Hi!
I had been shooting with Canon since 1998-2014 my first Canon was the Rebel G 35mm film camera.
When I graduated from 8th grade (Catholic School) my parents bought me a Ricoh KR-5 Super which I used from 1979-1998,so I'm not too much of a stranger to Pentax. After three months of researching and comparing, going to Photo Plus Expo than lifting and messing with buttons. I finally picked up a Pentax K-5IIs DSLR.
I didn't think changing cameras would be such a big deal but it was, it pretty much boiled down to the Canon 7D,7DMarkII,Nikon D7100,Pentax K-3 and the Pentax K-5IIs.I wanted to stick with Canon because I didn't want to start purchasing new lens, but I also wasn't too thrilled with the choices I had and the budget I wanted to stay under. The clear choices would be the 7D (five years old) or the newer version 7D Mark II, even with it's minimum upgrade it is still a stellar camera. Until you pick it up, their cameras are getting heavier my 50D is already heavy enough.
Cons: Heavy, poor battery life, Heavy
I scribbled Canon off the list, Nikon D7100 was next, light weight, ergonomically nice in my hands but 6FPS too slow, I shoot skateboarding and was currently shooting 6.3 I needed something a little faster or about the same speed. Nikon gets scribbled off the list, which leave me with Pentax. I liked the weight of the k-5IIs,DxO gave the sensor (Sony) a grade of 82 which is right up there with the Canon 1Dx and 5D Mark III. DPreview gave it a gold star which made picking this camera no brainer.
I'm glad to be back with Pentax/Ricoh!