Originally posted by davemdsn Will, I'm not sure you need to buy a K20D. I still have and still love my K10. While there are other features in the K20 besides MP, they will make their way into the next generation of lower priced Pentax models. If you don't need the 14 MP you could always skip this model. I'm not saying this to be rude. It sounds like you don't have a need for it, so why buy it? Especially at this price. You can get an awfully nice lens for the price of this camera.
Dave,
Thanks--I respect your opinion a lot. You are surely right in one sense:
nobody really "needs" the K20D. If the K10D was a great camera six months ago, and it was, then it ought to be a great camera today.
Still, I placed my order last night and the K20D should arrive tomorrow. I checked Amazon.com's return policy carefully before placing my order and I will treat the camera with kid gloves for a week before putting my K10D up for sale.
I don't urgently need the 14 MP, or the live view, and I don't care much that the auto-focus speed has not improved. What I do need--or very badly want--is the K20D's better performance at higher ISO in lower light. Indeed, it was a need for better high ISO performance that brought me to the digital SLR in the first place. I have a wedding to shoot weekend after next, another on the calendar shortly after that, a Confirmation (with the Bishop) and a school graduation coming up in April and May, a couple portraits, and I hope to be doing more and more weddings. There are of course folks out there shooting weddings with Nikon D40's and Rebel XTi's, but the folks I am trying to compete with are using Canon 5D's or at least 40D's and now Nikon D300's. It's possible that I bought into the wrong platform for the kind of photography I'm doing, but I really don't want to come to that conclusion, in part because, if it's true, well, I'm stuck, because I can't afford to switch, but also because there's a lot about Pentax that I really, really like.
Re the issue of a new body vs a new lens, you're right, that's been on my mind, too. I have really been wanting to get a Bigma. But the Bigma is a hobby purchase: When we go on vacation, I like to pretend I'm on assignment for National Geographic. So this year, I'll just have to see if I can use that 14 MP resolution to get even closer to those bighorn sheep I hope to see again in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Will