Samsung GX-10 10.2MP Digital SLR Camera with 18-55mm Schneider D-XENON Lens

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Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 4 x 2.7 inches ; 1.7 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000IWXTY4
• Item model number: GX-10
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #8,540 in Camera & Photo (See Bestsellers in Camera & Photo)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: June 17, 2003

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The GX-10 is a new 10.2-megapixel DSLR designed for advanced amateur and professional photographers. The third model in Samsung's rapidly growing DSLR range, the GX-10 offers a number of new and unique features that will allow users to capture images of uncompromising quality in any environment or setting. With features including Optical Picture Stabilization (OPS), a Penta Prism viewfinder that provides a wide field of view of 95 percent, and a revolutionary new dust-resistant CCD sensor, the GX-10 is sure to build on the success of Samsung's first two DSLR products, introduced earlier this year.

The GX-10 can be used with the all Pentax KAF2, KAF, and KA mount lenses.

Among the technologies employed to help GX-10 users get their best shots is a mechanical OPS stabilization feature that minimizes blur in situations where the camera is unstable or in low-light conditions. Because it resides in the camera body, as opposed to the lens, the OPS feature works with a wide range of lenses, including the Schneider D-XENON lenses to be sold with the body in kits and the full range of Pentax, KAF2, KAF, and KA mount lenses. This kit version of the GX-10 comes with the Schneider D-Xenon 18-55mm lens. (The GX-10 can be used with the all Pentax KAF2, KAF, and KA mount lenses.)

A sealed, weatherproof body protects the GX-10 from water, sand, and other elements.

Another of the GX-10's unique features is its intuitive dust-free CCD imaging sensor. To ensure that dust will never pose a problem, Samsung has incorporated an advanced dust-removal system that automatically vibrates the CCD sensor when the GX-10 is powered on. In addition, the GX-10's CCD sensor also features a special dust-resistant coating, further eliminating the possibility of unwanted specs or blemishes ruining an otherwise perfect picture. As if that weren't enough, the GX-10 boasts a specially designed body that was made to stand up to the elements. Every button, gap, and other potentially vulnerable area on the camera's body has been fortified with special seals and silicone to protect against damage from water, sand, and a host of other elements.

Another attractive feature for advanced photographers is the GX-10's superb RAW image format support. The exclusive one-touch RAW shooting button enables users to quickly capture images in RAW format, which can then be quickly be viewed on the 2.5-inch, 210,000-pixel LCD screen and easily converted to jpeg format right on the camera, if the shooter so desires. The GX-10's intuitive and easy to use interface makes even the most advanced tasks such as this easy to accomplish for just about anyone. Its continuous shooting mode is capable of capturing three images per second. Depending on available memory, shooters can capture an unlimited number of jpeg images in continuous shooting mode, and up to nine images in RAW format.

The GX-10 also features an 11-point, wide-area autofocus system, with a choice of AF-single or AF-continuous, providing accurate auto focusing in a variety of shooting conditions. It incorporates a high-precision, three-mode metering system including, 16-segment multi-pattern metering, center-weighted metering and spot metering. With multiple scene modes, an ergonomic design and a "My Set Dial" function that allows users to store their favorite settings in the camera, the GX-10 is highly sophisticated without being intimidating.

Product Description

The GX-10 boasts a 10.2 mega-pixel image sensor, which offers the photographer a sharper image, with richer colors for a truly compelling composition. Taking photos is easier with the PentaPrism viewfinder with its high magnification (0.95x) to provide a clearer, wider field of view (95%) for optimum shooting. For unrivaled viewing of photos the GX-10 also comes complete with a wide view 2.5" TFT LCD (210k pixels). With its powerful built-in Optical Picture Stabilization (OPS) technology, the GX-10 prevents blurred pictures by shifting the CCD to counter any movement of the camera's body. In addition, when a manual lens is used in ordinary digital SLR cameras, the camera's shake prevention mechanism does not function properly since the camera does not have the lens information. In the GX-10, however, the manual lens information can be input so that film cameras' manual lenses can also be used with the GX-10.The advanced design features of the GX-10 ensure it is robust enough for taking quality pictures in even wet, sandy or dusty conditions as the camera comes equipped with a special water-resistant and anti-dust sealing. The advanced dust removal function included in the GX-10 also removes potentially problematic dust from the CCD by vibrating it automatically when the camera is booted, resulting in perfect blemish-free pictures with minimum effort on the part of the photographer. A further dust barrier is provided by the special coating on the CCD's protective window.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great camera, Essentially a pentax K10!!, August 23, 2007

By	Mr. Tandy J. Howard - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This camera has really impressed me. I have owned a variety of DSLR's and have found this one to be the best. The tonal gradations achieved by this Sensor's 22 A/D conversion are stunning, this allows the camera to produce images that mimick Film. The lenses available include the whole Pentax line,( even though they say Samsung....they are rebadged Pentax!!), I love the Kit lens, 18-55 as well as the 50-200. Utilizing this excellent glass allows me to capture the Sharpest, most natural looking images, I have ever made from digital. As a bonus, like the Pentax K10, this camera has the optical stabilizer as well as the weather sealed body. Please note, I have owned a Nikon D2X and find the images from this camera superior in every way. Great job Pentax/Samsung!!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning camera and very affordable, December 26, 2007

