Old timers speak up.

djayvo · 12-17-2008, 06:50 PM

Just wondering I have read a lot of posts from this forum and to my surprise there seems to be some Pentax hecklers around. Being new to DSLR’s I picked the best camera for my style K200D. My brothers xsi takes nice shoots and in couple cases better than mine, but after playing around with just couple settings I was up to snuff with his pics. This proves that it’s the knowledge of the person behind the camera that makes the pic.
What I would like to know from members of this forum is how long have you stuck with Pentax and if anyone switched and came back to Pentax. In my newbie way of understanding that most of the DSLR’s are great camera’s.
Just curious that’s all.

**Marc Langille** · 12-17-2008, 07:22 PM

Certain things (AF speed and FPS) will matter in several kinds of photography, no question. I've seen some very mediocre images from $9K in camera gear - it's the skill and vision that matters most.

Shooting Pentax for... a while... I've shot with Canon too...

Regards,
Marc

*Ron Boggs* · 12-17-2008, 07:29 PM

Been shooting Pentax since about 1987. Left Canon (pre EOS). Own now or have owned SF10, PZ1, PZ1-p, LX, MZS, 67II, EI200, 430RS, K100D, and K10D.

Let the hecklers heckle. Pentax doesn't care about marketing or advertising or playing the media game or keeping up with the Jones. In fact, they are pretty crappy at guiding their public image--particularly as it relates to competitive statistics with other brands. But their cameras and lenses have always held high esteem among photographers really into the craft.

Where the owner of another brand may proudly proclaim the great statistical advantages of their lens or camera, Pentax shooters are more likely to say something more like, "look at this shot," or "what do you think of the color in this picture?"

Haven't used other brands for digital capture, except casually with other people's equipment. I did buy a Fuji medium format rangefinder in about 1999. If you think Pentax has autofocus issues! That thing was a real mess with stepped focusing and only 19 focus points...or was it 15?. Terrible--and I returned it after 45 days of failed testing. By the way, the images that actually came out in focus were stunning with awesome vibrant color. Now own a Hasselblad XpanII panoramic film camera with killer Fuji-made lenses that I just love. But most of my work is done on the K10D with the Pentax 67II and Hassy getting duty when the situation is so stunning that it deserves film treatment too. Must admit that when I expect the image is good enough for fine art treatment--Cibachrome printing in wall filling sizes--I still like to whip out the slow Velvia chrome film and print on Cibachrome. Just my thing I guess.

djayvo · 12-17-2008, 07:42 PM

I agree Cibachrome is very stunning. If I had the time and money wouldn’t mind playing around with it again.

*Ron Boggs* · 12-17-2008, 07:59 PM

Before someone jumps us...yes, well aware that Ilford purchased Ciba about 10 years ago so technically it's now called "Ilfochrome". Regardless of what you call it, it's still the standard all the digital printing mediums attempt to emulate in terms of glossiness, color, use of azometallic pigments rather than dyes, and especially longevity. Museum quality multi-century archivability is still unchallenged...(oh gosh, here come the floodgates of challenges...this will be fun and educational...).

*reeftool* · 12-17-2008, 08:30 PM

I bought my first Pentax in 1975 or 76.......not totally sure. I had a Nikon film camera and spent more money getting it fixed than I paid for it. Auto winder kept jamming. When I decided to get a digital SLR, I seriously looked at all the models out there that would do what I wanted and the Pentax K10D had what I wanted and the best price. I have nothing against any of the other brands and if I win the lottery or something I might consider something else. I really like my Pentax. The ergonomics are perfect for me, it just feels good using it. Its weather and dust sealed and I am outdoors a lot and always around water and I also have this incredible knack for making it rain everywhere I go. I should also mention trust. My first Pentax, an SP1000 still works after decades of abuse.

*monochrome* · 12-17-2008, 08:53 PM

Originally Posted by reeftool

. . . I really like my Pentax. The ergonomics are perfect for me, it just feels good using it. . . .

Wasn't the tag line, "Just hold a Pentax"?

djayvo · 12-17-2008, 09:26 PM

Originally Posted by reeftool

The ergonomics are perfect for me, it just feels good using it. Its weather and dust sealed and I am outdoors a lot and always around water and I also have this incredible knack for making it rain everywhere I go. I should also mention trust. My first Pentax, an SP1000 still works after decades of abuse.

