Pentax K-5 II

Well made, easy to use, quality results – I went to this as an upgrade to my Kx. Very happy, even though the K3 was clearly on the way. Nice image quality improvement as expected. Low light focusing is a real improvement........ Capable of taking the battery pack and a more pro oriented body was what I was after and Loving the results. Most DSLR's are taking good pictures, the Pentax and Nikon aps-c sensors producing arguably (and perhaps hard to tell, but well documented) better quality and low light performance.

Auto focus on the Pentax's is improving all the time and on par with other brands. Lots and lots of lenses available as Pentax focus on good aps-c lens line up along with support from Sigma,Tamron and Samyang.

Holding a K5 series camera in your hand is a delight. Nice combo of weight, size and grip with quality materials to boot.

Really a superb camera for stills photography, but not so worried about the generally poor video performance by Pentax who don't give that area of their camera's as much priority as Canon and Sony.

Addendum: Getting better with time and knowing the camera. The K5 series really are photographer inspired and so well designed. This thing can focus on dark matter in a black hole........its so good in low light. Well documented upgrade from the original K5. Burst speed is insane and I am having so many keepers now with AF. I have read tests where Canon and Nikon are testing faster(hence the reputation), but not giving much if any more of successful results. For a smaller / lighter package and almost similar results, I can see many more pro's heading towards aps-c sized sensor cameras when the results are this good. Don't be blinded by biased salesman, give this brand a look, try it in your hands and the interface.....it all comes down to preference, so well built and lens availability is more than anyone will need.

Next cam will be a K3, to go alongside the K5IIs and become a nice duo for wedding work. Feel, image quality, low light performance, quality materials, good lens line up. nothing much other than video which i don't care about.