Originally posted by Clavius Personally, I seriously can't see the difference between the dark grainy OVF of my old Canon and the dark grainy OVF of my K5. So why would canon users even care what a pentaprism is?
The issue isn't whether the consumer can actually tell the difference (though I can see a clear difference between the K5 viewfinder and say, a kx viewfinder), it is whether or not enough "pro" boxes are checked on review sites as compared to the competition.
I doubt most users can actually tell the difference between 12 megapixels and 16 megapixels and 24 megapixels, but that doesn't stop review sites and camera companies from selling these things as differentiating points.
I do think that in body image stabilization, two control wheels, penta prism viewfinder, sealing, fps are all things that can sell more cameras versus the competition.
In the end, if enough low end cameras are sold, there will be more money for R and D for the upper end cameras that will follow.
I believe that the K5 II is going to have to have a sequel soon. It just lags behind the lower end cameras in terms of video specs and some other features. I imagine this fall there will be a sequel on it, probably with a better auto focus (more points, better tracking) system.