Looking for some opinions...

[jmdeegan]

Sorry if this is the wrong place for this, it seemed like it would be OK...

wanted to get some feedback from the group..

heres a story, which leads into my question. I am in DC on business. I was last here last summer, and on that trip my k10d died, requiring a warranty repair. So no pictures. I was excited to come back with a working k10d. then the wife asked for the dslr to take portraits of the kids...so i gave in, and with me on this trip is my dinky olympus point and shoot. just like that, i lost my camera and a little of the fire to shoot after work.

it got me thinking a few things
1-perhaps its time to grab the wife a dSLR...she has another oly point and shoot, and her old canon s5 bridge camera is pretty much retired. she recognizes the quality of the k10 (she calls it my "good" camera).
2-or, maybe i need to get me the k20 or even k7 (if and when work picks up) and give her the k10, without battery grip and perhaps with a nice 18-200 type all in one lens. small, better than what she was using..

Other options were a nikon d60--her friend has one, my wife handled it and really liked it (i kinda did too), tho it loses points by way of requiring new lenses...i also like the olympus dSLR options, for their sheer size...tiny things....would love the samsung equivalent, but i believe it won't be using k mount lenses natively, so thats sort of disappointing. And then, i actually saw an Olympus PEN yesterday, in a CVS here in DC around the neck of a tourist. nice looking camera, I have to say. something like that would be very nice for her, or even for me as a backup....tiny, and i do generally like the olympus picture quality

so what would you recommend? right now, there's not urgency (or finances) to make a move...sort of getting ideas in my head...

[bymy141]

Reading your thoughts, I'd say both your wife and yourself need a camera with quality sensor and optics.
You seem to have invested in lenses, flashes and the like.
Having 2 systems (2 different mounts) is a very expensive if you want to take advantage of mounting wide / long lenses.

Are you and your wife looking for another camera system or just a good camera with a standard lens?
Having Pentax and Oly I think is Ok as long as you are not planning to add extra gear to it. Otherwise I'd stick to 1 system.

The Penn seems to be a good camera, but I'd try it out before buying, it seems to have some useage limitations.
With the viewfinder and all. You need to understand if you can live with that. Read some of the Internet reviews.

An option to explore is to buy an extra K20D, they are very cheap, cheaper than a K10D over here.
The biggest advantage is that it shares the same controls, the same lens and flash mounts.
If size matters have a look at the Km/2000, rumours are that there will soon be an upgraded version of that camera.

I hope this helps.

- Bert