[teetoeb]

As superior as it is I will not be upgrading to a K5 yet, I'm happy with my K20 (as I write this).

I'm curious as to how many people switched to or added the Pentax brand as their go to dslr. Your reasons would be nice as well.

I was trying to compare the FA 31 vs EF 35L. I happen to stumble on dpreview and many really like the K5 with the Pentax primes and zooms that many appreciated and referred to as a great setup. Any Pentaxian knows that! Price and weight without compromising features and quality were the main reasons that I saw.

Is there an influx of Pentaxians? Is that why its harder to get used A, M, FA, etc lenses locally? I'm not complaining (maybe a little), just an observation.

Just to clarify I didn't start this to compare which brand has better glass or who is more superior than who etc etc.


I think I want a Silver K5 with matching FA31 now...


moderator please move thread to appropriate category

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Last edited by teetoeb; 04-04-2011 at 09:48 PM. Reason: wrong category

[testdasi]

As superior as it is I will not be upgrading to a K5 yet, I'm happy with my K20 (as I write this).

I'm curious as to how many people switched to or added the Pentax brand as their go to dslr. Your reasons would be nice as well.

I was trying to compare the FA 31 vs EF 35L. I happen to stumble on dpreview and many really like the K5 with the Pentax primes and zooms that many appreciated and referred to as a great setup. Any Pentaxian knows that! Price and weight without compromising features and quality were the main reasons that I saw.

Is there an influx of Pentaxians? Is that why its harder to get used A, M, FA, etc lenses locally? I'm not complaining (maybe a little), just an observation.

Just to clarify I didn't start this to compare which brand has better glass or who is more superior than who etc etc.


I think I want a Silver K5 with matching FA31 now...


moderator please move thread to appropriate category

I switched from Micro Four Thirds. Have sold my entire MFT gear (GH1, EP1, 20mm, 14-140, 14-42, Metz flash, etc.) and bought the K5, 18-55WR, 35 ltd, Sigma 8-16 and Tamron 70-300.
Reasons are:

• Waited too long for new AF lenses to come out. No portrait lens, yet 2 fish eye and 3 normal (1 of which is MF). Doesn't make any sense IMO.
• Superior high ISO performance. I could not do any critical work above ISO 800 on MFT (even with good NR software). ISO 12800 on the K-5 is highly usable. That is 4-stop improvement.
• In-body SR is important for low light. Panny had good sensor, no IBIS; Oly had IBIS, outdated sensor.
• WR for travel. I don't need all lenses to be WR. I just need the kit lens to be WR so that if it rains while I'm on the road, I can still take pictures without much worry.
• K-5 is the most compact of the new Sony sensor cameras. It fits my hand perfectly and is barely larger than the GH1.

[mplatt1903]

I switched from Canon 5dMk2 to K5.

I still have the 5dMk2, but it's on permanent loan to a friend who shoots a lot of weddings (along with my 24-105, 100-400 and 100 Macro)

My reasons? I wasn't using the 5dMk2 enough.

- Size and weight - the K5 plus my DA Ltd's are so much lighter and easier to carry around
- High ISO is not far off the same in most circumstances and for what I use my pics for
- WR and general build quality
- I love the Pentax usability - controls etc. are just in the right place
- The Ltd's are just so good - small, well built, lovely contrast and colour - my Canon glass was big, heavy and not cheap (*cough*)
- Dynamic Range - to my eye, I like the look of my K5 pics more..

That's about it. Don't regret it for a minute. I reckon I'm shooting nearly 5 times the number of shots, and taking the camera out 5 times as much as I was before..

[Spotmatic]

I used Pentax in the past as well as Nikon and Leica film cameras. I handled a D70
and it felt like a toy. Ditto for a Canon Rebel. The K10 was weather sealed, had SR and could use all the old lenses.

I got a K5 and will use it till it breaks. Old lenses have gone up in price because thay are in demand. It is that simple.

[RioRico]

I shot film RF's & SLR's etc for many years, many brands, but never Pentax.
The K20D is my first dSLR, upgrading from several Sony & Minolta & Oly P&S's.
So I guess I qualify as someone who 'switched' to Pentax. Not intentionally.
Going Pentax was based on analysis of price/performance and price/gripes.
The K20D had the features & megapickles; the competitors had user gripes.
The K20D should serve me well for another couple years at least. I'm happy.

[Punkelf]

I shot film RF's & SLR's etc for many years, many brands, but never Pentax.
The K20D is my first dSLR, upgrading from several Sony & Minolta & Oly P&S's.
So I guess I qualify as someone who 'switched' to Pentax. Not intentionally.
Going Pentax was based on analysis of price/performance and price/gripes.
The K20D had the features & megapickles; the competitors had user gripes.
The K20D should serve me well for another couple years at least. I'm happy.

