On 2022-02-10, I acquired a Pentax K200D digital single-lens reflex camera (10.2 megapixels, made in 2008). The camera is the “last” model using a CCD sensor (as compared to CMOS), which yields a different color rendering. It uses standard AA cells and SD cards, so no proprietary accessories are needed. For its Pentax K mount, there are many lenses available.
It cost me 45€(!), found via eBay Kleinanzeigen.
Shutter count was 15473. The camera is in very good condition, only flaw seems to be that the flash doesn’t stay down unless you manually pinch its notch a bit, no big deal.
I updated the firmware to 1.01, which works better with modern SD cards I heard.
Lenses
In addition to the included SMC Pentax-DA 18-55mm AL II f/3.5–5.6 kit lens, I acquired some other lenses:
| Lens | Price | Shipping | Where from |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMC Pentax-M 50mm f/1.7 | 30.50€ | 6.00€ | eBay |
| SMC Pentax-DA 35mm AL f/2.4 | 70.00€ | 4.99€ | eBay |
| SMC Pentax-M 135mm f/3.5 | 17.50€ | 7.50€ | eBay |
Accessories
| Lens | Price | Where from |
|---|---|---|
| SanDisk Ultra SD Class 10 UHS-I V10 (32 GB) | 6.23€ | Amazon |
| Panasonic battery charger BQ-CC55 | 23.56€ | Amazon |
| Amazon Basics AA Rechargable (4 Pack) | 5.76€ | Amazon |
Issues and tricks
- Slight manual AF adjustment may be needed for some lenses, but requires using the debug mode.
- The camera can save two RAW formats: PEF and DNG. Only the PEF files use lossless JPEG LJ92 compression (~11 MB), but darktable 3.8 can’t open them. DNG files are uncompressed (~17 MB).