Cherry red? That's quite a rare colour, I think I've only seen them advertised in Japan in anything other than black, white and blue. I really like the cherry red!

There doesn't actually seem to be much practical difference!

You can spot a good product without owning it. Remember when the Fiat 500 came out? Great, desirable little car, and I think most people, even if they had no intention of buying one, recognized that. Even if you hated the retro looks, you'd be hard pushed to say Fiat had done a bad job on it.

I would personally get a K30 and spend the balance on nice lenses. The loss of 2 bits doesn't actually seem to lose you anything, except bragging rights. The US forum has a comparative review where you can look at K5/K30 images which have been grossly underexposed and then corrected in PP, and I can't really tell the difference. Both camera can pull back an extraordinary amount of detail from what's apparently a completely BLACK image!

I think it probably comes more down to which camera you like the feel of... the K5 does feel a bit more high end than the K30 (and maybe even the D7000)...

... It's not even 'best image quality'... there are other parameters like innovation, usability, design which come into play... which you have to admit the EM5 has in spades.

The poll has nothing to do with sales, period. It's the best camera, not the biggest selling. The two aren't necessarily linked, or you'd conclude that some crummy Vivitar P&S sold for £29.99 in Tesco is a better camera than, say, a 645D....

Yongnuo flashes look the best bet if you want manual control.

Cracking portfolio there. Wedding pics can be a massive yawn for those not involved in the day, but there are some very creative images there!

How weather sealed are these cameras? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo61t5fH6Qw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

To cut to the chase, I would get the regular K5, the Sigma 8-16mm, and the Pentax 16-50mm and 60-250mm which are both sealed. I read mixed reviews of the 16-50 but it definitely should be up to the job considering your emphasis on weather sealing. If you can go without sealing on the longer zoom, you could go for the DA55-300mm instead and save some money. I would avoid the 18-270.