Replacement for *istD

Rather than start a new thread I thought I'd reinvigorate this.

The missus had a nasty fall in Brecon this weekend, a few bumps and bruises but luckily her fall was cushioned by the K10D.

Of course, not so lucky for the K10D, which is pretty battered with half the front shell broken off and the flash mangled.

This has forced my hand a little in terms of replacing it.

Given the excellent deal for the K30 has now passed, would I be better off looking for a K-5 in terms of bang for buck? Having 2 bodies the same would be useful in terms of familiarity and of of common accessories (especially given the K30's underwhelming battery life), but now that the K-5 II/s is out the price differential isn't as significant as it once was. That said, the K30 is proving itself to be an excellent performer so I'm not clear where the K-5 would represent clear advantage.

I could also get the missus the lairy blue version, so we'll know which is which and who has put the big scratches all over the camera.

OK, just about to buy a K5 at £500, seen a few K7s for a lot less, worth considering? I gather K7 low light performance not great, any other considerations?

Agree with John there 100%

Had a quick play with the K5II in London Camera Exchange, is it a step-change improvement over the K5 or just an iterative update?

The K5 felt very comfortable in the hand, and the missus quite likes the feel of the K30 so we might have reached a mutually agreeable arrangement!

I have K-x, *ist DL & K30 bodies. The *ist DL was great but K-x offered more. More pixels & features. The K-x is okay but has a tendancy to clip ther highlights. By comparisonon the upgrade to the K30 is a big leap. The 100% image in the viewfinder is a big plus and the overall picture quality makes this upgrade so much more worthwhlie. The only thing I feel is a negative with the K30 is the build quality which I feel is very plasticy.

K-5 IIs is a step up worth having, but the K-5 II only if you expect to need the improvement to AF in low light.

We currently use the K-5 and neither of us is in a hurry to upgrade to anything just now.

K-5IIs is better all round than the K-5, especially in the AF department, but also in terms of IQ.

However, the K-5 remains a fine camera and at £500 it is a bargain.

Regards
David

I moved from the K10D to the K20D to the K7 and now have the K5. I am in the process of purchasing the K30 as a 2nd body to my kit.

The K30 is a great camera to use. Friends who have bought it love the weight and the grip. It can use both the Li-Ion as well as 4 AAs so if you happen to run out of juice for the Li-Ion, the AAs do come in very handy.

K-5 magnificent camera for the price - a real step change from the predecessors. The K10D and K20D were real game-changers for Pentax, people were underwhelmed by the K-7, same sensor but outperformed by the Kr and K-x 12MP in many areas.

The only downside of the K7 is the low light performance. In all other respects it's an extremely capable camera. Robust and good in the hand.
I still use mine at weddings even using 1600 ISO if necessary, as the grain is very film-like and pleasant, especially in BW.

Thanks all for advice - I think we'll go with the K5, as we do a fair bit of lowlight photography. The K30 has proved itself a very capable little camera but there's almost no price difference between it and the K5.

As an aside, does anyone have any idea how the AF on the K5 compares with the K30? The K30 seems to get a lot less confused in busy scenes than the K10D, can I expect even greater returns with the K5? I quite like the idea of improved AF but the K5II is a little beyond budget at the moment - especially given the missus would like a fisheye lens for her birthday!

Just sold my K7 on eBay for £316 and bought a new K5 from Currys for £592 including two 16gb cards. Brilliant! Parkinsons has been a bit of a problem in recent years but K5 shake reduction is excellent.

If this is of any use I'll chip in my thoughts.

I've just recently acquired a near new K-30 and this is an upgrade from a K100d, which I still have.

Mentally I expected the K30 to be bigger, but essentially it is exactly the same size as the K100d. The grip is a bit narrower on the K-30, and I didn't think it was necessarily much better than the K100d.

Prior to actually having the K-30 I also wondered what the lack of the top screen would be like. I needn't have worried, as the K-30's rear screen is excellent. Honestly I don't even notice the lack of the top screen any more.

The K-30's screen is excellent full stop really. The live view ability does open up more options, such as the excellent digital zoom option when you press the centre OK button. When combined with focus peaking, that allows for bang on focusing for static shots etc.

I think, to stop before this becomes a mini review, that really all the Pentax cameras are pretty good. I like that there is a focus on image quality, and also that the menu systems etc are not gimmicky. I guess I was initially a bit let down by the similarity of the K-30 to the K100d, despite the years between them, but really that is more a compliment on the original *ist D design. Fundamentally I felt quite at home pretty quickly with the much newer K-30, because a lot of it is very similar to the K100d I used previously.

Personally though, as I discover more of what the K-30 has to offer, I could only now recommend to the OP going with two new bodies. Each new feature I find just illustrates that everything is better. It may not actually be a giant leap forward, but each thing I've found is definitely better on the new camera. Now I don't regret upgrading at all.

Oh and I agree that some of the K-30 dials look a bit plasticky. I think the mode dial looks better on my old k100d...