[ecoronin]

My thoughts exactly. I have a K100D Super (a pretty special camera IMHO) and have held off any desires to upgrade my body to a K10, K20 or K200. I can probably keep my existing rig for another generation of bodies or two before I think upgrading would be worthwhile. By then all the new gadgets and widgets in the new body will be icing on the cake.

and by then you will have all the glass to use when you get the updated version

[Wheatfield]

Im kind of hoping its an investment in glass and that the bodies will come in the future to fix some of the problems with AF and shutter speed

I just bought a DA*55/1.4. It's AF is actually poorer than the AF performance of the screwdrive lenses that I own, and since it is an SDM only lens, it is something that no future camera body will be able to improve.
The motor is just slow.
If this is the direction Pentax intends to take, they are moving backwards instead of forwards WRT AF performance.
The glass itself is more than fine, it's actually pretty incredible.

[ecoronin]

I just bought a DA*55/1.4. It's AF is actually poorer than the AF performance of the screwdrive lenses that I own, and since it is an SDM only lens, it is something that no future camera body will be able to improve.
The motor is just slow.
If this is the direction Pentax intends to take, they are moving backwards instead of forwards WRT AF performance.
The glass itself is more than fine, it's actually pretty incredible.

I was hoping that af with a better moter in camera will help it... but if thats really the case that sucks

[Marc Sabatella]

Im kind of hoping its an investment in glass and that the bodies will come in the future to fix some of the problems with AF and shutter speed

What problems with shutter speed?

[ecoronin]

What problems with shutter speed?

slow shutter speed

[séamuis]

slow shutter speed

that doesn't make any sense.

[Wheatfield]

slow shutter speed

Are you talking about the sync speed or the top speed of the shutter?

[VAV]

Are you talking about the sync speed or the top speed of the shutter?

He may have meant frames per second.

[alderfall]

As has been posted many times before, I think the weather sealing in the body does just fine for 98% of us, the sealed lenses are not such a high priority. I shoot constantly in wind, rain, sea spray and there is now no other camera I would take walking in mountains, desert or our mossy and wet Oregon coast (with plenty of blowing sand). Just some advice for you after you invest in the Pentax body.

Eco, this could be an ideal jump, just be ready to accept that every camera, regardless of badge and price, have some little quirks. I have not just accepted the quirks in the Pentax digital system, I have embraced them and have changed my shooting around to meet those challenges most of the time.

[Quension]

-The build quality? not important?
-The steel inside instead el cheapo plastico?

The D40 build is actually pretty good, though. The Pentax bodies might be slightly better, but it's not a big advantage in this case.

Weather sealing, on the other hand, might be.

[jsherman999]

Feh. If they hadn't cheaped out on the lens mount by removing the aperture cam follower we wouldn't have to talk about the green button kludge.
When the original istD came out, it effectively wouldn't allow the use of non A series lenses.
If you wanted to use a pre A lens, you were stuck with no metering and shooting at wide open aperture.
It was only a huge uprising of bitching and moaning from the userbase, especially on the PDML that got us the green button kludge in the first place, and this on a $2K camera.
Don't wax eloquent about the GBK, Pentax only gave it to us grudgingly, and we shouldn't have to be metering with non A lenses in this fashion.

I'm not entirely sure I follow you here, wheatfield...

On my Nikon D90, I'd kill for a green button. Even the AI-S lenses do not meter with it - basically only AF lenses meter with the D90, and all MF lenses are fully manual - with no green button equiv to help at all.

On the D200/300/700, the AI-S lenses meter (equiv to the Pentax A lenses,) but D40/60/80/90, no dice.

So, basically, it would be like disabling the A setting on all the Pentax A lenses, and then taking away the green button so all the Taks, K's, M's, and crippled A's need fully manual metering with no green button assistance. That's Nikon's MF offering, sub D300.

I don't care if you consider the green button a 'kludge', give me a kludge like that on my Nikon system any day and I'd be ecstatic!

As it is, due to that limitation and the not-so-accurate viewfinder focus light indicator, MF on the D90 is much less fun and effective than on my K20D. I was looking forward to trying out a lot of MF Nikkors, but now I'm not so sure I'll bother.

MF = +1 Pentax.


.

[rparmar]

It was only a huge uprising of bitching and moaning from the userbase, especially on the PDML that got us the green button kludge in the first place, and this on a $2K camera.

That's funny, I have it on a camera that cost me much less than that.

Even assuming your narrative of events is correct look at it this way: Pentax listened and gave photographers what they wanted.

Sounds good to me!

[Wheatfield]

I'm not entirely sure I follow you here, wheatfield...

On my Nikon D90, I'd kill for a green button. Even the AI-S lenses do not meter with it - basically only AF lenses meter with the D90, and all MF lenses are fully manual - with no green button equiv to help at all.

On the D200/300/700, the AI-S lenses meter (equiv to the Pentax A lenses,) but D40/60/80/90, no dice.

So, basically, it would be like disabling the A setting on all the Pentax A lenses, and then taking away the green button so all the Taks, K's, M's, and crippled A's need fully manual metering with no green button assistance. That's Nikon's MF offering, sub D300.

I don't care if you consider the green button a 'kludge', give me a kludge like that on my Nikon system any day and I'd be ecstatic!

As it is, due to that limitation and the not-so-accurate viewfinder focus light indicator, MF on the D90 is much less fun and effective than on my K20D. I was looking forward to trying out a lot of MF Nikkors, but now I'm not so sure I'll bother.

MF = +1 Pentax.


.

Good point. Ar some place in the family, you do get full compatability with all post AI debacle lenses, right?
Nikon has traditionally been a bit of a minefield.

[rparmar]

Also I love primes and Pentax has lots more than Nikon, and the pancake lenses look really attractive. I do a lot of outdoor photography with hiking and bike touring in mind. Weather proofing is a huge issue. I am well aware of the issues with auto focus problems.

Seems like your needs match Pentax strengths. For outdoors lighting you shouldn't notice any AF issues. Grab yourself something nice and start shooting!

[fccwpe]

I did a huge amount of research when I bought my camera. I've had Canon, Minolta etc.

What put me over the edge for Pentax was the lenses. Pentax has always had the best glass. Another thing is backward compatibility. With the Pentax cameras, we have complete compatibility with any lens Pentax has ever made (I believe 25 million is the current count). In addition, the current Pentax cameras have in body shake reduction. This reduces lens cost. Hmmm better glass, less cost. NiCanon lenses cost more because their lenses have intrinsic SR.

I have no issues with AF so far (over 6000 exposures).

Just my opinion and if you are not concerned with FPS, as the best Pentax has to offer is 3 fps then the K20D is the way to go. No Dis on Nicanon, if you can afford the glass.

Most of all, have fun!