[libbyh]

edl,

Agreed, the D300 AF coverage and speed were what started my interest in Nikon and seeing the technology trickle down to the D90 certainly opened the door to switching or carrying another system.

But probably like a lot of other members here, i'm heavily entrenched in Pentax lenses and have decided to take the plunge to stay with a K20 and K7 combo for now. Who knows, things might change if I ever decide to pursue photography as a revenue generating activity, but in the meantime, the system is meeting my needs.

a m4/3 would be an even more comback option for a second system for travel and the panny's seem to have really figured out how to squeeze a lot of detail and IQ into the 4/3 sensor.

I think while everyone is saying its the way of the future and to wait for their native companies to come out with their own mirrorless cameras, that we're ignoring the fact that the 4/3 format with it's small players is playing to its strengths. with 3rd party mfgs producing adapters for all other mounts, it's the first step towards more open interoperability and let's people make use of or have a much wider choice of optics. Somehow, I don't see the same sort of excitement or clamour if the big two were to release theirs. I could be wrong though - time will tell.

[Samsungian]

I do have Pentax , Nikon & Canon Dslrs

I keep Pentax around to use a couple lenses I own. I always loved the Vivitar Series 1 105mm 2.5 ever since I got my first sample in another mount back in 1993. Pentax dslr gives me best platform to use this lens via:

Skake Reduction, & full "A" aperture setting. Its the one reason why I keep K20D, & why I keep Pentax K-Mount in my system.

Canon's & Nikon's autofocus function I get from their f2.8 's is a DREAM compared to Pentax K20D. I guess K-7 fixed this slow & often hunting "re-checking" AF, but the K-7 camera is too small for me so I'll pass from K-7's $1299 thru $599 price points.

Anyways, I use Pentax K20D for manual focus capture & a unique kind of autofocus setup:

I use 300mm 2.8 Adaptall with PK-A mount and 1.7x pentax manual focus to autofocus function Teleconverter. I find this quite enjoyable to use but shake reduction on K20D is useless with the 5 pounds of glass mounted. I actually get sharper handheld 300mm 2.8 with or without 1.7x added than I do with SR activated.

So really its the:
My Cult Classic Macro,
My Cult Classic 300mm 2.8
& Pentax' Unique 1.7x mf>af that keeps Pentax Brand in my system.

I think my interest in Nikon was sparked when I borrowed a D300 + 85/1.4 in Tokyo. It would lock AF consistently for street work at night, when my K20D already gave up.

But for hiking I would go small too. I bet the K7 is great for that. The only advantage something like the D700 (or really the D700x when it comes out) might offer is the ability to use the 14-24/2.8 combined with large photosites to capture dramatic landscapes. But unless you're printing large an APS cam will be fine too.

I'm not a video guy, so I can't comment on that. Still trying to make my photography better I think Samsugnian (sp) has Pentax, Nikon, and Canon.