Pentax K-5 or Canon 60D?

Let me just say, that I own the 60d and love it. I've invested in the Canon ecosystem so it was the natural choice for me, and I haven't regretted it one bit. That being said, the K-5 is an AWESOME camera. It's the better camera in terms of image quality, frames per second, and ISO. Not to mention it's super quiet, weather sealed, and light. If I were just getting started, I would go with the K-5. My buddy has one and I am constantly impressed with it. It's just a great camera...

Remember that you will be buying into a system. My gut reaction is to tell you to go with the Canon for this reason. It has better third party support and a huge market for second hand lenses and accessories. An alternative would be Nikon, for the same reasons.

As truettray says, the K5 is supposed to be an awesome camera, and outperforms the Canon in several areas. Whether your girlfriend, or anyone viewing the images, will ever notice these things is another matter.

You need to play the long game with DSLR cameras, and for this reason I would recommend Canon or Nikon.

Both are great and she will be happy with either, I'm sure.

I have the original Pentax K-5 and love it. It's the best camera I've owned, the dynamic range of images it produces is huge.

A lot of people I encounter out shooting mention the "Ecosystem" point, or seem surprised and don't even know Pentax makes DSLRs....

I've been using Pentax cameras for a number of years and feel there is more than enough lens selection in their latest DA and FA series for the majority of enthusiast shooters, at good prices. Ultra wides, fish-eyes, macros, flash guns, battery grip options etc... They also have a unique series of small high-quality pancake lenses which are very nice.
In addition they're backwards compatible with all F, A M and K series lenses dating back decades.

The only area where they aren't as prominent is in the high-end telephoto segment, most of which are very expensive used in sports and event coverage - out of reach of most people.


As you can probably tell I'm a big fan of Pentax, but my point is the ecosystem idea needs to be put into perspective... currently Canon's high end branding is helping sell their lower-end equipment.

Disclaimer: I also have a Canon