Advice on K5 II purchase

Hi guys, after seeing the bargain offer on Amazon for a K5 II and kit lens for under £500 I think it's finally time to upgrade from my trusty K10d.

Just a few Q's.

I am a "travel photographer" more or less. I rarely use my camera unless I am going away for a weekend or more. So I probably only use my K10d a handful of times a year, but when I do use it, I use it a lot. Having just gotten back from 3 weeks in South Africa, and buying a flat at the moment, I doubt very much there will be much cash left for any trips till the end of 2014. Is it worth buying the K5 II now at this great price, knowing it may not get a huge amount of use, or sticking with the K10d until later in the year? - do Pentax have anything in the pipeline after the K3?

Did Pentax ever offer focus-peaking on the K5 II? I have a quite a few manual lenses and this could be useful!

Thanks.

Because you are travel-oriented, possibly consider a K-30 instead because it is a bit lighter to carry, almost the same image quality and a bit cheaper?

That's why I bought K-R, and have now replaced it with a K-30.

John

I would say reading this you've almost answered your own question. Why not wait until nearer the time you will be in a position to "make trips" ? By then you may find the K3 well within reach of your budget, a K5II/K5IIs will most certainly fall into your budget by then. Of course if weight is a problem try something else, pick up a display model of the various offerings to see which suits

Of course they do. It'll be in the design and planing stages right now.

There's always something newer coming along. All you can do is weigh up your available cash and passion for upgrading.

Well that goes without saying... maybe I wasn't clear. I was more thinking products in the middle of the range, i.e. whether there have been any leaks of a K5 III or something, or a cheaper replacement. K3 is too much for me at the mo.

How much do people need functionality wise? I would find my K10d fine if the focussing was still accurate and the low light performance was any good.

Not a lot really for some people. I attended a presentation by Steve Gosling, the subject being Pinhole photography. As far as I could ascertain all that was needed was a box with a pinhole in the front (f/135 ? ), B&W photographic paper, the skill to develop it, and lots of patience

Can you provide a link to this offer, Cheapest I can find is £579.00.

https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/pentax-k-5-ii-kit-for--663---170-cashback...

I think it has ended unfortunately

There won't be a K-5 III.

The next high-end Pentax will be either:

- A K-3 II with either a better sensor, or (unlikely) something clever in the electrickery to reduce the high-ISO noise.

- Or a camera with a 35 or 36mm sensor.

There's bound to be new versions of the entry/mid level ones, which will be a bit better than the current ones. When they will be I can't imagine. They may also mess around a bit more with mirrorless, but I'm not interested in that so I'm not paying attention.

We've got the K-5 III, it's called the K-3.
If it had been named the K-5 III, it would in all probability have to have been the same price. The original K-5 was at that same price point when it was introduced.

Sorry, but this is just semantic pointlessness.

The K-3 has got so much new in it that to call it a K-5 at all would be misleading in the extreme.

I wasn't responding to you Chris.

The point is whether there will be any continuation in the K-5 line, as separate from the K-3. I think there won't, but not because the K-3 is itself the continuation - except as the replacement top-end.

Eventually there will be sufficient improvements in the lower models to come close to where the K-5 was, but that's the nature of the evolving game.

That's all I was responding to in your post.

Yes the offer ended last night. They had stock earlier in the week, last night it was down to "1 to 3 months" with Amazon. I did consider the K5 II body, which was ~20 quid cheaper, but as mentioned above, when you check the Pentax T&Cs, the body only was not mentioned.