Should I stay with Pentax?

Adam Rich wrote:

Pentax is the only brand of DSLR I have ever had. I own a K100D, K-x, and a K50. Unfortunately, the K50 is dying the sad slow solenoid death, and I am debating on what to do next. I only have a handful of non-kit lenses, the Sigma 170-500mm and a Tamron AF 28-75mm f/2.8. I have been debating whether I should move to another camera system or stay with Pentax. I need to make a decision fairly soon as I am taking a big trip over thanksgiving and would like to have a good camera. I really don't have the money to spend much more than $1500. I thought I could possibly get a used K3 Mark III, or I could jump into another system's basic camera with a kit lens or two. But I figured I would ask you guys that have way more experience with these cameras than I do what you feel is the best way to go.

Obviously you have your own personal journey and what works for one may not work the same for someone else.

In my case, I had a kx then a K5, but all lenses and bodies were stolen almost a decade ago. Had a couple of flashes, plenty of filters, a collection of limited lenses, etc. Had traveled extensively with both cameras in a few years, but always felt I wanted to move to full frame again (had shot 35mm film with a pentax spotmatic ii). Mainly I wanted the depth of field and a larger OVF. I also missed aperture rings, I could never understand why modern cameras had ignored them.

As an opportunity to switch to a new system, I first got a Sony RX1 (it was a very good deal, made sense) which still has incredible IQ. I also got a fuji XT1 as they had the aperture ring on lenses, ISO dial, and a lineup of small and fast primes that reminded me of the limiteds with pentax. I was happy at first, the EVF is quite large, the JPGs can be really nice, and can share photos to the phone quickly to send over to someone else. But with time the quirks get to you - autofocus for single shot is slower, battery life is a third of a dslr, and though JPGs are nice, processing in lightroom is noticeably worse than with the pentax. The colors, contrast and overall rendition of the picture kind of sucks IMO. Have to stick with JPGs. Lightroom and the xtrans sensor dont get along and my ability to correct via color curves went away with my patience as I raise 2 very active kids.

I tried a sony a7iii with a 28-70mm lens for a while, the f2.8 G. The images were amazing, the autofocus snappy, but the handling was the polar opposite of the fuji. Much like the RX1, sony's menus suck. A lot of fiddling constantly with the camera.

I recently got a K5 ii and I could not be happier. Mint condition for $300, and after almost a decade away I cannot be happier with the pentax. The handling, compared to the fuji and sony, are much much better. Feels great in hand, easy to set, shoot quickly, and AF-S is still quite fast. The image quality is still amazing, and processing in lightroom renders great images. The return to an OVF feels great. The hand grip is perfect. Also found the auto white balance is miles better than either sony and the fuji.

In short and sorry for the story - unless you feel you need continuous autofocus (AI AF with the latest mirrorless are on another tier) or want to move to full frame (the Z5 at its latest sub1k price is very tempting) I'd stick with pentax. Be very clear about why you want to move on. I dont think there are better bodies or lenses out there, per se. But it's true that it's an APS-C sensor in the end, with the constant fear of support disappearing altogether at some point in time.