I, the DSLR Dummy: Why a Pentax K-5?

The process of choosing my camera started a few weeks ago, even before I thought about buying a camera for myself, when a friend of mine, Orthus, was daydreaming about upgrading his camera. 

At that time, we were looking for Canon and Nikon bodies. In the end, my friend decided on the Nikon D5100 but I kept on reading. Here's the reason, I'm very clumsy and easily distracted; my things usually end bumping walls because I was looking the other way, or under the rain because I forgot the check the weather forecast. Thus, I kept on reading trying to find a sturdy, durable body.

My first SLR body was a Pentax K-1000. It still works after 20 years of use and abuse. That made me look at Pentax DSLR bodies, where I found the Pentax K-5.

Now, all in all, the Pentax K-5 share most of the characteristics of the Nikon D7000; you can see a point by point comparison of these two at Snapsort. Truth be told, the only characteristic where they are not equal peers is the video capabilities; the Nikon D7000 easily beats the Pentax K-5 at this. But, opposite to the Nikon D7000, the Pentax K-5 has a built-in stabilizing system;  in the long run, this can save a lot of money when buying slow lenses. Finally, the most important characteristic for me, the Pentax K-5 is weather sealed. This means that you don't have to panic if you have to run for cover for a few minutes under the rain; which, as I said before, happens a lot to me. 

By the way, if you look closer to the point by point Snapsort scorecard comparing the Nikon D7000 and Pentax K-5, you will realize that they score popularity. On this item, the Nikon D7000 has 35 points, while the Pentax K-5 has only 5. Subtracting this subjective characteristic, the final score moves to 394.4 points of the Nikon D7000 versus 404.4 points of the Pentax K-5.

In summary, if you don't mind the "my camera is more popular" contest  and you are not buying a photographic camera for shooting video, the Pentax K-5 is the best camera available in its range, with the plus that it can stand clumsy guys like me.