Consumer Electronics;Technology Pentax's Potent K100D Expect crisp photos with this feature-packed, intuitive digital SLR model, but beware the short battery life and hard-to-use software Technology Product Review By Catherine Holahan When it comes to photos, my left eye has a short attention span. Under ordinary circumstances, the eye sees just fine; it's just as open, alert, and focused as its counterpart. But somewhere between "cheese" and click, it loses all interest and simply shuts. I blame the perpetually winking expression on my point-and-shoot's slow shutter speed. So I was excited to check out the new crop of digital single-lens reflex (SLR) cameras with their purported ability to take picture after picture without the lag time of compact digital cameras. <leadin>BETTER PICTURES.</leadin> The Pentax K100D is marketed as an entry-level SLR for amateur photographers who are tired of strained poses but don't want to strain their budgets. Its ability to shoot nearly three pictures a second makes it a promising contender to solve my problem. Plus, at $699.95 for the body and an 18-55mm zoom lens, the 6.1-megapixel K100D is priced competitively with other entry-level SLR cameras. For the money, the K100D is packed with features. It has a shake reduction function that lessens blurring. A dial lets the photographer select from among specialized settings programmed to capture images in their best light. Options include moving objects, fidgeting kids, nighttime, portraits, candlelight, bright snowy landscapes, and places where flash is not allowed. Using the selections made a visible difference in my photos. On a recent trip to California, I shot a beautiful image of the sun descending behind a dusky hillside using the sunset setting. Similar photos taken with a point-and-shoot have often transformed the sun into a blurry bright spot. <leadin>INTUITIVE PRESETS.</leadin> Similarly, the camera's text setting let me grab a clear shot of the scoreboard at a recent Yankees-Red Sox night game from the opposite side of the field. Using the moving object function and the digital zoom, I was even able to catch an image of the ball as the pitcher released it. For photographers who just want to point and shoot, the K100D does have an automatic function intended to identify and select the optimal settings for the scene at hand. It's a good choice for general shots where the user wants to capture a little bit of everything. But at times the camera can't guess the picture's main focus, so if you're trying to home in on something specific, better to avoid auto focus and instead opt for preset functions. Fortunately for the neophyte, choosing a preset is pretty intuitive. There are pictures on the dial clearly representing the kind of photo for which a particular setting is designed. A half moon, for example, indicates a night scene. When a new option is chosen, a text explanation of the option and a photo example also appear on the camera's 2.5-inch color LCD screen. Deleting photos and downloading pictures to a computer is similarly easy. <leadin>MANUAL MADNESS.</leadin> But not everything about the Pentax K100D is simple. The menu, for example, can be confusing. Though it has options to adjust tone, saturation, sharpness, quality, and contrast, actually altering the settings can be taxing. I assumed highlighting the option and pressing "OK"—the camera's version of Enter—would let me toy with the functions. Instead, doing so turns off the screen. As a result, more advanced photographers who want to control other aspects of the picture-taking process, such as the amount of light the lens lets in, may find programming the camera similarly frustrating. Admittedly, Pentax does recommend that new users fully review the 212-page manual to achieve optimal results. I hate manuals. So I skimmed, rather than read, the entire booklet. Playing with the device for an hour taught me most of the information contained in the first half of the book. Later chapters are a must read for any novice who wants to take advantage of all the camera's features. Luckily, the directions in the booklet are clearly illustrated with bullet points, rendering them more digestible than most instructions. For example, I learned how to play around with the camera's built-in editing options to change and save photos in black and white format, sepia tone, and basic colors. <leadin>BATTERY DRAIN.</leadin> I had more trouble figuring out how to edit the photos once they're transferred to the computer. The software to extract the photos downloads fast. However, my copy seemed buggy. At first, I was able to open the pictures easily. Subsequent attempts to access the photos, however, resulted in error messages. Another unwelcome message from the camera was the battery life indicator. It took less than a day to burn through the four AA batteries that came with the camera. During the week of testing, I had to replace the batteries four times, despite only taking photos for an hour or two each day. Each time, the cost was about $5. As a result, anyone who buys the camera should opt for the more expensive CR-V3 lithium batteries. Battery issues aside, the K100D is a step up from most high-end digital compact cameras. It takes clear pictures, has plenty of features, and the shutter speed is fast enough to eliminate the awkward poses caused by click delays. How do I know? I got a friend to take my picture—and both my eyes are smiling. http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2006/tc20061004_632613.htm http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/05/0515_socialmedia_quiz/index_01.htm,http://images.businessweek.com/ss/08/05/0519_social_niche/index_01.htm,http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080514_786156.htm False