Hi all
I really beleive that Pentax is a perfectly sensible choice for beginners, especially when you can get very capable and complete system, WR as a bonus, for about $150 in second hand.
The DSLR vs MLC war is a non sense to me. Photography has nothing to do with having a mirror or not in the camera. We must fight the MLC marketing argument pretending that MLC is WYSIWYG... The reality is that "what you see is what the manufacturer beleives you want to get". If you shoot in JPEG, this is maybe true... but if you shoot RAW, this WYSIWYG statement is just bullshit. I think that in that case OVF, especially Pentax pentaprisme, is superior to EVF.
For my 15 years old son, I just acquired a K200D with 15000 actuations with the
WR kit lenses 15-55mm and 50-200mm for 130 euros, postage included... Canikon or Fujifilm cannot beat this for beginners and even enthusiat amateurs! And for that price, you even get a mirror in the camera... Isn't that amazing
François