Pentax K-30: Gallery photos posted, including raws (updated)

Announced a month ago, the Pentax K-30 strikes us as one of the more exciting SLR announcements of the year so far. For just US$850, you not only get a weather-sealed SLR body, rare enough at such a consumer-friendly pricetag. You also get a bright 100%, 0.92x magnification pentaprism viewfinder just like that of the company's flagship K-5, where competitors pretty-much exclusively use dimmer, less accurate pentamirror finders.

The K-30's design is based around much the same 16 megapixel APS-C CMOS image sensor seen in the K-01 compact system camera. There's also six frames-per-second burst shooting and some worthwhile upgrades over the enthusiast-grade K-5, including a tweaked AF system, 60fps live view, H.264 video capture, and a focus peaking function. Throw in a WR-branded 18-55mm, and you've got a weather-sealed SLR setup for barely over US$1,000!

We took a look at a preproduction K-30 last month, and have been looking forward to getting hands-on with a production-level camera ever since. Yesterday, IR publisher Dave Etchells did just that at a press event in New York. We've just posted 15 gallery photos Dave shot with the Pentax K-30 at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and around New York. Most of the photos are available in both raw and JPEG formats, so you can try your hand at tweaking them in your DNG-aware raw processor of choice.

Keen to see more? Watch this space for our usual battery of test images shot with the Pentax K-30, coming soon! (Update: The first lab shots are online now!) In the meantime, check out the Pentax K-30 gallery, and take a look at our hands-on Pentax K-30 preview...