Thanks Alan. Yes, I was surprised by the ltd surviving. Once out of the jungle I did stick it in a bag with a silica pouch to make sure. Im still keeping a close eye on it but it continued to perform brilliantly for the rest of the holiday so I think someone was smiling on me that day.

WG

Last week I got back from a holiday in Malaysia which included a trip into the jungles of Borneo. While taking a photo of a spectacular waterfall with my K5 and 15mm ltd I dropped them into the river! Only in for a couple of seconds during which I was already cursing myself for being so stupid. 'This is it' I thought 'I'm going to spend the rest of the holiday without a camera'. What a nightmare!

However, a quick towelling down and nothing seemed amis. I spent 5mins drying it and checking seals (especially around the lens mount). No problems. I was using again 5mins later to film the Iban tribesmen catching fish.

Thank Pentax for weather sealing in compact affordable bodies! And also for the build quality of the limiteds (which was also unharmed).

As an aside to those who recommended I upgrade from the GX20 - completely the right decision. Thank you. Not for the weather sealing (which th GX20 also has) but the performance of the camera. Exposure is much more consistent, dynamic range was greatly improved too along with autofocus. What really surprised me was the usefulness of video and also the live view implementation. I found myself using these much more than I expected.


WG
(one happy and relieved K5 owner)

K5 received (delivery was yesterday but I wasn't around to receive it so picked it up this morning).

Exactly as described - in great condition. All well packaged and delivered quickly too. Thanks Jeeves.

I can't believe the 43 Ltd hasn't gone yet. That is a cracking price.

Ok. Dilemma solved. Just paid for a secondhand K5.

Thanks for the advice guys.

WG

Good point John - testing before going away is a strong argument in favour of getting the K5 now. If I decided to hold off I am pretty much certain the K3(?) wouldn't be available before I went away so I would be using the GX20.

Pentaxophile - K30 is a nice idea but I would definitely miss the top LCD and a few other features of the K5.

Hmmm... Good advice everyone. I realise this is all subjective but it's good to hear people's thoughts.

The price jump to the next model will probably be huge so I have to ask myself whether, in reality, I am unlikely to be an early adopter.

I mentioned the probable benefits in my OP and people seem to be confirming those. It hasn't been an urgent need before now (I am definitiely the limiting factor - not my GX20) but the conditions in Malaysia up the ante a bit.

Maybe I wait for a week or so and see if anything is leaked prior to Photokina to help me make up my mind. I'm probably leaning towards picking up a K5 though...

I'm looking for a bit of advice on a DSLR upgrade.

I'm going to Malaysia in early-mid September and part of the holiday will involve wildlife trips in Borneo. I'm contemplating upgrading my GX20 (K20d) to a K5. As well as the general improvement in a lot of areas, I think it would give me a couple of specific benefits:

- Low light improvement (as it can be quite dark in the jungle)
- Dynamic range improvement (also to do with taking pictures in the jungle)

However, I had been holding out for the successor of the K5. At a guess it will probably include focus-peaking which I would find useful. If I upgraded to the K5 now then I probably wouldn't upgrade again for quite while.

The fact that the K5 now seems to be discontinued in certain locations suggests it's replacement is around the corner. I know that the replacement would not be out in time for my holiday, but I could wait and use my GX20 for Malaysia (as it is still a damn fine camera).

Question 1
Do people think I would see a big boost in performance from the K5?

Question 2
Am I mad to wait for news of the K5 succesor given the good price of the K5 now?

I realise these questions are fairly subjective but just looking for some other viewpoints.

Cheers

WG

Just one copy?

I was in Hyde Park yesterday. They asked if I had a camera in my bag and I said yes. I started to get it out and they said "Is it longer than 150mm?". I answered no (truthfully) and they didn't even look. I don't know where 150mm came from as I haven't seen that on any official advice. They didn't seem all that keen to get into any arguments or deny me entry though

I had my 15, 43 and 100 with me. I didn't even use the 100, although I may have if we had stayed around until Bradley Wiggins came on stage.

These are stunning... again!

Are they stuffed? Are you invisible? How do you get so close?

It's not just the closeness to the subject though. Lighting, focus, framing, plain background - it's all expertly done.