I know my K-x has no socket, but I use an iR unit anyway. So much handier!

Blythman, good catch. I went to edit the post to correct a copy and paste error. But I couldn't any longer. Here are the fixed sections.

Additional benefits of K-7 over both K-r and K20D:
* quiet shutter
* 1/8000s shutter speed

Benefits of K-7 and K-r over K20D:
* slightly more compact
* 3" LCD
* AF assist light
* improved AF engine
* video

The K-r is lighter, but not enough to matter. It can use AA batteries with an extra-price adapter. It has scene modes. I think it has the improved focus engine of the K-5 but I am not sure on that.

Essential features of the K-7 and K20D that the K-r lacks:
* two control wheels
* per lens focus adjust
* Pentaprism finder

Other things you may like about the K-7 and K20D:
* top panel
* USER settings
* weather-sealing
* overall build quality

Additional benefits of K-7 over both K-r and K20D:
* slightly more compact
* quiet shutter
* 1/8000s shutter speed
* 3" LCD

Benefits of K-7 and K-r over K20D:
* AF assist light
* improved AF engine
* video

Benefits of K20D have already been outlined.

Exactly. My point is that the K20D is perfectly capable and even, in some ways, the best camera Pentax has made. Every new generation adds improvements but not to the extent the cheerleaders would have you believe.

Buy the best tool you can afford and the rest is up to a little thing called photographic skill.

You are confusing a critique with negativity, which is an attitude I do not possess. Unless you are using the term to slight my opinion.

My opinions are somehow "ill-informed" but yours are perfect and wonderful. I guess I can ignore you now.

The K20D has numerous build and ergonomic advantages over the K-7/K-5:
* better SD card door and spring mechanism
* green button in a far more useful place -- can be used blind with no need for extra finger
* ability to change ISO without pushing extra button (in Av mode for example)
* no LiveView button where it gets pressed accidentally
* play button in better place (a matter of taste perhaps)
* one-button bracketing
* SR switch

While I can live with losing a couple buttons to accommodate a smaller body, I have no idea why the ergonomics has been disimproved so significantly. No excuse for the first four items IMO.

I wish to emphasise that the improvements in each new generation are a lot less significant than they first appear. I have compared, in some detail, the K20D with the K-x, which is lauded as being the best high ISO low-noise camera (at least until the K-5). After processing (using Noise Ninja for NR where needed) I found very little difference between the two. Perhaps the K-x was about a half stop more usable. But overall I preferred the K20D, since it had more detail at lower ISO settings.

I do not doubt that the K-5 is the best Pentax camera yet. But I would not trade the ergonomic and build advantages of the K20D for the K-x or K-r.

The K-7 is a far superior camera. Mike is correct: The difference in noise is minimal if you know how to post-process -- which you will only need to do in a few cases where the noise does not suit the image.

Never mind the K-7, I prefer my K20D to my K-x.

Wow, I haven't had Jenever in maybe 20 years. Really enjoyed it when I did. Yet another reason to visit Holland.

I once used to be able to distinguish several sakes by taste, but that was back in Canada when I got to eat a lot more Japanese food than I do here in Ireland (that is, none).

Canadian Club should be used only for mixing. Preferably with paint. As a drink it is inferior to dying of thirst. Just because you're Canadian doesn't mean you have to like everything with that word in it!

See also: Molson Canadian. A "beer" that reminds me of the joke about the lovers in a canoe.

But I digress.