Pentaxians - sell me on the K-30

I was in an almost identical situation as you are now. I had also been using a bridge (Fuji HS10/20) and wanted to upgrade to a dslr.

I debated endlessly with myself and scoured the forums for advice. It was down to Sony A57 vs the Pentax K-5. The latter was slightly out of my budget and even though I favored Pentax as a brand (legacy lenses, weather sealing, etc.), I ended up getting the A57 with and 18-250 lens. I added a 50 1.4 to complete my kit. I used it for a couple of weeks and liked the output but somehow didn't like the way it felt in my hands. Then the K30 was announced. Without hesitation, I returned the A57 since it was in the 30 day period and pre-ordered the K30 with the 18-135 lens.

Long story short, I never have regretted my decision even once. The K30 feels great, the form factor and grip is similar to what I was used to in my bridge cam. It handles brilliantly and the image quality is stellar. I had never looked through an optical viewfinder before this and now when I view an EVF I know why everyone appreciates the capabilities of OVFs. In addition to this, the focus peaking feature is pretty useful with manual lenses you can get relatively cheap off ebay or from members over at Pentax Forums (which is another advantage of buying Pentax). The weather sealing is no contest since there is no other camera at this price point offering this feature set. I have used the K30 in pouring rain and it came out unscathed (I also got shocked looks from my wife and brother in law, who though I was crazy to go out in the first place).

One more disadvantage of the A57 was the proprietary hot shoe for flash. I do not know if this would be changed in A58 (it was changed to a standard one in the A99 and the last Nex). With the Pentax pretty much any  manual flashes will work. I am not so sure about Sony's compatibility with non-OEM flashes.

You can wait for the A58 to come in but I think you cannot go wrong with the K30. In the end, its your call and you should base your decision on what feels good in your hands. Like many have said before, with dslrs you don't buy into a camera, you buy into a system. Pretty soon you would want lenses - longer and faster ones and at that time your camera choice would limit you.  I just wanted to reach out to you because I felt I made the right choice when I was in your situation. The K30 is a great camera and I think you would not be disappointed with it.

- Deep