Upgrading from *IST DS to Kr?

I am a long time user of the DS and I come from years of experience using an old Spotmatic. I have to admit that I was skeptical about some of the advances I'd read about especially live view and video.

Well my brother, who also owns a DS, recently bought a K5 so I was able to play with it. As a caveat I would agree that getting a better lens is usually the best strategy.

The first telephoto I got for my DS was a cheap Sigma 70-300 and I hated it. AF was slow and noisy. I felt like I was shooting with a coffee grinder. Worse none of the pictures were acceptable. Later I learned that the major problem was camera motion. Putting it on the K5 was a revelation. Not only was focus faster and more accurate but the SR improved the picture quality immensely even with 1.4 X tel-extender on BIFs. I'd still like to get a better telephoto, but in the mean time I think the old Sigma would be a good alternative. I have also been able to get good shots hand holding a Sigma 600.

Don't get me started with low light capability. I have street shots , hand held, showing things I couldn't see with the naked eye. I got an acceptable shot of the constellation Orion, hand held, with the kit lens. That is totally unreal.

While it is certainly the best video camera I have ever shot, the LCD screen is nearly useless with telephoto lenses especially outdoors. It does work fine on a tripod, but for moving targets you need one of those clip on magnifier eye cups.

The water proofing is a great improvement I think. While not often an issue out here in the Mojave, I do enough birding to justify it.

I didn't notice the difference in the viewfinder.

I like the 7 fps a lot.

My brother has the 35 mm prime and it is awesome bout he also got the new kit lens for the K5 as a weather proof walk around. I don't use those focal lengths enough to recommend anything here.

Chuck