By	W. HOU - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a heck of a camera for the price paid (I hate to say it but even at the current price it's a steal). To start off, you can use all the pentax AF lenses made virtually in the past 50 years and don't need adapters. You can use 95% of the MF ones without adapters as well. And these are VERY high quality lenses. You get them really cheap. For example, you can get a stunning high quality 70-210mm AF (autofocus) lens made by pentax (takumar) for less than $70. The slightly better one (pentax-F version) 70-210mm can be had for about $150. It has silky smooth background or bokeh (9 blades) and sharper than a lot of the prime (fixed focus) lenses, boosting 3.4 MTF rating (normalized to 5). If you use this camera body along with a Tamron 28-75/2.8 XR DI for pentax mount, you have a higher quality hardware set than Nikon or Canon even with their best glasses, for about 1/5 the cost, for indoor/wedding photography. Of course, this assumes you have the know-how and shooting in RAW, to be fair (no pro would shoot in JPG doing wedding portraits in their right minds). I am no pro and this camera is more than enough for all my needs, by the way. My 3rd most favored lens would be my pentax-f 50mm/1.7 AF. I wished I have access to the same 1.4 version that rumored to be slightly better (I do have current AF pentax FA 50mm/1.4 but prefer the old 1.7).

Of course, you know the rest about this camera, in body shake reduction, weather seal etc. The only down side of this, is the slow AF under low light. But for me, this is not that big of a problem. (I use MF to take photos of my kids running around me)

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GX-10 Samsung, terrific DSLR value, March 9, 2008

By	George E. Robertson (Seattle, WA, USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a great camera. I've been a photographer for over 40 years. I'm taking better pictures than ever before since getting it about a month ago. I have only scratched the surface of the creative control it offers. It is big and heavy enough and has a really solid feeling build.

Battery life is great it took me more than couple of weeks to shoot enough images to need to replace the battery with a fresh one. I instinctively bought three batteries. I like keeping spares on hand for any camera. If you're budget conscious you might consider recharging between shoots with only one battery pack and just keeping the thing topped up. It has plenty of capacity. I found I can remove and replace the SD chip or the battery even without removing the quick mounting plate for my tripod from the bottom of the GX10 body.

At the time of purchase, the fact that this camera is such a great value for money made me worry about quality. That worry was misplaced. It's a great deal and a great camera.

The Kit
Nothing has been disappointing so far, other than the 18-55mm kit lens. It simply is not good enough. I just tried it, printed some proofs and put it back in the box. It sits on the shelf waiting for me to choose it if I decide to take pictures at a riot or during a volcanic eruption. If you actually need this level of quality in a DSLR camera, I suggest you choose a different lens.

The great GX10 body is compatible with pretty much everything in the Pentax K mount family, and so you simply need to buy any of many of the very good to excellent lenses in that huge list. The Anti-shake is in the camera so all of them will have the advantage of that. You need not go to the very top of the Pentax line to assemble a really useable set up. I settled on the F1.4 Pentax 50mm which is a very good, ultra fast, and very inexpensive portrait lens priced way below it's value. I added the Pentax 18-250 and the Sigma 12-24 zooms. I shoot a lot of buildings and interiors and the 12-24 gets a lot of use. These are probably not the absolute ultimate for optical quality on the Pentax and compatible w/ K mount lists, but they are more than good enough. I am printing great images and I'm not even thinking about upgrading anything.

If you're on a budget and need an all-around does everything pretty well one lens setup, get the Pentax 18-250 zoom. It might be a long long time before you need anything else. Pay attention to the manual and learn to use the software controls on the camera. You have a lot of camera control over sharpness, color and contrast to creatively augment and moderate the products of the lens optics and their excellent coatings.

The Body Controls and Software
The controls are logically arranged and comfortable to use. the Software is well documented and settings are made accessible with well placed push button rocker switch and scroll wheel controls that activate logical menu groups. You really can adjust things on the fly while shooting. You need only a few seconds. Changing white balance to fix the color balance to suit the weather or indoor lighting is a very quick fix. Touch the Fn button and a couple of clicks of your thumb. You can switch to effective WB presets for sun ,clouds, cloudy, shade,three variations for flourescents and incandescent plus a few more. It takes much longer for me to type it here than it takes to use it even the first time. Switching shooting modes to fix aperture or speed controlling dept of field or motion blur is also very quick and easy.

As you learn and internalize the controls you just get speedier and able to use more and more of the feature set. I really like using this Camera more and more as time passes.

The RAW feature is easy to use, even one picture at a time. Use it. The GX10's RAW feature offers an important window of added potential that will allow you to make the very best images this camera is capable of.

I would buy the GX-10 again, without the 18-55 lens, with no hesitation.