Abes of Maine has the Pentax K-5 D-SLR Camera w/ 18-55mm WR Lens for $1299 - $15 off with coupon code LOYALTY15 = $1284 with free shipping. Free 32 GB SD card included.
16.3 Megapixel CMOS sensor, 3" 921,000 Dot LCD w/ Live View
1080p HD Video, 11 point SAFOX IX Autofocus, 7 FPS
80-51,200 ISO, in-camera HDR image capture, SD/SDHC/SDXC
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"Pentax-wide" price drop http://photorumors.com/2011/09/01/pentax-k-5-price-drop-new-rebate/
apparently due to the release of 24MP sensor Sony a77 and NEX-7:
http://photorumors.com/2011/08/24/sony-nex-7-quickly-jumps-to-2-best-selling-camera-on-amazon/
and a mirrorless Samsung NX200 with 20MP sensor:
http://photorumors.com/2011/09/01/samsung-nx200-announced/
K-5 is a great and COMPACT for the capabilities camera and I guess the price of its amazing little sister K-r (a week ago Amazon had Pentax K-r w/18-55 & 55-300 kit for $660) will go down even further.
The main drawbacks of K-5 and K-r is front focusing in low light and incorrect auto white balance under mixed lighting (setting manual WB with calibration disks/grey cards requires going through several levels of the menues) and AF tracking is less snappy than with Nikons.
Kit lens with K-5 makes no sense, get the body (around $1200) and at least Pentax 18-135mm WR (440 at Amazon) or Tamron 28-75 f2.8 (500 at Amazon, Tamron is running some rebates, google)
The main competitor is a77 with disadvantage of being BULKY. a77 fixed price: body $1600 but price with a quality kit lens 16-50 f2.8 is $2000 for one-stop shopping. That's close to the price of the K-5+decent lens. You can use any Sony or Konica-Minolta alpha-mount lenses and add full frame Sony a850 or a900 body. Pentax doesn't have FF.
It's fun time for camera shopping
And avoid Abes of Maine. They charged my CC w/o delivering for almost a month, lied in emails and stopped responding after I complained to the bank. Finally got the lens but lost a lot of time and opportunities.
If their price is good (GOOGLE before jumping!!!) and time is not crucial, you may give it a try. Ain't an easy ride though...
The only time I sign in an leave a comment here is when I see Abes of Main on bens deal, to remind people to be careful ordering from AOM, very bad place to buy from. Used to have more people comment bad things about this place,now its getting old but still someone need to remind new customers.