[aliquis]

Thanks for the answers thus far. I have no issues with buying online, I just was hoping to hold one first. Wal-mart sells the K-X for ~$535 with lens. Althought not the best deal out there, with their liberal return policy, it may be worth it.

With regards to 2), I also was looking at the Sony A-330 and A-380. They both use the same autofocus method with the view finder or live view and are very fast. Other issues with those led me away from them. The D5000 takes about 3 seconds to focus in live view.

They use a penta-mirror instead of penta-prism in the Sonys or something such and a special sensor for the live-view or whatever. Anyway they have redesigned it all to get better performance. On the other hand their viewfinder ends up darker instead. And they have no DOF preview (I'm told ..), and no video mode either.

[Class A]

Also the K-x has the anti-shake in the body, Sony and others have it in the lens so it makes their lens more expensive.

Sony has in-body image stabilisation, just as Pentax.

They use a penta-mirror instead of penta-prism in the Sonys or something such and a special sensor for the live-view or whatever.

The K-x and Sony entry level models all use penta-mirrors. This concerns the brightness of the viewfinder view only and doesn't affect LV focusing speed.

Some Sony models indeed have an extra sensor for LV, however it comes with its own compromises (follow the link and jump to "Live View").

I think it is a shame that the K-x doesn't show the AF points in the viewfinder, but it is a limitation one can easily work around. Many indeed use just the centre focus point and recompose but you can even select a specific point without taking the camera off your eye by first pressing the button that resets the AF point to the centre point and then navigate to the point you want to select. The markers in the viewfinder give you an idea where the AF points are and by counting your clicks when navigating you can manually select any AF point just fine.

[Nuke64]

Thanks for the replies. I've been searching for a good deal. I have also been tempted by the value of a two lens package. After reading another newbie post, I've decided to stick with the standard kit lens offered. The cheapest I've found is $449 at fumfie.com. They have good reviews from Nextag. I'll keep looking and probably pull the trigger soon.