Quote Originally Posted by alamo5000 View Post
With Pentax primes (what I use) the fastest you can get is f1.8 with a couple of exceptions. They are not as fast as cannon or Nikon lenses but the build quality exceeds both of those. Pentax only offers at present crop camera and medium format. In your price range crop is it since an entry level medium format body is about 10 grand....

Pentax primes are small and light and have superb build quality. The trade off is the lenses typically are not as fast.
I think most people shoot f2 or higher more frequently, so 1.8 should be plenty fast. Pentax is a good camera. I went Canon because I shoot a lot of video as well as stills and most of my friends have Canon gear that we share. Lots of good choices... :)