[Aristophanes]

Well, I'm now an official K-30 owner, along with the 18-135.

My K-x will be my back-up camera, indoors with the flash and the Tamron 17-50 attached most of the time to catch the kids in action.

The K-30 will get all other assignments.

I very much hope Pentax will come out with an uber-small DSLR to complement the Limiteds. The K-x actually looks respectable with the DA 40 Ltd on it now that the Sony NEX series has lowered the bar for kludge and the Nikon 1 Series for homeliness in camera design.

[Pepe Le Pew]

Well, I'm now an official K-30 owner, along with the 18-135.

My K-x will be my back-up camera, indoors with the flash and the Tamron 17-50 attached most of the time to catch the kids in action.

The K-30 will get all other assignments.

I very much hope Pentax will come out with an uber-small DSLR to complement the Limiteds. The K-x actually looks respectable with the DA 40 Ltd on it now that the Sony NEX series has lowered the bar for kludge and the Nikon 1 Series for homeliness in camera design.

Why not use the K-30 indoors?

[curlednoodles]

The Original DA 18-55 WR DA 50-200 WR are metal mounts. I know because I own them.

The 18-55mm WR that came with my K-30 has the metal mount, too.

I really think the K-30 is hard to pass by at its current price point. I prefer the look of the K-30 but it would appear that the K-50 has a more comfortable grip. I can only go by the pictures as i havent held a K-50 yet.

The higher ISO of the K-50 would be of no benefit to me. I very rarely take my K-30 above 6400.
If you took a photo with the K30 at ISO 100 and then took the same photo with the K50 at ISO 100, the images will be identical, so its just marketing for the K50.

The K50 is essentially a K30 in a different coat. Either way you will have yourself a great camera.

Also, dont underestimate the weather sealing. Ive been caught in the rain several times now and its nice to know your gear is safe.

[Colbyt]

After the recent purchase of a new OB motor I thought I hit the toy budget pretty hard so I let the rebate offer end with no action. The Hunts deal got my attention but I put if off until it was out of stock for the same reason.

Then on Friday it was back in stock with the 18-55 WR and I took the plunge. To heck with budgets; deals like $499 for lens and camera just don't happen that often. It should be here by EOD on Tuesday.

[Eruditass]

So are there improvements to low light AF?

Where do they fall within the K-5 to K-5 II low light AF scale?

[kao8]

The K-30 has finally reached my mental buy point but now we have the 50 in the equation. I have not been able to find a point by point comparison of the three cameras side by side. I would hate to take the plunge and then wish I had that extra ISO reach.

Help me out here, exactly what else am I getting? Convince me to jump or wait. The WR sealing is not important to me as I would most likely never buy a WR lens.

The changes in the newer model are so minor, that it's more a matter of personal preferences in design than anything else. I own K-30 for almost a year now and beside somewhat slow AF in dark conditions (which will probably be the same with K-50), I found very little to complain about. I'd probably go for K-30 if I had to choose today.

[cleffa]

I am new to Pentax DSLRs I only own a Pentax Q and am actually contemplating on getting a Pentax DSLR. Just want to clarify, is the 18-55 WR lens that comes with the K-50 kit set a DAL lens and not the DA lens that comes with the K-30? Is the DA more preferable to the DAL?

How much is the K-30 + 18-135 DA WR kit compared to the K-50 + 18-55 DAL WR and which should I choose? Is the 18-135 DA WR a better lens overall to the 18-55 DAL WR? I've heard good reviews from both lenses but just not sure if those reviews are for DA or DAL for the 18-55.

[jatrax]

I am new to Pentax DSLRs I only own a Pentax Q and am actually contemplating on getting a Pentax DSLR.

As far as I know all 'kits' come with a DA L lens. The difference between DA and DA L is that DA has a metal mount, quick shift and a hood, the DA L does not. I believe the k-30 came with a DA L 18-55 and the k-50 comes with a new DA L 18-55 WR. The optics are supposedly the same but having both the camera and lens weather sealed makes more sense. With the k-30 kit the camera was sealed but the lens was not. Big improvement with the k-50 in this area.

The 18-135 is IMHO a better lens than the 18-55. It has more reach and produces a noticeably better image than the 18-55, has WR, quickshift and a hood. I bought an 18-135 to replace my wife's 18-55 and the difference was immediate and easily noticeable.

As to pricing, just do a search on your favorite retailer. K-30 is on close-out at this time and may be a bargain but those will be drying up. A friend of mine got the k-30 / 18-135 kit just last month.

[Adam]

I am new to Pentax DSLRs I only own a Pentax Q and am actually contemplating on getting a Pentax DSLR. Just want to clarify, is the 18-55 WR lens that comes with the K-50 kit set a DAL lens and not the DA lens that comes with the K-30? Is the DA more preferable to the DAL?

How much is the K-30 + 18-135 DA WR kit compared to the K-50 + 18-55 DAL WR and which should I choose? Is the 18-135 DA WR a better lens overall to the 18-55 DAL WR? I've heard good reviews from both lenses but just not sure if those reviews are for DA or DAL for the 18-55.

The 18-135mm is about $300 more, but it's worth it IMO, as it's got fast/silent AF and a more versatile zoom range.

As for the kit lenses, the K-30 used to come with a DA L non-WR 18-55mm (cheaper) and a DA WR 18-55mm (more expensive). With the launch of the K-50, I believe they've discontinued the non-WR K-30 kits.

The K-50 comes with a new DA L WR 18-55mm.

To answer your question, yes, DA lenses are usually preferred over their DA L counterparts even though they're the same optically. DA L lenses have plastic mounts, no bundled hoods, and no full-time manual focus override, while DA lenses have metal mounts and both of the aforementioned features.

[brelip]

I bought the K500 instead of K30, the main reason is the handgrip. From what I see the grip on the K50 is more rounded (as mentioned before). You can compare at camerasize.com.

I don't really care about AF points light up in VF because I'll mostly be using manual glass with split screen. However, if I were to use mostly AF glass, I'd definitely go with K-50, however K50 is significantly more expensive.

The MF glass is not weather sealed, so no point for weather-sealed camera.

I do like the black shutter button on the K-30 though.