Upgrades from K7

A friend of mine who doesn't have money to throw around and has had a K7 for a long time is considering upgrading. I think the benefits of a K3 are fairly obvious and he is considering that but bearing in mind the price differences I was wondering if he got a K50 what would be the benefits and what might he miss compared to his K7?
Dave

I would look at the K-5 II or IIs as being a worthwhile upgrade, identical in operation to his K-7 and rather less expensive than a K-3.

ditto

Unless the higher Iso is of use. Stick with the K-7 its a great camera, Identical in operation to the K5s and much under rated..

I think the K50 would be an excellent choice if on a tight budget - they are selling at £350 new (body) which is pretty good for a camera with it's specs - check them out.

I had a quick try with a K50 just yesterday in a Jessops, and its a nice feeling high quality body. It had the basic 18-55mm mounted and I snapped around the shop ... The autofocus is clearly a good step up from the older system on the K7, I was impressed with the quick and secure response which is definitely better than the K7.

As I've always said, I place great value on the physical controls on my K7 that gives instant access to af point selection , metering modes, and af modes, DOF preview/instant review ... All come into their own in practical shooting situations when things are changing and the last thing I'd want to be doing is scrolling through the menus.

But it depends if your priorities are similar ... For the money the K50 provides a great step up in IQ. I know I'd probably appreciate the focus peaking also. However, as has been said before, the K5 will give the IQ increase also and allows you to keep the same excellent control features of the K7.

Thanks everyone I'll pass this on to him. I missed the K5 and K7 on the route to my K3 via other K series cameras so couldn't best advise him. I think to sum up if he wants to keep similar "feel" and features with better AF, ISO and IQ go for K5 ii or if budget is more limited then K50 will give improvements in resolution, ISO performance and Af but won't quite have the advanced features and "feel" of the K7.

The k-50 was praised for it's impressively quick auto focus whilst in live view. If you press the info button then essentially all the setting options are summarised in one screen, and you can make changes with the keypad and scroll wheels quickly. It's not the same as a physical switch or lever, but it's not that bad either.

pros and cons either way, but there are a range of options that are all a pretty good step up

Plus you can program the buttons on the K-50. (RAW/Fx button for example can be set to an optical or digital preview if you miss the K-7s shutter button lever)
The thing I miss most from going to the K-50 from the K-7 is the top LCD.
The mag alloy body is a plus, but the K-50 feels solid as well.
You do need to change battery more often with the K-50 though as it's smaller.

I thought I'd miss the top LCD but honestly don't at all now.

With what I've heard about the low light focussing of the k-5 I think I'd only be looking at a k-5ii or k-5iis now over the k-30 or k-50.