I can vouch personally for both the K-x, and the Panasonic LX-3 if you want to go down the compact path. The IQ of the latter is very good, and has a very bright f2.0 lens. The lens is not particularly obtrusive either. It shoots raw, but the jpgs out of the camera are very good indeed. It's just fine for landscapes and portraits. The LX-3's limiting factor may be the zoom, which is relatively short - it depends on what it is you wish to shoot.

That the LX-3's IQ seems still to outshine the far more recent LX-5, is a testament to the fact that it was a quality camera to start with.

If you want to stick with the IQ of an SLR, the K-x is excellent, and better than the rest with low available light / high ISO situations. Beauty of it is that you don't need to take a recharger, as Lithium AAs are found almost anywhere. I got 800 shots out of the set that came with the camera. And - you can use your existing Pentax lenses to boot. Bonus.

The K-x body is substantially smaller than the K10, has a much better autofocus, and a frame rate of around 4.5 fps. While it's not weatherproof, neither is most of the competition in the compact range (those with decent IQ and frame rates anyway).

If you're interested in some of the more technical lens issues & specifications, this link is a good spot for one perspective (mind you it's not the 'be all and end all', unless you're just shooting test shots :wink

The suggestion to use the 50-200 to its fullest potential before going out and buying more glass is a good one - you might find that your style of shooting calls for glass of an entirely different (ie shorter) focal length!

The way to better understand the focal lengths you use in practice, is to use a programme like this link to analyse all of your images, as stored on your hard drive. You might be surprised at what this tells you about the settings you use.

Gary

The reds from Margaret River to the south of Perth are some of the better ones on offer from down under. Make sure you grab one before you go.

Well done, you'll enjoy your new family-to-be, I'm sure.

Commiserations though about having to sell up the Pentax gear

I'm leaven now...

G'day and welcome.

Well as long as it was a random crap-attack Flossie, nothing targeted

As with the Panasonic LX-3 (daughter's), there's likely a lot of in-camera software correction going on behind the scenes (no doubt you're aware of a substantial amount of discussion about that).

Perhaps some of the reviews were looking at i-10 images, without those software corrections being applied?

The DA has a different lens body to the DAL.

The DA is your standard Pentax 'designed for digital' lens, and comes with a metal mount for the camera. It is also supplied with a lens hood. So, 'D' for digital plus 'A' for automatic (aperture and focus) equals 'DA'.

The DAL on the other hand has a lightweight plastic mount for the camera, and no lens hood supplied. The 'L' in the DAL stands for 'light', as in lightweight. I understand that a separately-purchased lens hood is able to be fitted, should you wish.

The 'AL' suffix (DAL F3.5 - 5.6 AL ) stands for 'Aspherical Lens'. All this means is that one of the individual lens elements inside your 18-55 has a surface that is of an aspherical design and shape. Lenses with aspherical elements do have certain characteristics, but these may not have a significant impact on how you take pictures for the time being.

All this nomenclature stuff is not as important as you getting out there and understanding how it works for you in the field! It's about taking pictures.

Though what you've shown here is certainly a 'no contest' John. These two images are poles apart, despite the reviews.