Photos: Hands-on with the Pentax K-7 dSLR

First it was leaked, then it was launched, and now we've nabbed the Pentax K-7 camera for a hands-on first impression.

And that first impression is good. It's a sturdy beast and no mistake, yet it's small for its class. In fact, Pentax has done some maths and tells us it's 33 per cent smaller than the Nikon D300. It's also weatherproof, thanks to 77 seals. Being as it's a glorious day on London's South Bank today, we couldn't test that in the rain, so we did the next best thing and took some shots of holidaying kids frolicking in a fountain.

The new 14.6-megapixel CMOS sensor boasts improved four-channel readout. Pentax reckons it has addressed concerns over the speed of the autofocus, and we found it responsive. This Craver would prefer a little more snap in the shutter sound, but that's a personal preference.

The K-7 body includes built-in optical image stabilisation, which recognises the lens stuck on the front of the camera and adjusts the way it compensates for camera shake depending on the glass. This means the K-7 can mount every Pentax lens ever, although older lenses won't benefit from some of the features.

Click through our gallery for more hands-on shots, and to see what we thought of the video function.