[twilight_samurai]

At least going from Pentax to Nikon is easier than going to Canon, imho, as I find the ergonomics are more similar (I made the switch to Nikon last year).

There are way more Nikon users out there than Pentax so you're bound to encounter a lot of them who are more into the hardware aspect than the end results.

You pointed out that there are a lot of buttons and things on the D7000.. isn't that a GOOD thing? Gives the user easy access to functions, rather than having to menu dive. I'm not that familiar with the D7K but on my camera (D700) there are so many custom functions that I once I had set it up to behave the way I want it to, it works fantastic.

Ok.. you've listed a whole number of things your husband wishes the D7000 could do. Though I think you wrote that he chose it over Pentax due to it's video function implementation.. can you shed some light on how that's going for him? Before he bought the D7000, he must have tried out your K5 and found it lacking in certain respects, hence making the switch..

Almost sounds like he's suffering from buyer's remorse.

[LaurenOE]

At least going from Pentax to Nikon is easier than going to Canon, imho, as I find the ergonomics are more similar (I made the switch to Nikon last year).

There are way more Nikon users out there than Pentax so you're bound to encounter a lot of them who are more into the hardware aspect than the end results.

You pointed out that there are a lot of buttons and things on the D7000.. isn't that a GOOD thing? Gives the user easy access to functions, rather than having to menu dive. I'm not that familiar with the D7K but on my camera (D700) there are so many custom functions that I once I had set it up to behave the way I want it to, it works fantastic.

Ok.. you've listed a whole number of things your husband wishes the D7000 could do. Though I think you wrote that he chose it over Pentax due to it's video function implementation.. can you shed some light on how that's going for him? Before he bought the D7000, he must have tried out your K5 and found it lacking in certain respects, hence making the switch..

Almost sounds like he's suffering from buyer's remorse.

The main reason he went to Nikon was to "diversify". At the time, I had a K-5 on order, so he never got the chance to check it out. I had a K7 prior, and he'd used that. It was never a case of a Pentax "lacking".

If he had bought a K-5 too, then we would have had to duplicate much of the same kit as I have. When he went to Nikon, there were some things that we both "assumed" would be standard industry practice, and of course the "hype" that surrounds owning a Nikon. Nikon is "supposed" to be the best and the benchmark if you believe all the camera people.

(As a Pentaxian, I never felt that way - but you can't ignore the hype.)

We never imagined that some things that are so natural in one make, would be so different in another.

Sure, more buttons can be a good thing, but in the case of Nikon, they are not.

Take the image playback buttons. There are separate ones for magnify/decrease.

On the Pentax, it's done via one of the thumb wheels.

On the Nikon, the lever that controls manual focus/auto focus on the left side of the camera, also controls what focus mode you use?

On the Pentax, with one hand you can push the lens release, and with the other, take the lens off. The Nikon requires you to move out of shooting position and work the lens reversed.

The Pentax has pretty much everything you need to do on the right side.
The Nikon is all over the place.

The Pentax has a seamless GPS integration via the Hot Shoe.
The Nikon uses a GPS with a cable, that keeps a water-sealed door open.

The Pentax has a better image processing engine via the program lines.
The Nikon has required a lot more tweaking to get similar results.

The Pentax, when connected to an HDMI source, plays back the images crisply and cleanly. The Nikon doesn't seem to have the HDMI playback correct, as the image is pixelated and not easy to see.

The Nikon used it's focus assist light even when it's not THAT dark out.
The Pentax seems to hardly use the assist light and has great performance.

The Nikon lacks the cool "Hyper-Program" function of Pentax.

The video button is a big deal. I can sit down and use a remote to start and stop the video or tape the remote to the video head lever as a sort of cheap LANC. The Nikon requires that you STAND behind the camera and touch the button, so you have some video that you will throw away just because you had to touch the camera to start and stop it in video mode.

We both agree that the Nikon is a great camera, and we stand by our decision to diversify. However, the D7000 is not better than a K-5 in real shooting situations.

Just as people talk down about owning a Pentax (outside of Pentaxians), the same works the other way when it comes to owning a Nikon. In the middle ground between the two extremes, the Pentax K-5 wins.

Now, of course I am a lifelong Pentaxian, and anyone can say I am influencing my husband, which may be true to an extent. However, we understand that nothing lasts forever, and we have changed brand loyalty over the years. Actually, I am the brand loyalist, my husband is not. So when he says to me that he should have bought the K-5, I remind him that we needed to diversify and keep using the competition, in case something drastic ever happens to Pentax.

[sawyer0413]

OK, since this is in reference to me (LaurenOE's husband), let me fill in my likes and dislikes about the Nikon D-7000.

Likes/Loves:
* I like that Nikon equipment is broadly available. I was able to buy my Nikon D-7000 kit at BestBuy at a price less than B&H or Adorama, and I was able to apply a coupon from BestBuy to lower it even further.
* I like that most camera departments carry Nikon which means I can find a piece of equipment locally.
* I like that Nikon used equipment on E-Bay and Craigslist is readily available.
* I like the fit and finish of the equipment. It is well made, as I would expect from any top-line camera company (and have directly experienced from Pentax).
* I like the availability of 3rd-party books. I listed this because it is there. Cannot imagine why anyone would need a book other than the manufacturer's guide, but it is there.
* I love the availability. Pentax equipment, from camera bodies to lenses, can be out-of-stock or hard to get.
* I love the availability of 3rd-party equipment. Pretty much any camera item made is going to fit this camera.

