Customer Reviews

MD) CL) Q DAKOTA SLR W/35-70

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this camera about three years ago, it was the CHEAPEST camera the Photography shop had that would work for me, and so yes it has some cheapness to it. But's it's still going strong, took it to mesa falls and other less frendly places with no problems, from the camera. My only con is the lens isn't much, I bought a 1a filter on it, but it doesn't zoom the vast distances I wish it would, it has some pretty fas shutter speeds and is amazingly simple to use, has the little sensor on top for flashes, or if like me you use an older flash and it doesn't meet the sensor you can plug it in on the side. Like it says, great beginners camera, or a less professional one, gives many more options and effects that normal point and shoot cameras, is just as easy to use as point and shoot, but none of the complicated features, a nice base too, like I said the lens isn't much, but it's not to cheap of a camera you wont want to spend the money on a better lens later on. Awesome camera to take on trips and vacations. I'm not sure how durable it is, I've taken it to a lot of places in not the nicest traveling conditions, dropped it a couple times, and it's still like it came in the box, didn't even scratch it. Has a nice gloss, with matte finish, nice weight.

Great beginners camera, as this was my first film SLR. It's all manual so you have complete freedom of learning the basics. The only draw back of this camera is it's lense is less than good. Luckily it takes a Pentax k mount lense and are incredibly cheap to buy. I found a standard pentax 50 mm and a roukanar X2 multiplier at a flee market for [..]. I also bought a 75 to 200 mm osawa lense, from this site jimscamerasseattle.com, for only [..]. This camera is easy to shoot and it won't cost you to get great shots.

I have an old school Pentax K1000 to compare this against (I also have the latest digital, but I learned on a K1000). Right off the bat impression was that yes it's plastic and cheap... but not as cheap as I thought it would be. It feels solidly constructed, and I must admit it has SEVERAL advantages over my K1000. First, it's a LOT easier to focus. The prism in the K1000 isn't the best, it's very difficult to determine if you're focused or not. In comparison, this camera focuses with ease. The viewfinder is MUCH brighter as well. The metering is considerably easier to read and dare I say, more accurate than the Pentax's needle needle. It has some very nice options to - a safety that won't allow the shutter to be pressed, and a mirror lock-up (which also doubles as a self-timer) are great options that the K1000 simply doesn't have. The lens that it comes with may not be the sharpest, but it's not completely terrible. For one, it's VERY easy to focus, and at f3.5 it's pretty darn fast for a zoom lens. The zoom range is quite useful, and did I mention it's easy to focus?

If you want to take some really nice photos, snag a Pentax-M f1.7 50mm lens off of eBay for $50 and you'll be rocking some pretty sweet photos. Don't let naysayers dissuade you, for a beginner this is the perfect camera. It's much more user friendly than the K1000, it's about a third the weight, and did I mention it's really easy to focus? Seriously, if you're a beginner, get this camera, it's worth it.