Originally posted by audiobomber By "image quality" you mean "high ISO image quality", correct? My K20D has nicer IQ than my K-x at lower ISO values. I'll be looking closely at the full range of sensitivities with the new cameras, not just high ISO. I'm also very interested in colour performance and DR, and I don't mean measurements, I mean colours and expanded DR that I can see. The supposed high DR of the K-x hasn't shown itself in my day to day photos, and I much prefer the colour rendition of the K20.
Well the Samsung CMOS sensor of the K20D does produce nice images but only at lower ISOs. I do like the K20D's color rendition but it wasn't all good.
What the new K-r and K-5 bring is better image quality over a much, much wider range of ISO settings. That means one can shoot with low ISO or high ISO with the knowledge that noise and color fidelity are well preserved. The WB improvements are also pretty significant. The shots were taken under mixed artificial lighting and they were pretty good, but you know what? the WB for the K-5 is even better!
The K-r is a very responsive and competent camera... AF is better than the K-x, which was a bit better than the K-7, which in turn was a lot better than the K20D. And small touches like the larger LCD screen and the visible AF points do add up to a camera that's easy to like. For price to performance it is definitely up there. But wait for the K-5... it is a lot more camera...