Originally Posted by noblepa 
Has Pentax EVER really competed head-to-head with Nikon and Canon, for the top-end market?
What about the Pentax LX? It had professional features - like changeable finders, a sealed and rugged body, and a high price to match. It was used by the swedish nature photographer Mattias Klum on his early travels to Borneo and he got images published in National Geographic.
But the LX was the last really pro-level Pentax, since then Pentax has been strong in the prosumer market with the Z-1(p), the MZ-S and now the K10D. For a decade, pro-level in Pentax words has meant the medium format 645 and 67 systems.