Feature 2

The K10D and GX10 are also honoured by two new exposure modes – TAv and S – on the mode dial. The first – TAv – is shutter (time) and aperture priority, where the photographer chooses a preferred shutter speed and aperture pairing and the camera attempts to deliver this combination by automatically setting an ISO sensitivity to suit from its ISO 100-1600 range.

Alternatively, in Sv (sensitivity value) mode you choose a working ISO and the camera chooses the aperture and shutter speed. This may sound very much like using the Program mode (and in reality the two are very similar) but you can set the ‘Program line’ in the custom functions to high speed, depth of field, MTF priority or ‘normal’, whereas Sv simply gives you what the camera decides on. This does rather raise the question ‘why’?

Yet regardless of the shooting mode there’s 16-segment multi-area metering, with centre-weighted and spot patterns options to help determine the exposure, with a similarly wide range of white balance settings covering everything from automatic to manual with eight presets and three custom settings that allow a precise Kelvin or Mired-based colour temperature to be set. With the exception of the auto WB you can further fine-tune the colour bias for absolute precision.

Precision is also the name of the game when it comes to focusing accurately, with Pentax’s Safox VIII AF system underpinning the K10D, and although not stated by Samsung it’s 99.9% certain that the same 11-point system also deals with focusing on the GX10.