[GeneV]

I did the opposite. I bought the K20d when the K7 came out and skipped the K7.

I had batts and accessories for the K10d that would work with both cameras, and I did not see the K7 as worth the huge price difference at the time.

The only reasons in my book to go with the K7 now is if you are moving to the K5 and need a second body with similar ergonomics and accessories or if the improvement in metering with manual lenses is important enough to pay the price difference. The price difference may be smaller now, but when I bought my K20d for about $600, the K7 was almost twice that.

[excanonfd]

Timing is everything when upgrading from an old camera to another that's not as old. I upgraded K10D to K20D when K-7 was still on the store shelves and I wasn't prepared to pay the going rate of then about 1K dollars. I stumbled upon a fellow who wanted the video feature of K-x badly enough that he was willing to part with the K20D at a price that I couldn't resist. I didn't plan for this upgrade but having done so, I think I did the right thing. K-7 do not offer enough improvement over the K20D to justify it as an upgrade. It's almost like K20DSuper.

One time, I had thought to play with every flagship model, albeit firmly marching two steps behind the current model but I am going to bypass the K-7 and upgrade to a K-5 after it's replacement arrives and establishes itself. I'll end up marching just one step behind but hey, that's an upgrade in itself!

[InlawBiker]

The time to buy a used K-7 is right about now. The price is dropping right along with the price of the K-5 as folks upgrade. If you're trying to pick between the K20d and K-7 - I'm not sure why you'd pick the K20d. Since they cost about the same on the used market you may as well get the K-7 and skip a generation. Unless you have some preference for that larger body, or you want to re-use equipment that will only fit the k20d.

The for-sale board and eBay will soon be flooded with K7's as soon as the K-5 price hits around $1200, that's my feeling anyway. I have been pretty watchful of the used camera market :-)

Greg.

[EsBee]

I never had a K10d but I've found significant improvements from K20d to K-7.

I don't think you could go wrong with going directly to K-7.

[SaikouShadou]

MZ-60 to K-7 lol not quite similar xD;;its my first DSLR i own, but I got to use my girlfriend's k-m alot.
I heard alot of great things about the K-5. imho like some people have said so far. save a little bit more for that K-5 instead of K-7.
I only went to K-7 because I've been eyeing it and since K-5 was coming out, the price of the K-7 dropped. =D

[PentaxRev]

I had the K-10 and upgraded to the K-7 last November. I couldn't get over how much more refined the K-7 was. I loved my K-10. It's a great camera and I never had problems wtih ISO noise in my pictures. However, other than that, the K-7 is simply a superior camera. Here are the areas I found to be better:

Better Autofocus
Faster frame rate
Superior metering
Shutter is smoother,
Live view has improved.

Like many others have said I simply didn't feel like the K-20 was ultimately enough of an upgrade from the K10. However, I feel like the K-7 more than justifies the upgrade. If you can afford the K-5 by all means go for it, but if not, the K-7 is a very substantial upgrade from the K-10.

Perhaps an even better idea is to wait until the next generation comes out and then buy a K-5. The superior ISO performance, higher resolution and faster frame rate all sound very appealing.