At first sight the Pentax K200D does look very much like the K20D, and the model numbers are confusingly similar. There are significant differences, though.

The K20D has a 14-megapixel CMOS sensor and a Live View mode. The K200D reviewed here has a regular 10-megapixel CCD and no Live View. Despite that, the K200D is a very accomplished little camera, which shares many of the features of its bigger brother.

Enhance your photos

For a start, there's the Shake Reduction (SR) mechanism, which, Pentax claims, enables you to shoot up to four shutter speeds slower without risking camera shake. This SR system works very well and seems to be the best of all the sensor-shift systems on the market and as good as any lens-based stabilisation system.

The K200D also has the K20D's Dynamic Range Enlargement (DRE) system, an option amongst the ISO settings, which doubles the brightness range the sensor can record. This makes a visible difference when photographing scenes with bright, subtle highlights - highlights which, with other cameras, might blow out to a clear white.

You can shoot in a range of picture styles including Bright, Natural, Portrait, Landscape, Vibrant and BW colour renditions, and it's possible to tweak the Saturation, Hue, Contrast and Sharpness within each. Indeed, in BW mode, youcan simulate the effect of traditional black and white orange, red, green and yellow filters.

Handy features

Beginners will like the range of scene modes available on the mode dial and clustered under the Scene setting. But there's a lot more to this camera which will appeal to more experienced photographers, too.

For example, close-up fans will know that many shots can be spoiled by mirror vibration, but the Pentax has a two-second self-timer, which locks the mirror up as soon as you press the shutter release, giving time for any vibrations to die down before the shutter opens.

And in manual mode you are, of course, required to work out your own shutter speed and aperture combinations, as you are with any camera. Here, though, if you press the 'green' button on top of the camera, it will set both automatically, saving you a whole lot of time and still enabling you to change them subsequently.

Adjusting ISO settings

The K200D also has the Sv exposure mode found on the K20D. Here, turning the camera's control dial changes the ISO, and the camera then adjusts the shutter speed and aperture to suit the conditions.

Functionally, it's no different to changing the ISO in Program AE mode on any other camera, but it's just a lot more convenient when it's done this way. The idea is that you quickly adjust the ISO to suit the conditions you're working in. For example, you might be photographing the darkened interior of a cathedral one minute, then stepping out into bright sunshine the next.

None of these features are ground-breaking, but they're all rather smart. You get the feeling this is a camera designed by old-school photographers who've had a long time to work out how a camera should work.

Odd battery choice

Unlike the K20D, which uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery, the K200D runs on a set of four AA cells. The problem with AAs is not just that they're quite bulky and fiddly to load, but that their power output and shelf-life is unpredictable.

Alkaline cells don't last well in digital cameras (80 shots in the Pentax) and rechargeable NiMH cells lose power even in storage, which is a bit of a nuisance if you only use your camera sporadically.