Pentax K-70 Weather-Sealed DSLR Camera, Body Only (Black)

I purchased this camera mainly for astrophotography, but it takes great daytime pictures as well. I also have an Olympus Micro four thirds camera as well. This camera has much less noise than the Olympus, but it is quite a bit heavier. It is worth the trade-off when doing astrophotography. The Pentax cameras are even very low noise even with ISO 1600 3 minute shots. The Pentax is also great at picking up Hydrogen Alpha in nebulae. This has certainly allowed me to get better pictures than my Olympus. I was going to buy a dedicated astronomy camera, but it would have been more than double the price for the same size sensor and this camera can still be used for regular photography.What I like:1. It is easy to use.2. Low noise in low light.3. It is amazing for astrophotography.4. There are a large selection of lenses available at a decent price.5. It is water resistant.6. The 18-135 mm lens is a great all around lens and it is water resistant as well.7. You get greater quality and features for the money when compared to Canon or Nikon equivalents.What could be improved?1. I wish there was better computer control available. I would like to be able to use tethering during my astrophotography sessions.2. Dual memory cards would be nice.3. USB tethering and shooting at the same time. The camera does not take pictures while tethered, but you can take pictures with a wireless app.4. It would be nice if the GPs were built into the camera so the Astro-tracer feature could be used without purchasing an external GPS sensor.I’m really enjoying this camera and I’m happy with the purchase. I’m really surprised Pentax does not market more towards the night photography crowd.I've included shots that I have taken of the Double Star Cluster, Fireworks Galaxy, Helix Nebula, Pacman Nebula, and Triangulum Galaxy. All were shot on a Celstron AVX equatorial tracking mount with a Celestron 6" SCT telescope and the Pentax K-70 with a T- adapter.

I have tested a few cameras so far and decided on the Pentax k-70. Mainly for price and because I was tired of having canon, Sony, and Nikon’s constantly appearing everywhere as if they were the only cameras on the planet. Money spent marketing is money not spent on the product. This Pentax proves it. What an awesome camera! Easy to use, has features of cameras twice this price, and a helpful OS that guides you through the dozens of settings! If you choose setting that are incompatible with a Sony, it does not tell you and keeps the annoying alert hand on the screen. If you still take the picture it’s blurry and you have no idea why. The Pentax camera tells you a setting conflict exists, why it’s a conflict, and even turns one off so you still get an amazing picture. The cost savings over the big 3 brands allowed me to purchase a Pentax 50mm 1.4 Star line lens and I’m still under the cost of just the other 3 cameras body only. And the pictures are incredible with the combo k-70 and star 50mm lens! The pix are incredibly life like and so vivid it’s unbelievable! Looking forward to shooting more all next week. The camera and incredible lens under $1200 and so worth it! I’m a proud fan of Pentax and Ricoh now. Always bet the underdog!

Depending on circumstances autofocus can be jumpy. I have owned Pentax KS-2 prior to this purchase and have never had issue with stabilization. The camera is capable of producing really good quality images. Camera also has very good weather sealing. Would I replace my D850 or D800 with this camera? No! But I do enjoy using this camera for general purpose photography.Update-After the initial review of this camera, I thought about the D850 or D800 comparison. I own several other Nikon DSLR cameras, including; D600, D610, D300, D5200 and a pair of D7200. A more apples to apples comparison would be the D5200. Both cameras have 24 megapixel sensors and provide excellent image quality. Both cameras have articulating screens and rather small bodies. I mainly shoot in manual mode and prefer the front and rear dials of the K70 over the single, rear dial of the D5200. I am a Nikon DSLR shooter, but I find myself walking out the front door with the K70 when just going out for walks in the woods or along the river. Love this camera when paired with 300 F4.

I ordered this camera as gift for my girlfriend who was looking for her first "nice" camera. She primarily wanted a camera for nature photography when we're hiking and camping, so the weather sealing and rugged reputation of Pentax is was initially drew me in; however, upon further research, I was impressed with the rest of the specs, especially for the price. The K-S2 probably would have sufficed, but I spent a bit more in order to get the Pixel Shift, accelerator processing unit, seemingly better low light performance, and 14-bit RAW (vs. 12-bit). I also liked how the K-70 has more megapixels and a seemingly better kit lens.Anyway, we've both been using this camera over the last month-and-a-half, and we LOVE it. Even with the kit lens, we've gotten some great photos. We've been very pleased that already the camera has performed perfectly in a variety of adverse conditions including the following: snowing, resting in snow, about 20 degrees F, and close to a waterfall. I can't really think of anything that I don't like about this camera (though, admittedly, I don't really have much to compare it to); however, due to the short battery life, we'll need an extra battery or two when we go camping.In fact, I love this camera so much that I just ordered my own so we don't have to keep switching off when we're in the field :)