Welcome back! It is nice to see you back again.

Pentax is a name that will bring up fond rememberings for the many photographers whose 1st SLR experience was with a Spotmatic, KM, K1000 or ME Super. Though the company’s market position isn’t as well entrenched as it was during its halcyon days in the analogue era, it continues to appeal a devoted following of enthusiasts. And that following isn’t just based on nostalgia – Pentax is alone in having developed a comprehensive range of prime lenses for the APS-C format that dominates modern DSLR photography, while most of its competitors concentrate on offering a selection of zooms.

Pentax’s cameras have also catered well for this market in the shape of the competitively-priced K20D, a very likeable, solid upgrade to the K10D. Both cameras offered robust semi-pro build quality and a fairly advanced degree of environmental sealing, combined with a good level of customizability and well worked-out handling. But it’s now been over two-and-a-half years since the K10D appeared and, as it tends to, the market has moved on. The K20D’s live view system was not exactly class leading, and the camera was starting to look a little long-in-the-tooth when compared to the video-shooting Canons and Nikons that have started to appear, with their VGA screens and polished interfaces.

So here we have the Pentax K-7, Pentax’s latest enthusiast/semi-pro level DSLR. And a better-looking creature it is, too – gone is the K20D’s slightly pudgy utilitarianism, to be replaced by a sleek, pared-down elegance. But it’s not just on the outside that things have changed: although the megapixel count remains as is, approximately everything that matters has been replaced, retooled or dolled up.