Thanks to Douglas Barrow

[pj_vesterback]

<p>After his post regarding the cyber Monday pricing... I bit the bullet and bought myself a K-5. <br />So far with the limited use, I like it. Coming from the K10D, the K-5 is pretty much dead silent. Barely a whisper of a mirror slap. I guess I should have known that the battery is different than that of the K10D but I was surprised. And the file size... wow. I will have to get some larger sd cards. The 1 & 2 GB cards just won't cut it anymore.<br />A few things that I don't like. I already almost lost the cap for the pc socket. Dropped it and almost lost it in the couch trying to thread it back onto the camera. At least that will never come off the camera again. The sd card is a pain in the butt to get out of the slot. And I really hate that there is no dedicated switch for the shake reduction.</p>

<p><a title="Tonight... we drink by Fnawzm, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6444825211_f96abbefb1_z.jpg" alt="Tonight... we drink" width="640" height="424" /></a><br>

<strong><em>Tonight We Celebrate a New Toy</em></strong></p>

[pj_vesterback]

<p>And this is the only model that would sit still for me tonight.</p>

<p><a title="Marvin by Fnawzm, on Flickr" href=" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6444825339_9a248ba1c0_z.jpg" alt="Marvin" width="600" height="480" /></a><br>

<strong><em>Marvin and his Shadow</em></strong></p>

[michael_kuhne]

<p>I agree with your criticisms, going from my K20D to the K-5. Like Justin, I also prefer the very nice battery door lock and spring-open card door with its lock on my K20D, which is like the K10D. But certain controls and button conveniences were given up to achieve the compact design of the K5, which I value even more.</p>

<p>So far I have been extremely happy with the K-5 and the IQ results I have been getting, as well as its easier compact toting. </p>

[peter_russell4]

<p>The SD removal thing is ridiculous. I made a wee selotape tab on the card to pull it out. Works fine.<br>

Pete</p>

[markus maurer]

<p>Welcome to the K-5 club then! I agree with your observations so far. Did you dial in some base exposure compensation like +0.3 or even +.07 for some lenses, your otherwise fine samples could use that imho and I would have raised curves on the gray background as well in pp.</p>

[markus maurer]

<p>maybe like that</p><div></div>

[shots worth sharing]

<p>Good for you! I agree with your two quibbles but otherwise, I'm sure you're going to love it. </p>

[andrewg_ny]

<p>The K-5 and K-7 card slots are a little snug, some cards go in and out a little easier than others. I saw a video a while back where someone measured several cards from different manufacturers and found that they're not quite as uniform as you might think. The slightly wider ones were the ones that tended to be a little more fiddly in the K-7's slot. I suspect that a few moments sanding down the sides of the card will help. Agree though that this was never a problem with the K10D/K20D slots, and I much preferred the metal twist latch on those bodies.</p>

[michellemandat]

<p>Solution:</p>

[michellemandat]

<p>Hox to get out the card</p>

[trw]

<p>I too have a K10d and K5 for comparison.</p>

<p>I'm not sure what all the push to get a PC sync socket was about; it's not like a hotshoe to PC sync adapter is expensive or hard to get. I made the mistake once of taking the cap off. Once I got it back on I decided to never take it off again. Wireless flash transmitters work just fine on the hotshoe.</p>

<p>One of the unsung improvements to me was the focus assist LED. Yes, the K10D has focus assist via the flash, but the pop-up flash must be up to use it. This rules out both manual off-camera flash and ambient-only exposure if you want to use autofocus in low-ambient condition with the K10d.</p>

<p>Yes, the k5 has no SR switch, but when you're changing between tripod and handheld, you can cycle to the info screen with it by pressing "info" twice.</p>

<p>All the usually-reported upgrades of course are also there; higher ISO range, lower noise at a given iso, higher pixel count (which further increases the useable light range if printing smaller), lower acoustic noise, 14 bit RAW, etc.</p>

[kfrog]

<p>You're welcome VJ!</p>

<p>I'm glad you were able to take advantage of cyber Monday. I think you will love the camera, it should give you years of enjoyment. I hope to join you and get myself a new K-5 next year.</p>

<p>Enjoy it!</p>