[wowarning]

After racking my brain, reading a ton, and changing my mind about fifty times, I finally jumped on a K5ii with the 18-135WR lens off Amazon. $1100ish with no tax made it difficult not to justify the minimal additional expense over a similarly equipped K30 or K50 (approx only $150 than the K30 w/lens and $150 more than the K50 w/lens). For others on the fence I will share the tipping points that guided my decision, and they are just that, as the K30 and K50 have their own advantages over the K5ii. Background - I've been using the DS quite happily since it came out (and until my flash stopped working!) and was a ZX-5n user before that.
They were as follows:
- build quality. I really like the rugged classic design over the flashier ones. The magnesium body and additional manual controls really appeal to me.
- top LCD. As much as I believe those that say they don't miss it, I can't get past the fact that I really like having everything on top of the camera. Might be nostalgia, but it's a quality touch IMO.
- low light focusing. I frequently shoot in dim lighting and it drives me crazy when the camera hunts for focus. This camera seems to be about as good as it gets in that arena.
- external mic jack. A buddy of mine used an external mic on his Rebel to record a school function and it made all the difference in the world. I have a lot of school functions in my future!
- grip. The grip will definitely be in my future. Another one of the things that for me adds a mental factor of feeling like you're shooting with a piece of serious gear.
- bang for the buck as far as discount goes. The cheapest I've really seen the K30 body for is $500 with the lens another $400, about the same as the kit together which is $900. The K50 body $700 plus lens $400 is same as kit at $1100. The K5ii body at $800 plus the lens $400 is $1200. About $100 more than the kit cost, resulting in a $100 discount in my eyes anyway. Always looking for a bargain!

As far as image quality goes, it's a push with the K30. Who knows how magical the K50 tweaking will be, but I'm pretty sure I won't be kicking myself. The K30 already has better video handling, and the K50 seems to improve on that, but the continued lack of a mic jack kind of negated that in my eyes. If it wasn't for the focusing difficulties of the K5 in tungsten light, that would have likely been my choice. Although I read a number of posts from folks who did not have the problem or who had it fixed by firmware, they were far outnumbered by the ones experiencing the issue even after firmware updates. I couldn't risk rolling the dice on that one - I don't have the kind of luck that one needs for that. I hope that my personal assessment, and personal it is, may be of some help to anyone else making the same tough decision. This forum was of great help to me and hopefully I can make some positive contributions in return.

I'm sure I would have been very happy with either one of the other cameras, but I am glad that I was patient enough to really mull over the decision. I am totally stoked to get the box from the UPS guy tomorrow!

[Adam]

After racking my brain, reading a ton, and changing my mind about fifty times, I finally jumped on a K5ii with the 18-135WR lens off Amazon. $1100ish with no tax made it difficult not to justify the minimal additional expense over a similarly equipped K30 or K50 (approx only $150 than the K30 w/lens and $150 more than the K50 w/lens). For others on the fence I will share the tipping points that guided my decision, and they are just that, as the K30 and K50 have their own advantages over the K5ii. Background - I've been using the DS quite happily since it came out (and until my flash stopped working!) and was a ZX-5n user before that.
They were as follows:
- build quality. I really like the rugged classic design over the flashier ones. The magnesium body and additional manual controls really appeal to me.
- top LCD. As much as I believe those that say they don't miss it, I can't get past the fact that I really like having everything on top of the camera. Might be nostalgia, but it's a quality touch IMO.
- low light focusing. I frequently shoot in dim lighting and it drives me crazy when the camera hunts for focus. This camera seems to be about as good as it gets in that arena.
- external mic jack. A buddy of mine used an external mic on his Rebel to record a school function and it made all the difference in the world. I have a lot of school functions in my future!
- grip. The grip will definitely be in my future. Another one of the things that for me adds a mental factor of feeling like you're shooting with a piece of serious gear.
- bang for the buck as far as discount goes. The cheapest I've really seen the K30 body for is $500 with the lens another $400, about the same as the kit together which is $900. The K50 body $700 plus lens $400 is same as kit at $1100. The K5ii body at $800 plus the lens $400 is $1200. About $100 more than the kit cost, resulting in a $100 discount in my eyes anyway. Always looking for a bargain!

As far as image quality goes, it's a push with the K30. Who knows how magical the K50 tweaking will be, but I'm pretty sure I won't be kicking myself. The K30 already has better video handling, and the K50 seems to improve on that, but the continued lack of a mic jack kind of negated that in my eyes. If it wasn't for the focusing difficulties of the K5 in tungsten light, that would have likely been my choice. Although I read a number of posts from folks who did not have the problem or who had it fixed by firmware, they were far outnumbered by the ones experiencing the issue even after firmware updates. I couldn't risk rolling the dice on that one - I don't have the kind of luck that one needs for that. I hope that my personal assessment, and personal it is, may be of some help to anyone else making the same tough decision. This forum was of great help to me and hopefully I can make some positive contributions in return.

I'm sure I would have been very happy with either one of the other cameras, but I am glad that I was patient enough to really mull over the decision. I am totally stoked to get the box from the UPS guy tomorrow!

Don't forget that the K-5 still has the potential to deliver better IQ than the K-30/K-50 (I've used both, they produce the same results) thanks to its 14-bit raw

[wowarning]

Good point Adam. I also forgot to mention the strong point of the focus peaking on the K30/50 which was appealing to me in that I have a few old M lenses (50mm 1.4, 28mm 3.5, and 135mm 3.5) - however, to me, a huge part of the joy of photography is composing the image in a big bright viewfinder, and I realized that focus peaking on a LCD screen would be removing me from that little slice of joy. Otherwise, I would have seriously considered the K-01.