customizable features and lots of external controls for quick access to
settings such as Metering, Focus points etc. It is also constructed
extremely well and feels perfectly balanced in the hand. The grip is
also superb and the camera just generally feels like it was designed
with the photographer in mind. Also lastly throw in the weather and
dust resistant body and you know you have a superbly built camera in
your hands. No other camera in the market even comes close to offering
such a feature in a camera under $1500.

The image quality is excellent - the Pentax metering system is very
reliable and the camera produces beautifully rendered images with great
detail, contrast and tone. The High ISO performance is in-line with the
other 10MP contenders such as the D80 and the Xti with the camera
offering low-noise levels but also superb tones and sharpness even at
high ISO's. The same cannot be said for some other 10MP dSLR's which
shall remain unnamed. The camera also offers two RAW formats including
the Adobe DNG format. Add in the built-in CCD shift stabilization
system entitled Shake Reduction (SR) by Pentax and you have a serious
low-light machine. The CCD shift mechanism also provides the feature of
Dust Removal to shake off those pesky dust spots that may get stuck on
the camera when changing lenses. It also accepts the new SDHC format SD
cards and can do continous shooting at 3 fps up to 9 RAW images or
until the memory card is full when shooting Jpeg's so long as you have
a fast enough SD card.

This camera promised a lot when it was introduced by Pentax in
September and I can confidently say that it has indeed met and exceeded
all my expectations. There are so many nice touches that they cannot
all be mentioned in a review but I am finding smart and useful touches
even still. Some other superb usability features are two new modes such
as the Sensitivity priority (Sv) and Shutter & Aperture Priority mode
(TAv). The Hyper Program mode (P) works very well and with just a touch
of the two controls wheels the camera can instantly be swithced into Av
or Tv modes. Another great feature is the digital preview image. This
lets you take an image and displays it on the big and bright 2.5" LCD
monitor and make adjustments. For example, you can turn the blinking
highlight/shadow indicators on/off to see if any highlights are blown
or if exposure needs to be corrected or you can go into the WB settings
and change the WB settings and see the changing results in effect on
the preview image that is stored in the cameras buffer (but not saved -
so it doesnt take up space in your memory card). The camera is
literally filled with smart touches such as this.

The K10D is an absolute joy to use and couple it with the reputable
Pentax lenses and you have yourself a camera that delivers in every
aspect - it is also the first Pentax body to accept the upcoming DA*
line of pro-quality lenses that are also weather and dust sealed and
feature ultrasonic motors for fast and quiet focusing. If youre looking
for a dSLR that offers a ton of functionaly and build quality along
with superb image quality - look no further than the K10D - anyone who
is new to the dSLR world who may be thinking of getting an Xti, A100 or
D80 now has a camera that is significantly more full-featured and
well-constructed than any of the other current 10MP cameras in the
under $1000 price level - throw in the built in stabilization which
works on any lens you can stick on the camera and it offers superb
value for money. This feature alone will save hundreds of dollars of
premium many users will have to pay for to get stabilized lenses for
their Canon or Nikon cameras. For anyone thinking about switching
systems from their current one the K10D opens a whole new world and
contends some serious thought in favor of the Pentax brand. For current
Pentax users the K10D is the next natural step in the upgrade path and
is the easy choice when looking for a dSLR body that is in the semi-pro
class and above the current 10MP entry-level dSLR's. The bar has just
been raised.