At title, really. Interested in this camera and interested in any views about it on here. Thanks.

Hi I have one and love it but it depends what you want to do with it the autofocus is slow compared to Canon or Nikon. Image quality is as good as it gets with an APS size sensor. Handling and ergonomics better than Canon on a par with Nikon. Lens choice is limited but what there is is good. Nothing comes close for the money.

All modern DSLRs are brilliant. I think the key is what lens will you use. Apparently the 18 135 is horrible. There are other options but they get pricey. If your happy with an 18 55 then you might be fine

I have one together with a couple of the pancakes lenses and 3 of the DA* ones.

Handling better than any other mid range DSLR including the D7K which I owned for a few weeks. The IQ is the best you can get on a 16mp apsc sensor but not by much compared to the d7k. Massive advantage that it has built in image stabilisation and the really cool and tiny primes. Also if you have a thing for medium telephoto lenses the 50-135 is one of the nicest lenses I have ever used.

As mentioned above AF though accurate can be slow especially with first gen SDM lenses.

All that aside why not have a look at the newer , faster K30?

Cheers for these, useful stuff. I like the idea that it’s well built and weather sealed, as well as the decent IQ. The k-30 probably too much money for me (I’m assuming it costs more than some of the k-5 offers). Is the 18-55 kit lens a better quality lens than the 18-135? It’s considerably cheaper. And how slow is the focus – too slow for candid shots of people who aren’t posing, like travel shots? Ta again.

I’ve had a K5 for a couple of years and it is excellent. AF is v quick in my experience. Lens choice is far from “limited” – I have a couple that are about 30 years old (Pentax use the same mount now as then), some lovely primes, the WR 18-135 which is great as an everyday (I actually use it, rather than “apparently”). The 18-55 standard and 50-200 lenses are not that great, especially wide open. Wife has a K30, but won’t let me use it!

You should be able to find the K-30 at the same price as a K-5 if not for less. It is a newer model but it belongs to a lower tier (kinda the replacement of a k-r). It has better/faster AF, same if not better weather sealing is a bit lighter/smaller and feels a little bit less well made but overall a great camera.

The 18-135 is a good but not great lens but has the newer version of the motor and thus is faster to focus. The 18-55 and 55-200 are not great optically but the 55-300 is a little gem and before the price hikes probably the best value in the Pentax lens lineup.

Thanks again, food for thought here. If anyone has pics from either camera I’d be interested to have a link to them. No worries if not. Ta.

Not sure when I last put anything on here, or tagged things properly, but http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmckeating/tags/k5/ should have a bunch of pictures…

Cheers pid – had a quick look and you’ve got some lovely shots there, even though I’m only on an iPhone. From what I can see, sharpness, colour and exposure look great. Cheers.

I’ve never heard “Pentax” and “limited choice of lenses” in the same sentence before!

I had the earlier K7 camera for a while. Lovely thing to hold and use, nice solid feel, dust and water resistant. I had the 17-70 and 50-135 f4 lenses and a Sigma wide angle. Picture quality was very good with a decent lens on the front, and the newer sensor in the K5 is supposed to be one of the best around.
On the downside AF performance for moving subjects was crap compared to a Canon – I’m not sure if this has been improved on the K5. The lens choice is limited if you’re after a decent quality, modern long zoom. Very good choice of compact primes though, although most of them aren’t cheap.
The Canon 7D I have now is a better camera in nearly every respect, but I do miss the more compact size and handling of the Pentax.