I like the cliche:
Quote: Better the software you know how to use than the one you don't
I think the same thing applies to cameras. About a year ago, i held a fieldtrip on using hdr. The idea is we would start out in a park building, make sure everyone knew how to do the simple bracketing and then go out in the field. Sigh - even some experienced Nikon users had some trouble finding the right menus and options. The result was: it turned into a camera exploration session vice a field trip. Thats ok but i started thinking then that there was something to the Pentax ergonomics advantage.
Feeling much more humbled today, the third day of owning this marvelous K5. But i've gone from feeling like i could do anything with the K20, then struggling with some new ways to use the K5 controls.
Some of this camera difficulty traces to the camera controls and design, but a lot more of it traces to the photographer not taking the time to really learn the camera.
I had an internal chuckle the other day. First time i saw my 86 year old uncle in a long time. I showed him 4 of my landscape prints that i had printed out on 16" by 24" canvas, and stretched them myself on an internal framework. He complimented me and then said you have to see a photo i took. Showed me several snow pictures from Minnesota and his prize shot was a redish fall foliage picture that was stretched out on a narrow strip on the horizon of a lake. Course it was done on a small print and without a tripod since the details looked pretty smeared. Course i complimented him. He finally said: you must have a really good camera? and Who does your enlarging for you? You do???
After one has been in the enthusiast world for a few years, we tend to take things like the various processing software, SLRs, digital technology and our own composition skills for granted. We don't realize that the average person is still taking pictures with their phone or a PS if they are lucky, and printing via jpeg direct to Costco, Fred Meyer, Kit camera shop, etc. Processing software - what's that? Tripod - do people still use them?
Now if i could find my instructions, i could figure out where the K5 on-button is