Originally posted by clockwork247 between the 2 camera, i go for pentax... cheaper lens, the camera does just about everything you ever want it to do, nice handling, good color choice.
I agree with all the points except "cheaper lens". These days Pentax lenses really are not cheaper.
What Pentax has to offer with similar price/performance that would be equivalent to good Nikon consumer zoom's like:
18-70mm f3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor
18-105mm f/3.5-5.6G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom-NIKKOR?
Note, that these zooms are with focusing engines and they do focus faster than screwdriver lenses. They are not too expensive too.
What about inexpensive primes like:
50mm f/1.8D AF Nikkor
AF-S DX NIKKOR 35mm f/1.8G?
Granted, Pentax has DA 35mm f/2.4, with similar price, but it is slower than 35mm f/1.8 Nikkor.
The latest Pentax 18-135mm lens looks like a good consumer zoom. Nice focusing speed and sharpness. What about its price? Well ... thats not so nice.
So Pentax glass is not cheaper. Maybe it was cheaper some time ago.
Btw. "A lot of second hand glass" is another Pentax myth too. All photography stores in my area that sell second hand lenses have a lot of Canon and Nikon glass, but very little (if any) of the Pentax glass. The same applies to the new glass as well. In addition to this better Pentax lenses are overpriced (for what they can do). The same applies to Pentax flashes.
It may be slightly different story if you like to shot manual though.
Originally posted by clockwork247 Cheaper alternative would be the oly 600 (yes I said 600 and not 620), the 600 is essentially the same as the 620, the sensor is quite nice, and you can get 1 with a dual kit for around 400 (exceptional value IMO), oly has one of the nicest jpg production out of the camera I've seen.
I agree that these Oly cameras are nice, but there is one 'but' - The Olympus is abandoning the 4/3-rds system. The only 4/3 camera still being produced is E5, the rest of the new Oly stuff is micro 4/3. Granted 4/3 lenses can be used on micro 4/3 cameras with an adapter, but still, their performance will not be the same. So it is probably not a good idea to invest into 4/3 system now. Micro 4/3 is a different story. Even there Oly is a bit slow.