Originally posted by emalvick Costco doesn't sell it so it can't be that good. These are the same types of people that fancy themselves as great photographers because they have a dSLR or struggle with the fact that every picture isn't perfect with a dSLR.
Humans are strange sometimes.
I bought my K-50 from Costco with the two kit lenses, memory card, bag, straps, and some software shortly after Pentax put it on the market. It was a replacement for my Nikon D40. I was shopping for a Nikon D7200 originally, but with the K50 being $200 cheaper, weather sealed, internal stabilization, and coming with two kit lenses. I had to try it out. Turns out, it was way more comfortable and intuitive to use than the D7200 even though I had only use Nikon and Fuji cameras from the time I was 7.
Ultimately, Pentax's ergonomics and value are what have sold me. I am yet to find a more comfortable camera to use that offers so much for the price. Even though i had the dreaded aperture block issues, I still upgraded to a K3 for these reasons.
The SLR thing is funny. When I was very young and used Fuji point and shoots, I thought having a SLR would make my pictures awesome automatically, kinda like rich guys think buying a Ferrari will make them a grand prix driver. I dabbled with my Dad's F3 and got pretty terrible images at first.I will say that going from a Fuji S3000 to a D40 made for much nicer images, but only as far as actual image quality due to the larger sensor.