Dislikes/Hates:
* I dislike the video button. On the K-5, the mode selector/wheel has a video mode. On the D-7000, there is no video mode. You simply select Live View, and press a button in the Live View selector.
* I dislike that the shutter button does not record video. Since there is no video mode, per se, the shutter button actually takes a picture and stops recording.
* I dislike that this video setup does not allow me to use a remote, wired or wireless, to start/stop video recording.
* I dislike that the camera has 2 SD card slots, but does not allow automatic roll-over of video image capture to the 2nd card slot. You have to change manually.
* I dislike that in P mode, the full range of options for Aperture and Shutter Speed are not accessible, like on the K-5.
* I dislike that there is no quick reset to the camera recommended values in P mode, like on the K-5.
* I dislike that my 1080p record mode is limited to 24f. I wish I could do 30f or even 60f.
* I seriously hate the pretentiousness of the Nikonians, in general. As always, there are good people. But, I have been slammed for asking general questions. I don't want to think what would happen if I mentioned that I came from Pentax or my wife was a Pentaxian. Pentax Forums has a non-Pentax area, but you would never find this on a Nikon forum.
* I seriously hate that the one good Nikon forum charges (Nikonians.org) for access. For what? They already have tons of advertising on the site. What do they need user money for? They are obviously making money, not serving a community.

I hope that sums it up well. I have no buyer's remorse. I think that the D-7000 and the K-5 are excellent DSLRs for video recording. I do not think you could go wrong with either.

[dylansalt]

Some of us have had no choice but to switch due to that unavailability of gear and back up support of Pentax in our country.

My D7000 after 6 months of shooting comps, mountain trips and tropical forest suddenly was showing spots on the sensor.

I took it in and had it back from the Nikon agents in 3 days. Now that's service.

To be quite honest with a little bit of delving the Nikon can be set up to operate in any way you want it to in most instances.

I turned the focus assist light off and have never needed it even when using the slowish 70-300 VR at iso 3200 1/50sec f6.3 at various functions.

[Arpe]

The Nikon used it's focus assist light even when it's not THAT dark out.

I agree, I've turned mine off. It's bloody bright too! When I moved from my film Nikon to Pentax istDs this was one thing I missed, but Pentax did it better, when they got around to doing it.

I like that Nikon equipment is broadly available.

Hell yes! I've bought stuff here that I would never even see available for Pentax 2nd hand.

I seriously hate that the one good Nikon forum charges

Tried Nikon Cafe? Not too bad.

[dylansalt]

you can really get tons of useful info if you join the D7000 flickr group which has over 8000 users

[dylansalt]

I have just purchased the 35mm 1.8 G lens - its a little lightweight gem

[kanzlr]

Tried Nikon Cafe? Not too bad.

seconded

[Pentikonian]

* I seriously hate the pretentiousness of the Nikonians, in general. As always, there are good people. But, I have been slammed for asking general questions. I don't want to think what would happen if I mentioned that I came from Pentax or my wife was a Pentaxian. Pentax Forums has a non-Pentax area, but you would never find this on a Nikon forum.

Slammed for asking questions? I can think of one forum I have had particularly un-helpful responses in, and it suffers from a lot of acerbic posters...

As suggested by a few others, have you tried Nikon Cafe yet? I find it to be much more friendly and helpful. The moderation is strict, but I think it's mainly to keep the type of nastiness of exhibited on that other site from getting a foothold (there are a lot of cross-posters and refugees from the other site). I've mentioned becoming a dual system user with Pentax in several threads, and not had my head bitten off or anything yet. There's actual quite a few posters there who use two or more different manufacturers' equipment.

Nikon Cafe has a "Other cool gear and non Nikon cameras" forum. Not too heavily used, but it is there and active. Micro 4/3 and Fuji X100 threads seem to be the most active right now.

[wshi]

I'd also recommend Fred Miranda... it's more of a Canon forum, but the people there are very knowledgeable. Nice buy and sell board too.

I think the thing I miss most about my K20D after switching to a D300 is the ability to use one hand to switch ISO. Also, the size and weight of the D300 + grip is just excessive... but otherwise, I've been pretty happy. I just got my Tokina 12-24 today for about half the price of the comparable Pentax 12-24. Gotta love the availability of third party glass.

[magkelly]

Honestly if I wasn't such a Pentax freak I'd probably go Nikon. I can't say I dislike the Nikon cameras I've seen. Definitely I'd choose Nikon over Canon. Eh, so long as he still thinks you're the cat's meow, who cares what he shoots?

[LaurenOE]

The D7000 and all the gear is now for sale in the Marketplace.

[eddie1960]

The D7000 and all the gear is now for sale in the Marketplace.

LOL I could see that coming

Before jumping on a K5 to add to the collection you may want to wait. there is the rumoured K5n coming this spring which is rumoured to have a tilt screen and better video control if nothing else. At least that way you aren't duplicating camera bodies just a few lenses

Nikon is the one brand that does tempt me (and I have shot it back in film days for a while). the inability to adapt my lenses though would probably force me to Canon which I already know I hate using having tried a few. So I remain as a Pentaxian (at least for DSLR) because it has the best ergonomics for me (others will i'm sure disagree - mostly Nikon guys - ergonomics are a big complaint with Canon users who have shot other brands too )

[LaurenOE]

I messed up again - in the Marketplace - "No Feelers are allowed" - so the thread was removed. Stand by while I re-do the advertisement and add some pictures.

[audiobomber]

Any comment on IQ of K-5 vs D7000? I hear the AA filter is lighter so D7000 files are a bit sharper. Colour and contrast are more important to me, and I suspect Pentax should win there. From what I've seen, Nikon white balance tends to go a little too yellow, and Pentax lenses may have better coatings (better contrast, flare resistance)? I'm not saying I'm right, these are just my impressions.