Ah OK, you mean like how much the focus ring rotates to go from one extreme to the other? Yes, I see - I know my DA 18-55 would have a 'shorter' throw then - and yes, it is tricky in manual. But the Samyang 14mm just keeps on turning and turning - and not much seems to happen! Its so 'long' that its hard to imagine any camera would be able to autofocus it at all!

Where's the hype? There's high expectations of course - the build up over the last months has been unbearable - but what we've had so far is firm details of the specs and features. From what has been reported so far it seems to be that the camera performs exactly as is to be expected given its specifications and feature list.

The sensor is the same, but the Prime Image processor was a significant update I believe. I havn't used a K20 but surely the new processor resulted in improved performance (I've seen posts dating back to 2009 when the first users updated from the K20 and that is what was reported), plus the K7 has the edge in weight and handling doesn't it?

And the K7 (Like the K5II) offers things like sensor shift composition adjustment, level indicator, in camera HDR, in camera CA & distortion corrections... plus plenty more I'd no doubt find if I actually had a specs list for a K20 .

Plus, the ISO performance of the K7 is perfectly good up to 800, even 1600 with some decent noise reduction.

Jules, what do you mean by 'shorter throw' and 'longer throw' lenses? Are you just meaning focal length?

Yes, its a good one all right. I too have been impressed with the image quality. Its not a 'fast' zoom, but then having a constant f4.0 over the whole range is a plus, as is the superb built quality.

The push / pull zoom movement can sometimes become confused and mixed up with the turning focus movements, and the movement is opposite to what many would consider intuitive, but it is a beautiful and great value item to have on your Pentax camera body.

Not sure why the k7 hasn't been mentioned yet (although I'm used to being Lone Ranger in this respect ) - both the k20 & k5 have been suggested (one at the lower end of budget, one at the higher), but the K7 should fall nicely in the middle.

It has all the robustness for the outdoors plus WR, but is that bit more modern in technology than the K20, and almost all the control features and functions are identical to the current K5II models, so you're staying well up to date in these respects as well.

Looking forward to seeing your contributions, and also shots from your K5.

Well, what are the features and performance qualities needed for sports? If anyone feels Pentax is 'so bad for sports photography', presumably it is because they believe the cameras or lenses lack something of these features and qualities. Whether that is true or justified is another matter.

I think our physical motor reponses and senses are programmable - just set that way through unthinking repetition, so not the same as being taught and learning. What I mean in this context though is that this programming translates into our own personal 'natural'.

Another photography example would be the way many of us find it natural to half-press the shutter button to activate focus - then press fully to shoot. This is learned about, for sure, but its as a result of programming that any alternatives can feel unatural.

Great to see our new top of range model so well compared - it has always been clear that it was going straight to the top of the APS-C line-up, but here it is holding its own against a more expensive competitor with the larger sensor.

The images need close attention really to draw firm conclusions regarding 'resolution' and other IQ factors. I'm not so sure of the significance really of the colours and general appearance of the images - yes, the Pentax ones are much more appealing, but the Nikon seems to have consistently less contrast and saturation. This may just be a discrepency in the various camera settings I would presume?