Originally posted by dnaseigel Last Friday our Pentax sales rep brought a K-7 to our store for us to see and comment on. He brought it with a 21 Limited and the size and feel was fantastic. Anyone who is fearing this camera is going to be too small, please do no worry. The ergonomic planning on this camera is our of this world.
The thing that I noticed immediately was that the auto focus was not conspicuously faster than the K20D which I viewed side by side with the K-7. However when I put the DA* lenses on, and I put all six of them on, I was startled by the difference in AF speed. The biggest difference was in the 55mm f/1.4 and the 300mm f/4. However all the DA* lenses focused much more responsively than they did on the K20D.
It was also encouraging to see it lock focus on very low contrast subjects. I am of the opinion now, even just test driving a pre-production model, that this is the speed merchant camera that Pentax enthusiasts have been waiting for.
Speeking of waiting, it has been a nightmare keeping my mouth shut so as not to violate our NDA. This camera will prove to be well worth the wait, and I submit now that it will dwarf the attention the K10D brought to Pentax.
Peace
I don't know if this would play into things at all, but aren't the DA pancakes already among the fastest focusing lenses that Pentax makes? I imagine it would be harder to gauge an improvement for a lens that is already good just from a side to side comparison. And even though I would like them to be even faster, I have a hard time imagining the pancakes focusing that much faster than they do on previous bodies.
The DA* 55 focusing faster is good news, though, as that was one of the major knocks on that lens (the other major knock being the price).
Thanks for posting your impressions.