Originally posted by kytra they are both quite big cameras, why don't you hunt for an used K-x - lighter and smaller - better for female hands and more feature packed than K10 and K20. Plus the different colors...
Originally posted by Eagle_Friends the ladies love the white k-x fyi
Can I call you all a bunch of sexist pigs? Please?
Jools - my advice as a female shooter is go for as much camera as your budget can allow for, especially if she's taking it seriously. I have a K-7, a K20D and a K10D that I wore out and is no longer working. The K20D has some definite advantages over the K10D which I'm sure you've learned from comparisons.
As for feature packing, I guess it would depend on how she shoots. I find that I have absolutely no use whatsoever for scene modes and other nifty "user-friendly" features. So before making your decision, maybe pay attention to what settings she's using when she shoots. Talk to her a little bit, being discrete, and find out what she would like in terms of features if she had her ideal camera. Go shopping and looking with her and see what it is about the Nikons and Canons she's eyeing that attracts her to them. Then use that information to make the final decision. Also, to talk her into Pentax, you can use the selling point of having more lenses between you instead of having to have two systems worth of lenses. More lenses.
My husband briefly toyed with playing around with photography a bit last summer and I'm sorry. The dude had no choice. It was Pentax.
Oh and FYI on the smaller camera thing, when at a shoot (performance, sports, whatnot) I shoot both cameras, both having grips. My delicate female hands have no trouble whatsoever handling that oh-so-great-big K20D with grip, often one handed.