I'm certainly a value/bang-for the buck kind of guy. I'm terribly late to the K-5 party, but I'm hoping to snag one soon. I believe that it is *still* near the top of the heap (if not at the top) of the best APS-C cameras available today. I'm pretty pleased with the 20x30 prints I've seen from APS-C cameras and frankly, I don't think there are many images that I'm going larger than that with. I think it provides a lot of bang-for-the-buck particularly if one can buy one around $900 (body). I also think it is sort of amazing that I can get *still* probably within $75 for what I paid for my K-x (which I purchases as a low-mileage used kit) - which will help pay for the upgrade. That's value too.
Comparing that to the Nikon 800/E (which is 3x the price of the K-5) is sort of like comparing a $25,000 Prius with a $75,000 Mercedes Benz CLS. They aren't really targeting the same demographic. If your discretionary income let's you afford some of the finer things in life, more power to you. A lot of people are going to have a harder time justifying an additional $2000 for a camera body, particularly if it also means they start from Square One on lenses and other accessories. (Frankly, a lot of the 800/E specs seem aimed more at videography than still.) If *Pentax* released a full frame camera with the 800's specs of only 4 FPS and top (real) ISO of 6400, you could hear the PentaxForums screams in Nebraska. I don't think the fact that there are far more expensive cars out there changes the bang-for-the-buck with the Prius and I'd say the same for the K-5. Should Pentax announce a full frame camera (I'm last of the true believers) particularly for in the neighborhood of $2700 that can take advantage of all your K-mount stuff, I'd think that would have to give one looking for another step-up pause. My grandmother told me a long time ago that "the grass is always greener on the *other* side of the fence". That's human nature. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
