What would you do now

Even though it doesn't matter, some things make things easier. It was the high ISO performance that swayed him mostly I believe, and that can easily be the difference between a sharp shot and blurred one when you're in the jungle taking photos of gorillas, to which he is rather partial.

And, actually his statement was "Andy believes strongly that it is the photographer and how they use the light that makes a great picture rather than the gear", which isn't the same as saying the gear doesn't matter.

Dan

I'll be intrigued to hear what you think when you get a k20D in your hands George. I wonder if I should have said "Much better for what I want to achieve" or maybe "Much better as I perceive it" - interesting.....it may be a very personal thing.

I think so too, I would say the K-7 is much better, and possibly what the K20D should have been in the first place considering it looks like they havent really done anything to the sensor IQ sensor wise. Pentax seem to have upgraded the rest of the body to bring it in line with the current Canon and Nikon bodies in the class they are aiming for (which is what most Pentax users have wanted all along).

With respect Mike, you don't have a K20D, nor a K7, so making a judgement like that can't really be possible.

How do you know that if you bought a K20D now you wouldn't be amazed by the difference to your K10D and never look back....?

There is absolutely no way I would happily go back to the K10D when the k20D is, in my opinion and experience, a very significant step forwards.

Because the K20D was not different enough for me in the ways that I wanted. Yes, the better ISO, limited liveview and focus option for lenses may well be enough for a lot of users but as I see it the AF speed and fps should have been done at the same time.
I have seen enough output from the K20D to know that while it is better than the K10D it is not enough for me to move up.

You only have to look at the Flickr stats on Pentax bodies to see that most seem to agree .. there are more than twice the amount of K10D users than K20D and thats 18 months after they released the K20D.

As you said, a very personal thing.

As a K10D user who hasn't moved up a notch, I am not sure I agree 100%. Most of us here who had one of the *ist bodies bought a K10D as soon as they could because it was in a totally different league. I would like a K20D, but, having only had a K10D for a little over two and a half years, it seems a little early to trade it in. In my view, the 20 is nothing like the quantum leap over the 10 that the latter was over the *ist D.

But I haven't yet used one, so I am interested in JR's view.

The question that also has to be considered is whether instead to spend the extra money for the K7. It seems to me that the K20D primarily offers an improvement in IQ over the K10D, whilst the K7 instead offers improvements in handling and performance.

Tricky.

At the end of the day, I consider the K10D still to be a very fine camera.

G

I've already mentioned this elsewhere the K20D Dynamic Range is up to 3/4 stop worse than the K10D..... not a problem if you don't take photos in brightsunlight

The file sizes are massive, need some big cards and big storage.

A big positive for anyone using remote to photograph birds etc, the camera can be set to at least 30 min before switching off.

Still undecided about what to keep K10D or GX-20. It's only the lack of tethered shooting putting me off the GX-20. I keep meaning to investigate trying it with Linux.

shim

Today I went to a well know camera shop that does not rate greatly with photographers as the staff have no idea what they are doing...yes THAT shop.

I tried out 3 cameras that I am interested in, D3, D700 & D300. The size, build and overall usage of the D3 was just amazing and I have never used such an auto focus system as that before. I have always thought that auto focus was unreliable and many a time I have lost a crucial shot due to poor AF.
The D700 is an outstanding camera and this may be my choice if I were to change, the likelyhood of which is extremely high.

Jessops lived upto their bad name as the young lady had no idea about how to fix a lens or attach the grip. I think I taught her a few things about the cameras, my wife always has a laugh at their expense.

George I really don't agree with the above. I tried to say, in the nicest possible way, my reasons for changing systems and that I will still be keeping my K20.
Why does it matter to you that I change? My business is continuing to grow and all I am doing is switching to a different system, but not completely. I would have thought that fellow photographers would be able to congratulate others who are doing well in their chosen photographic career.


Paul

Paul, let me be the first to congratulate you on this. I know how a good professional you are and your great and deep experience in the field makes you the best person to judge what is best for you.

I know its the man behind the camera that makes the picture but come on, common sense even dictates that for a knowledgeable and experienced person different standard of tools provide different standard of results.
If it was as simple as just being the person responsible for quality of images then the analogy for that is give a skoda to Lewis Hamilton and you should expect him to get similar performance to a Mercedes in his hands.

By the way, I too liked the D700 handling and AF performance
Sounds a great choice for your purposes. I am happy for you

Actually, I didn't think you gave any very convincing reason for wanting to change. You said you hated the inclusion of video on the K7. Fair enough, but it's not a reason to buy a different camera.

You mentioned your expectations for the K7 had not been met, but didn't mention what they were.

Basically, it all sounded a bit fuzzy to me, hence the comment about grass and greener. Had you been more specific, I am sure I would have responded differently.

You did mention "full frame", and if that's what you need, fair enough. I know nothing about your business, and perhaps using a larger sensor would be advantageous. If so, you have my blessing!

Good luck.

G

So you're saying that for you the lack of tethered shooting on the GX20 might be enough for you to keep the K10D instead?

This suggests that in your view the difference between the two is not enormous. Correct?

G

Still trying to find reasons not to upgrade your camera George

I also have my eye out for the K-7 but still enjoying the K10D a lot and I know I haven't gotten the most out of it, never will probable and a new camera won't do a lot of good for me. It's nice all the extra and better things but I don't need it so looking for some lenses now.
Like you said I would enjoy the FA77 a lot
Also got my eyes on the DA*200

Lenses would give me more joy now the K-7 can wait and hopefully drop in price a lot

Stefan,

I agree with you entirely. Hearing everyone debating whether or not to get the K-7 makes me wonder if I should to. But like you said while it would be nice to say you had the latest camera with nice new extras and better things, I have to remind myself that I should learn how to get the most out of the camera I have now before even considering upgrading again. That said, I had to use my K200D today as the battery on my K20D was flat, I am was really surprised how quickly I have come to rely on the front and back "D rings(?)" things. I really struggled going back to just one

Watch this space.

G

ETA: John Riley bears the heavy responsibility of having convinced me to try a K20D!

It's interesting to note that as of now, 77% of people who've taken part in this poll have said they would still buy Pentax.

Well Hoya must be doing something right because most companies would do unspeakable things to their own grandmothers for just half of that brand loyalty!