[Marc Sabatella]

Like I said, if two stops compensation didn't product unusable pictures - completely blown out highlights - then you camera was completely defective. Or else, you weren't metering properly. Can you describe how you metered (including what metering mode, whether you used "green button" or DOF preview methods, etc)?

If the K-7 blow highlights as soon as you turn compensation up, it sounds like it is behaving correctly, the way the K-x should have. Needing to apply EV compensation as a general rule is *not* right, and having to apply two stops of it is kind of like the equivalent of buying a table and needing to place a telephone book under one of the les because it is so mich shorter than the others. A thin magazine might be normal/acceptable variance (equivalent of 1/3 stop, say), but 2 stops is way, way, way outside the bounds of normal functioning.