Outdoors, water, rain or snow that hits close to home and why I went with Pentax.

It's funny you mentioned the feel of Pentax. I have a 18-250 and my father has almost the same in Sigma on a Xti and his camera feels front heavy although his has anti-shake in the lens.

By the way I was not comparing the XSI against the K200D but the pics the SXI full-auto produced then tried to reproduce the same pic in the Pentax. I thought this would teach me more about setting up my camera by playing with all the ajustments.

*smf* · 12-18-2008, 01:52 AM

Welcome to the group, djayvo!

I bought a new H1A in the 1960s and replaced it with an SP500 in 1970 or 1971 because my bride was taking a photo class and wanted or needed TTL metering. I eventually bought a second SP500 body (which was second-hand). I've used other brands of "point and shoot" cameras. But when the time came to get a digital SLR, I bought a Pentax. Given the quality of lenses available for Pentax, I've never lusted after Nikons. However, when I went to a bird photographers' workshop in Florida a few years ago, it seemed many (perhaps most) were shooting with Canons. I'm sticking with Pentax, however.

Best wishes!

kerrowdown · 12-18-2008, 04:49 AM

How old do you have to be to reply?

Photo Tramp · 12-18-2008, 05:17 AM

I have been using Pentax since 1967 My first and beloved Spotmatic was with me up until the last days of Vietnam war That camera saved my life and i really miss it today. On my return to the world I purchased a K1000 and that camera served me well until I bought my first DSLR (istDL) in 2005 and still is used by my wife today as I now use my K100D for most shoots. I have had other cameras both Canon and Nikon that had other options I needed for a time but my Pentax has always been my main camera and I sure wouldn't change today.

TaoMaas · 12-18-2008, 07:04 AM

I started using Pentax gear in about 1973 or so. I've been tempted to switch brands at various times over the years, but after careful consideration, the costs always outweighed the rewards for me. Those debates with myself generally go something like this: Right before opening this thread, I was reading the thread where one of our members had adapted a Leica 180mm lens to Pentax K mount. I've always admired Leica's stuff and I was thinking to myself, "Man, that would rock! I'd love to have a Leica lens in K mount!" But then I asked myself, "Okay...you already have a Pentax A* 200mm f2.8. Considering the cost of finding a 180mm Elmarit and converting it, are your picture taking capabilities going to be improved more than say...oh...taking the money you'd spend on the Elmarit, applying it towards a 50-135 f2.8 and keeping the A*200mm?" Hmmmm....no, probably not......dang it.

MRRiley · 12-18-2008, 07:11 AM

Pentax since 1976... & I still have every Pentax SLR I've ever owned (including my recently recovered KM).

I made a brief foray to Fuji for their digital P&S cameras. I have couple of vintage Zeiss Icons and also have a Bronica ETR which I used to shoot weddings.

I don't think I have ever even taken a photo with a Canon or a Nikon SLR, much less owned one.

Nesster · 12-18-2008, 07:26 AM

I was an Olympus guy myself, first with the Pen FT and then I picked the OM2s over the competing Pentax and Minolta.

It's digital that brought me over to Pentax, and the way Olympus abandoned my particular market niche in the late film AF / early digital days. I bought my first AF camera, a Pentax ZX10, sometime in the late 90's. Lens compatibility backwards and forwards was the reason. It took a long while for me to actually get a dslr, I got the K100D.

After that, many more film bodies all the way to screwmount.

I appreciate small size and handling. Olympus of old had it, Pentax nearly always has it.

RoxnDox · 12-18-2008, 12:14 PM

I got myself a K1000 in 1979 for high school graduation and still have it sitting upstairs, along with the ME Super that came with my wife :-) She eventually got me a little Olympus 2mp P&S that served for several years, replaced by a Canon A80 4mp P&S, and 2 yrs ago my lovely little K100D. The Oly is the only one not still working, though I confess I haven't loaded any film into the K1000 for a few yrs.

The K100D "just fits". While I'd like to spend some $$ and get top end glass to hang on it, it still takes pictures at least as good as my skills :-)

She's had a succession of little 35mm film P&S cameras, and now a little Nikon model of some sort.

Jim