Why not a titanium body ?

Oiche wrote:

Thanks Ian, this is great ammo for me to fire back at any further Pentax 'flagship' mag-alloy body snobbery I shall come across again in the near future. 👍

That is my whole point of posting, if we look at the K5 and the K7 series camera that had a plastic back panel  I never heard any issues with weather sealing or that there was any issue with how that camera was any less durable than the new K3- K1 that use a metal panel. we don't hear much on that front.

We also don't see that the K5/k7 is anymore durable because its top shell is a metal one and that there is also no more issues with WR to the K3 and K1 that use plastic if anything I feel that plastic can be better for WR as there is less of an issue with corrosion and the magnesium frame.

With the cameras that i have had apart the places that have shown water intrusion in the chassis most have been around the bottom plate in the K10, K5 and K7 there was some water marks found on the opposite side under the front panel. All but the K10 have metal bottoms and fronts so plastic and none plastic alike both show water intrusion.

Where I also see water entering the camera body is thru the seal around the lens mount and the magnesium front panel and when you take apart the front panel you cans see as to why this is happening. On the lens mount ring there is a small rubber seal that then rests on the front body panel and because there is no anchoring of the front panel to the underlying chassis other than 1 screw on the bottom plate and 4 screws on both sides and because of this there is some play around this seal. You can see this by applying a little amount of flex to this connection.

If we look at this seal on the lens mount ring there is very little cushioning to makeup for any play

And when we look at what that seal is mated to the very thin surface of the magnesium chassis its not hard to have some water intrusion into the chassis

Is this an issue no but some have had problems when water has made its way to the electronics.