Hey all, thanks for the comments. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the post and that it helped a few of you decide which camera to get.
Since these photos (original post) were taken I've done a whole lot more traveling and put the K-5 and DA* lenses through some quite brutal weather. I figured I could update this post with some of my more recent adventures that continued putting the K-5 to the test. The K-5 has worked flawlessly so far and it goes with me everywhere. People often ask, "Do you ever NOT have your camera?" My answer, "Rarely." haha
Anyway, my most recent trip included 14 airports, over 35K miles flown and 3.5 months away from home. I went to Budapest, Hungary; Barcelona and Terrassa, Spain; Rome, Italy (was there during the OWS riots that turned violent too); and Melbourne, Australia (then back home to Utah of course). The K-5 went along with me the whole way, either on my back, in my hands or on my shoulder. :-)
Most of these photos are from Melbourne, Australia since that's where I took the K-5 through the worst weather. Although I did drop the K-5 on the concrete while waiting for the metro in Barcelona. It was right in front of about 30 people who all went, "Ohhh!!" The strap slipped out of my hand and it fell about 2 ft. landing first on the top corner of the flash. Aside from a minor scratch there's no other damage and everything still works perfectly!
No visit to Australia can be had without a visit to the beach!
Yup, I was one of the weird dudes running around the beach with a "big camera" taking pictures of everything. (A friend of mine here.)
One of the best parts for me was shooting a few of the surfers. The longest lens I own is the 50-135 which makes it a bit more challenging to get surfers from the beach, so I had to get a bit wet. To get some of these shots I went a bit more than waist deep with waves soaking me up to about my upper chest. Yes, the K-5 got wet, several times. We were out there for around 6 hours but I forgot to rinse off the K-5 every couple hours (having too much fun). When I got back to the hotel I gave it a good cleaning though. (Been working flawlessly for months after.)
This girl and her friend came up to me asking why I was out there with such a "huge camera" (her words, not mine). Anyway, after the short and humorous conversation she wanted a photo. What you don't see here is that she almost fell over on the landing — quite entertaining.
I took the K-5 out Snapper fishing for a day with a few guys I work with in Melbourne. Of course I had to make a few people nervous by leaning off the side of the boat a bit with the K-5 (was trying to get a few interesting photos, didn't really work). This wasn't really a tough environment for the K-5 other than the heat, slight humidity and a couple splashes. But, still some fun photos.
I went hiking a couple times but again, not much of a test for the K-5 with only dust/dirt to deal with.
I did, however, purchase the 31mm ltd before one of the hiking adventures, which is a stunning lens and worth every penny. I luckily managed to capture this shot, with a bee mid-flight and butterfly nearby. (And plenty of bees buzzing around my head...)
I went over to the Royal Melbourne Zoo while it was raining on and off all day, a good chance to see things without tons of people around.
And another shot I really love with the 31mm ltd. You'd never know it from this shot but there's some really thick and scratched up glass between the camera and this guy... Again, a stunning lens.
The rest of these were with the 50-135
Later that day we went for a trek into the rainforest when it decided to downpour. Fortunately I was with some adventurous people that wouldn't let a "little" rain stop them (it was like taking a shower in a muddy forest). We were all soaked from head to toe within 15 minutes and half covered in dirt or mud (especially our shoes and pants). It was awesome! The K-5 had no protection the whole time (only out there for a little over an hour) but was as wet as showering with it the whole time. We also had to check for leeches after we got back, haha. I shot with the DA* 16-50 here.
Not content with some silly water, we ventured out into a storm another day by a beach. The wind was blowing like crazy depending on where we were at, enough that the rain was sometimes nearly coming in horizontally. I didn't expect it but by the time we got back to the car the K-5 even had sand on it (but it never touched the ground). Needless to say, we didn't stay out there long.
And most recently I've been travelling between Las Vegas and Salt Lake City to visit friends and family before I leave again. After driving back from Vegas one weekend I got the sudden urge to get away from people so I drove out to Park City at 3am and then out to the edge of the Wasatch National Forest just past Kamas. I didn't stay for long since I didn't find a spot I liked but on the drive back to Park City I stopped off for this quick early morning shot.
These next couple weekends the K-5 will get the real cold/snow treatment so we'll see how it handles that. :-)
In Feb. I leave for Europe and Australia again, but this time for 6+ months, so we'll see what kind of stuff the K-5 goes through this time! :-)