What to replace my backup K-7

<p>I love my K-5 and I am trying to replace my K-7. I have it listed for sale along with 7 other lenses on PF marketplace. It is a mint copy and I set the price for $295 and no one has shown any interest. I may keep it as a backup. But the reason that I want to sell it is to try out other Pentax bodies. I am not ready for K-3 as the K-5 exceeds what I need at this point. If I buy a better camera than K-5, it will be a Sony A7/r. Here are my two thoughts for replacing K-7:</p>

<ul>

<li>A white K50 -- it is smaller, faster, better in high ISO</li>

<li>K-01 in the last version with blue and white -- something different </li>

</ul>

<p>For those K-01 owners, can you clue me in if the latest firmware in K-01 can address some of the slow AF issues that people complain about. Is the K-01 with the latest firmware slower than K-7 in AF -- that is my biggest concern. The better video and focus peaking from K-01 attracts me and I can compromise with no EVF though I prefer one. Your thoughts are welcome.</p>

<p>I've had a K-01 for a few weeks. The AF doesn't seem that much different from the K5 I usually use. But I am not one to notice these things. The focus does miss locking occasionally, but they all do. It is a handy little camera, but not that little.</p>

<p>Have you tried KEH? </p>

<p>A K-50 (or a K-30 for a bit less) isn't a bad idea. I basically replaced my backup, a K-x when I got the K-3 and demoted the K-5 to backup duty. I have also considered a K-01 but have still never seen one in person. <br>

My son who is 10 has taken a keen interest in photography so I gave him the K-x and kit lens. He's having a great time with it and taking some great photos. Especially considering his age! I figured I wouldn't be able to get much for it anyway so the gift option seemed like the best bet. </p>

<p>I love my K-5, but have a lot of appreciation of my daughter's K-r because it's so much lighter. No way I can use the K-r with manual-focus lenses, but other than that it's dandy.</p>

<p>Thank you so much for all the valuable inputs. My dilemma is a good one as there are so many competitive good choices. The choices make us spin especially in Thanksgiving and Christmas sale season. <br /><br />I like to think of no right or wrong choices as our want and needs will change with time and what is to come next year. I personally like to have a smaller camera that is different than my current main gear with K-5. With K-3, a cheap used copy of K-5 IIs may show up anytime. Some outrageous deals was seen happening with K50 too. <br /><br />If I manage to sell my K-7 without much cut-throat price, I may end up not buying any as my smaller Sony NEX 5n will do fine as a backup. The 5n in Sony does lack viewfinder and the hot shoe support. I may upgrade with a new nex 6 or a used nex 7 just to get the EVF and hotshoe support. And if Pentax comes out with a full frame, then it is more likely that K-5 will become my backup in 2014 and my main camera will either be a Sony A7/A7r or the Pentax full frame. I don't need full frame but it is one of those thing -- the price are so close and one has to say -- 'why not' <br /><br /><br />And at the moment, my Sony nex 5n with a Zhongyi focal reducer (a Chinese knock off with Metabone Speedbooster), my aps-c small camera can fake as a FF with a FOV restored and benefit with 1 extra stop of light.<br /><br /><br>

@Douglas, I have not thought of selling gear in KEH as I always lurk around as a buyer. Thanks for the suggestion though. I may trim my mint copy of K-7 further and see what happens. </p>

<p>I consider K-01 AF as 'decent' in good light, problematic in poor light. With its original firmware it had a lot of problems locking in poor light. I actually think the Q's AF is better (its original firmware also gave up too easily in low light). The nice 920K rear display favors the K-01 for manual focusing though.</p>

<p>My 'best' camera at this point is a K-7 but I have no expectations of getting a whole lot of money for it. Would love a K-3 but it might be more sensible to get a less expensive K-5 variant that would work with my K-7's battery grip.</p>

<p>A K5 II is $599 on black Friday. And a K5II with 18-135 is $799 on black Friday. It is tempting...</p>

<p>I had the K-01 and liked it but hated the slow AF /low light problems and hastily sold it before the firmware update addressed the issue. I would get another but I wouldnt pay more than $300 with the 40 mm lens but sadly they are discontinued....<br /><br />Olympus makes a really nice mirrorless camera that someone with your talent would love.....The e-pl3 with 18- 42 mm lens is a steal for $250 bucks brand new....the E-pl5 is their latest model but its going for over 7 bills....<br /><br /><br />for me the E-pl3 is a back up camera with a really nice sized sensor for when I dont have my K100D with me....<br /><br />on that note, I love my K100D but its dated now and I am going to replace it with the K30 soon...<br /><br />the K-01 is nice but I think you would find it cumbersome and more of a toy than what you are used to shooting with</p>

