Originally posted by Dan James I came across an example of another DSLR on my wish list, the Konica Minolta Dynax 5D....
... the 5D is a lovely camera, and arguably handles better and feels better built than the Pentaxes. Everything is pretty logical to use, and it's winning me over...
My dilemma is whether to keep the 5D and buy a better lens to see what it can really do (I had the old Minolta 35-70 f/4 macro when I had Sony DLSRs which was fantastic and would be my first choice), to just keep using the kit zoom (I also have a 70-something zoom I've not taken out of the box yet and might never) which delivers better than I expected, or to sell it on having tried it and stick to the two Pentax.
Thoughts welcome!
Keep it, for sure!
There's some great, inexpensive Minolta AF glass available used these days. I picked up a brand new, still-factory-sealed Sigma 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 II Aspherical (the non-macro version) fairly recently for GBP £15 (under $20), and whilst it, too, is technically a "kit" lens, it's one of the best I've used. It's clearly built to a price, but optically very capable (good enough that I like the results on my 24MP Hasselblad HV).
The nice thing with Minolta AF glass is that it has dropped in price about as far as it can by now. So long as you shop around and pay the lower end of market prices, you can buy a lens, play with it for a few weeks or months, and if you don't like it, sell it for what you paid. There's literally no risk...