I saw a quote somewhere that said most of today's photographers made their bones with Pentax. After returning to SLRs in a digital age, I naturally went for a Pentax (ist DS). It was after all, what I cut my teeth on and was a stalwart of photography at university. I still have a box of M and K bodies. So, when a friend's daughter wanted to try out an SLR for her A'level studies I enthusiastically lent her mine.

Now I've been asked which model would be appropriate for her to use. Bearing in mind the budget is quite low and really the ability to have manual control is a major need in these studies. Naturally I thought just pick up another ist DS. But now I find the model range has changed in the short time since I bought my ist DS.

I seem to remember that in the days (before digital) I could get my head around the K range (K1000, Km, KX etc) and the M range (ME, MX, MEsuper etc). But I have to admit to being a little confused by the range.

So, can anyone help me in understanding:

(i) what are the new models
(ii) what are the current (though perhaps no longer produced) models
(iii) which would be appropriate for A'level studies (entry level [the budget is tight])
(iv) any recommended places we could source used-cameras?


Hope you can help,

Cheers
Derek