This looks like an internet rumour that has just gone a bit nuts, even though the facts are staring you in the face if you look hard enough. I only started taking the rumour seriously when photo rumours reported that Pentax Japan had 'confirmed on Twitter that orders for the K-r will not be accepted after December 9, 2011'. There was a link to the official Twitter statement here:

https://twitter.com/#!/pentax_jp/status/142415564621619200

But I ran the Japanese text through Babelfish and it actually says:

In case anyone missed that, I'll add emphasis:

So apparently only new orders for the coloured bodies have been wound down. This makes sense; the coloured bodies are probably much slower sellers.

There is a hint here that a new body is probably on the horizon at least, but it appears that rumours of the Kr's death have been greatly exaggerated!

Good reports about Rocky on this forum though. I think some ebayers frankly have unrealistic expectations. Worth noting that postage is 9 quid, so it pays to buy more than one item. I bought a couple of film bodies because I couldn't decide between them and thought at this price, why not. I think I may have BBA (bargain body addiction!)

I'm pretty sure the normal online printers (Photobox etc) will offer panoramic printing formats. You may need to crop to suit their exact dimensions.

Sorry to hear about that Claire. Yep the bank transfer is a bit of a giveaway, legit traders never have bank transfer as a payment option. At least I've never seen it.

Sounds to me like the 17-70mm would be a fair bet for you. A step up from the kit lens and slightly more range at both ends. 70mm is usually long enough for me but I would be tempted to add something longer into the mix, maybe an M 135mm f3.5... a very small lens although fully manual of course. In terms of price (about 35 quid) vs quality though, it's completely off the charts

Or if you aren't scared off by this talk of manual lenses, the M 75-150 f4 is simply legendary for the price (under 45 quid).

They have some film bodies worth a punt... my pick is this Z-10, a nice AF body that takes DA and M lenses equally happily:

http://www.rockycameras.com/pentax-z-10-autofocus-slr-camera-boxed-1499-23601-p....

Get a Tamron 17-50mm and a rainsleeve.

Or a Pentax 17-70mm - they have a gasket on the mount and that is where water is going to get in, if anywhere. (Presuming you remember to take care, and in any case you shouldn't expose a DA* or WR lens to monsoon conditions and expect there to be no chance of water ingress, especially when zooming).

For the price of the 16-50mm you could practically buy one of each of the above!

Yep it's in the Asahi Pentax headquarters, and was shot by someone testing the Pentax Q (the first samples published on the web).

Of course the screen is small and not up to the resolution of the K5! This is the first DSLR Pentax ever developed, back in 2001.

The camera was based on the MZ-S, way back in the early days of DSLRs. Pentax cancelled the camera, citing that it would be too expensive for the target market. But another camera developed by Contax, using the same sensor, was torn apart by reviewers. Perhaps Pentax were wise to cancel the project to avoid damaging their brand! Subsequently of course they developed a camera based on the *ist, the *istD.

It's worth quoting

Also to note that their attempts to focus using magnified live view was within a hair of 'perfect focus' - and I think the camera's AF in live view would be similarly good as it uses the same 'tiral and error' method as your eyes/brain when manual focusing.

Back to the OP, I say buy the K5 if you want a sturdier body with more external controls. If you are after a huge leap in IQ from the Kx, I wouldn't bother. Get better / faster lenses instead!