<p>@Chris and @Andrew, thank you so much for your inputs. I beat myself to the upgrade. I upgraded my K7 to Sony A7 full frame mirror-less camera. So I have my K-5 and A7 as my main cameras and have nex 5n as my travel gem. </p>

Congrats Hin on the A7. I guess it's sort of a natural choice for someone who enjoys trying/adapting lenses as you seem

to. Hopefully Sony will eventually produce lenses for it that interest you. My Black Friday Special K-5ii arrived yesterday,

and seems like it will be a noticeable improvement over K-7. The $ savings in being able to keep my D-BG4 grip made it

a reasonable easy choice.

<p>Truth be told that I don't need full frame or the Sony A7. Both of my aps-c with K-5 and nex 5n totally satisfy me but yet as things go, the new gear always more tempting. Had I decisively grabbed the K5II with 18-135 for $799 in the early days, I will have followed my original plan to get A7 in 2014 instead. The K5II will be a great camera over the K-7. I never get warmed up to K7 but the K5 is so much better than K7 in so many ways that I am NOT fair to say anything about K7. I praise a whole lot on K20D but it is my personal opinion that K7 is not my cub of tea especially at night or indoor shooting.</p>

<p>I own K10D, K20D, K-7, and now K-5ii. I think any supposed superiority of the K20D over the K-7 is seriously overblown, and more than made up for by the huge number of other improvements in the K-7. I never liked the K20D as much as my K10D. I like K-7, was proud to own it but eventually (this week) caved as the newer sensors in the K-5 (K-x, K-r, K-30, K-01, etc.) made it seem a bit dated, and I have a large investment in K-mount glass that I want to maximize without spending too much at this time. It bugged me a bit that my wife's m4/3 Lumix G3 offered more pixels with similar ISO performance to the K-7 -- If I'm going to carry the extra bulk and weight, I should get a little more out of it.</p>

<p>I always thought the K10D/K20D were just a bit large for use with compact primes, and think the K-7-style body is 'just right' in terms of size, and with the excellent D-BG4 grip is quite comfortable with larger zooms.</p>

<p>Ultimately the K-5ii offers more usable ISO3200+, improved AF (especially low-light), a little more dynamic range/shadow recovery over a K-7 -- but the rest seems pretty similar. There are a few very minor ergonomic tweaks, the one I noticed last night and like is that the OK button to switch between AF point-selection and D-pad functions like WB and drive mode now requires a 1-second hold and there's a beep. A pretty good solution that will help me a lot. The AF already seems considerably more positive.</p>

<p>Andrew, <br /><br />my Olympus E-PL3 has an incredible amount of features and blows my K100D out of the water in image quality but it is so difficult to navigate the menu settings.<br /><br />I love how the ISO, Aperture and speed controls are so easily used on the K100D<br /><br />I got the Olympus because I wanted something smaller for times when the "big" camera was a pita. <br /><br />since getting the Olympus I realized how limited the K100D is and since I screwed up on the K-01 I stared looking again. I think the K5ii is too much for me and really like what I have read about the K30....seems like a good fit for me..More MP and the controls look to be similar as the 100D.<br /><br />something that I cant put my finger on irks me about the size of the M 4/3 lenses...I am getting some nice pictures but its just not the same as the lenses on the DLSR<br /><br />IDk....what do you think?<br /><br /><br /></p>

<p>@Christopher, I suggest you to look into K50 as there are many good deals around black Friday and I expect a deal to come in xmas. The deals on K5 II might have overshadowed the K50. I think the K50 will be similar to K30 but I think you are more likely to see a deal on K50 new. With K30, you may be buying a great used camera. With K50 on a good deal, you are more likely to have the option to add on two year extended warranty to have the peace of mind for 3 years to coverage from purchase. From what I have gathered, K50 is a solid camera, check the user review and it is ranked as one of the easy choice of aps-c in 2013.</p>

<p>K50 is pretty nice, and yes the controls are slightly simpler than the K-# cameras. I think the APS-C DSLRs seem to fit adult male hands a bit better than most m4/3 equipment, though man people are willing to compromise ergonomics a bit to save kit size and weight. K50 loses a few things vs. K-5ii but they're still pretty nice. You lose the ability to use battery grip (comfortable with larger lenses plus doubles battery life), you lose top LCD, get 12-bit vs. 14-bit RAW, lose the -3EV-capable AF sensors, and the quiet, slick shutter. K-50 has newer firmware that includes focus peaking and might have a few more video options?</p>