Originally posted by iClick That flexibility would be great to have.
---------- Post added 10-28-2014 at 10:02 AM ----------
Thanks for the advice, everyone. I am leaning toward the K-5II or K-5IIs.
I hope to not offend the hardcore Pentax people here, but also I started thinking about the “other” brands. I like that they seem to have better auto focus. Although I hear that the K-5II(s) have much improved focusing. I realize jumping ship would be more expensive for me in the long run and may or may not yield me much better results, if any. I have been looking at the D90, D5100, and D7000 with maybe the 18-135 VR lens. I’m sure a few of you have had experience with those. Would I still be better off with the K-5 series and the lenses I have?
Whoa, now that's just crazy talk.
Wish I could help out with that. There are some people here who can... but just based on what's gone before, usually those looking to change brands are those looking for something Pentax doesn't offer. We lost one long time Pentax user when the D7100 came out a year before the K-3. He got tired of waiting and jumped after 6 months. Others have left for a feature Pentax doesn't do as well at. Flash for wedding guys for example. And we've lost quite a few to people wanting to move up to Full Frame. It just makes more sense if you're going to do that to have both your APS-c and FF camera be the same brand and share lenses. I don't know that I've heard of anyone switching brands unless there was feature they wanted un-available on Pentax, be it a lens, or whatever. The things Pentax does, they do really well. The K-5 series being a case in point.
When you talk "better auto-focus" that can be deceptive. The fact that they have better AF on their expensive cameras, doesn't necessarily mean they have better AF on their cheaper models, Don't be thinking you're going to get Nikon D750 focussing on your D7000. It doesn't work that way. You have to compare the cameras you want against each other.
Apart from general stuff like that, wait for someone who's knows the bodies you want and can give you some head to head advice. No one is better at this stuff than someone who has actually used both cameras for a couple of months, and gotten to know all the ins and outs. The problem with reviews, is those guys just don't use the camera long enough to get comfortable with them. Things that are a big deal to a reviewer can fade away to nothing as you use the camera. The big questions are, what are the issues, after you have gotten used to the camera.