Update Betty...the penny has dropped.

Thank you for that bruv, but quite frankly your appreciated reply still hasn't clarified the question for this techno-dunce!

I shoot in RAW the whole time and edit my sad results via the provided Pentax disc. Now somebody's introduced PEF when I've only just assimilated the fundamental bleedin' difference between JPEG and RAW.

Prey tell (for the benefit of this technologically 'Cretaceous period' individual)what the hell is PEF?

It isn't a Buzzard...the colours look wrong for such a bird to me. I'd upload one of my own Kite images for comparison but I've apparently slipped into dummy mode during the course of the day and can't therefore work out how to do so

As it goes (and I'm no expert on such issues) I think this bird might be a Red Kite - once referred to as the 'shite-hawk'.

I stand corrected Jemx. I guess this means that the K30 is indeed no more than just a range filler, despite the majority of pre-emptive reviews I've read curiously stacking it up against the K5?
Nonetheless for any minor niggles, she's a definite throwback to the halcyon days of the 35mm SLR with ample dimensions to grasp and a distinct 'Tonka Toy' feel to her.

... And as such I also feel my wallet being inexorably drawn towards the dark side of my bank balance

I've groped the K30 this very afternoon (Sat/21/07) and a fine camera it is. The feel and substance of this latest filly from the Pentax stable is quite reminiscent of those weighty film SLRs of old...as in you know you have a real camera in your hands as opposed to yet another vegan based catwalk twig.
What is readily apparent to my far from experienced eyes, however, is the lack of a tech/info panel on the top. I have to ask myself why such a universally appropriate 'quick glance' info panel is now missing and why Pentax have chosen to give, yet at the same time take away.
Would this have anything to do with market forces perhaps...is this Pentax trying to generate and expanded a market force within their own 'across the range' selection.
The K30 is clearly not an evolved K5, rather it is a subtle sideways movement with enough bait on the hook to lure a few more beer tokens from a percentage of the photographic massive.

If you wish to argue otherwise J.R then please do feel free to challenge such a view.

As my drive fills up (over 600 GB) the question I have asked myself repeatedly over time re emerges.

Do I really need to keep all my RAW as well as my converted jpeg files ?

Up till now I have kept them all but with the amount I shoot and the size of RAW files I question if there's a need.

Is the argument not that once I've done my editing I have the pics as I want them and am unlikely to want to go back and re edit so why keep them ?

From one 'bloke with some cameras' to another I would suggest that you don't dump the originals. On the basis that we never stop learning and the fact that post processing programs are ever evolving, you will undoubtedly find that somewhere along the line your enhanced images can be tweaked even further.
Store the originals on a remote device and stow them in a safe place thereafter. Job done.

Bob.

Nah...I spent years investigating 'UFOs' and never once did they ever seem like they were looking for Rotterdam, nor did any 'aliens' ever ask an (alleged) abductee the way to Rotterdam!

I didn't shift any wood, but I watched a Woodpecker and a Parakeet land each side of a bird feeder in our back garden. They eye-balled each other carefully for a short while then each proceeded to leather into the contents therein whilst only periodically pausing to check what the other one was up to. Curiously enough neither bird seemed overly bothered by the presence of the other or indeed the arrival of a second Parakeet which incidentally tried a cool three point landing on a neighbouring feeder and instead overshot the perch and ended up hanging upside down after some frantic acrobatic grasping!
The first Parakeet and the woodpecker momentarily stopped eating, looked at the new arrival and after passing what I swear was a knowing look between each other, promptly went back to their feasting.
Like I said, I didn't chop any wood, but then neither did I have my Pentax and newly acquired Sigma 500 lens to hand either...

...Bugger!!