I don't think anyone really denies the merits of the K-5, got one wouldn't give it up for a K-30 but...

Without the cash back there is a rather substantial £100 and am pretty sure that it will grow to more than that after the first couple of months it is in the market.

Weight is down by more than 100gr which is quite substantial and you can't argue with the fact that the K-01 has the edge over the K-5 on IQ. On top of that if there is one thing the K-5 is a bit lacking is AF speed and the K-30 at least on paper it seems to be doing something to address it.

Not a K-5 replacement if you have one but a rather good alternative if you don't care for the top LCD and the better construction.

Given how close the prices are at the moment it is a hard choice.

Better construction, better battery life, more direct controls and top LCD (K-5)
Slightly cheaper, smaller/lighter, slightly better IQ (going by the K-01 IQ) and suspected better AF.

If I was buying now I'd go for the K-30. I am not all that particular on the top LCD, all the controls I need are on the K-30 as well (I can live with some menu digging for the rest) and any drop in size/weight is a bonus for me. Pentaprism and two dials and weather sealing are the only things that I need from higher end models that most mid/lower end cameras do not have but the K-30 does so done deal.

The one thing that would bother me is the battery life. I still don't get half as many out of the K-5 as I used to get with the D7K and the K-30 has a smaller battery. I'd just buy a couple of batteries and be done.

I do have a K-5 but I will probably buy a K-30 for the better AF/IQ and smaller size.

As far as the K-5 replacement goes the only two areas I can see that Pentax having quite a bit of room for improvement is battery life and AF sophistication. I wouldn't hold of a purchase awaiting the upgrade of the K-5.

I'd stick with the K-5 if I could only have one of the two if only just for the higher capacity battery which is already not stellar.

At £599 though I will be getting one, shame we have to wait near two months to get to play with one!

Ok ok I didn't like it, it might have been perfect but I really found it a bit dull.

Yes the 18-135 needs to be nearer the price of 18-105 of other brands to be competitive especially given that the 18-55 is not really a very good lens.

i would add 100-150£ to those numbers to get anything resembling UK prices. I am assuming the magazine did a direct conversion using current exchange rates and ignorimg the fact that US quoted prices do not include VAT. So doubt the kit will go for anything less than £649 on launch

The link contains a dot in the end remove it and the link works

Plenty of lenses here no need for yet another one but if it comes bundled with the 18-135 at least I have a fairly valuable lens to sale and recoup a bit of the expense.

Very nicely done

I am drooling, shame it is not all that much lighter but I don't care it looks sooooo nice.

It gets better and better, 16MP, Pentaprism, optional AA rechargeables, seems to be sharing the same imaging processing as the K-01, really looking forward to this one now