The K20D will be my second DSLR. 1st was a Sony A100 I received as a baby shower gift almost 3 years ago. Before that I had Sony point n' shoots.

When my A100 was stolen, I searched for a long time for the proper replacement.

I decided on the K20D (used on ebay) because it was the best combination of sensor size, image quality, build quality, manual controls, and affordable quality lenses in my price range. I could have afforded some other entry level DSLRs, but felt they were focusing more on bells and whistles.

Plus I have fond memories of my first "real" camera, a K1000 I bought to take slides of my paintings. I really wanted a digital version of that.

[feilb]

I bought into Pentax for the K5. In the past, I've owned a 5D and a 35L.

First, the K5 is brilliant. In it's day, the 5D was top of the heap for noise. The K5 is orders of magnitude better.

Second, if primes are your bit, Pentax is a very interesting brand. I love primes, so it was a good fit.

As far as the 35L v. 31 goes. I loved the 35L. I just bought the 31. I'd say they are pretty similar in terms of IQ. Obviously the L is a bit faster. The major (major) difference is size. The 31 may have a bit nicer bokeh. The 35L doesn't purple fringe. Each is a great lens.

For me, the combo of body and lens size (or lack thereof), a host of cool and interesting primes, and the delightful K5 made Pentax a good move for me.

[bdery]

I've had Nikon and Canon compacts and bridges. When deciding on a DSLR, Pentax was the obvious choice, in part because the Canon S2 had me spoiled regarding SR. I wouldn't live without it, and Pentax offers it in the bodies, which made a lot of sense. The build quality, ergonomics, features list, used lenses, wonderful primes, weather sealing, and fantastic community were added bonuses.

[djc737]

I switched from Micro Four Thirds. Have sold my entire MFT gear (GH1, EP1, 20mm, 14-140, 14-42, Metz flash, etc.) and bought the K5, 18-55WR, 35 ltd, Sigma 8-16 and Tamron 70-300.

Reasons are:

• Waited too long for new AF lenses to come out. No portrait lens, yet 2 fish eye and 3 normal (1 of which is MF). Doesn't make any sense IMO.
• Superior high ISO performance. I could not do any critical work above ISO 800 on MFT (even with good NR software). ISO 12800 on the K-5 is highly usable. That is 4-stop improvement.
• In-body SR is important for low light. Panny had good sensor, no IBIS; Oly had IBIS, outdated sensor.
• WR for travel. I don't need all lenses to be WR. I just need the kit lens to be WR so that if it rains while I'm on the road, I can still take pictures without much worry.
• K-5 is the most compact of the new Sony sensor cameras. It fits my hand perfectly and is barely larger than the GH1.

After Oly abandoned the mid and low end DSLR, I did not have an upgrade path for my E-520. Liked the size and grip. Tried mFT also and found it just did not cut it for me, Added E-5 for my HG glass but that is also too big to use as a travel cam. Also that is for me. Went to B&H and held the K-5, Eureka, this was the E-520 size pro body I was expecting from Oly. Added a set of primes and I have been in heaven. I had been toying with the idea of getting the Leica M9 plus primes but the cost was way too high. This gives me a great DSLR plus Leica like primes. What more could you ask for?

[Edgar_in_Indy]

I switched from an Olympus e-510 DSLR. I loved the Olympus...the build quality, the in-body shake reduction, the compact size, the reasonable price, and the fact that it was something different than what everybody else has (ie Canon and Nikon). But it's big weakness was noisy high ISO. I almost bought a Nikon D5000, but then I pre-ordered the Canon T2i when it was all the rage. The IQ was great, but I was disappointed with the feel and build quality of the Rebel and the kit lens, so I returned the Canon.

Pentax wasn't really on my radar until I saw a news story on the new Pentax K-x on Engadget. I thought that the white body was killer, and it seemed to share most of the same qualities I loved in the Olympus, but with class-leading high ISO performance. I picked up an almost-new white K-x on eBay for $450, which is half of what the T2i cost me. I've never looked back.

I'm probably well over 50,000 actuations on my K-x, and expect I'll upgrade to the K-5 within a year or less. I'm bummed out that there's no white body, but the silver would be acceptable.

[Ryan Trevisol]

My first DSLR was a K100D. I did a lot of research leading up to that purchase. What initially attracted me was the availability of inexpensive glass (comparatively speaking) and backward-compatibility with 50+ years of lenses. In-camera SR and AF was another big plus. I got an incredible deal on the K100D just after the K20/200D/2000 landed. I convinced myself that 6.1MP would be enough and maybe I was right. I loved that camera. The thing was so SOLID and I captured some of the best pictures of my life with that camera.

However, right before a big trip the next summer, I got the MP bug, and flipped the camera for about what I had paid, and bought a Canon Rebel XS. Another main reason for going to them is they had an affordable Live View camera. I liked the Canon, really I did, and I was happy with the images, but there was something missing. I didn't feel like buying lenses for it for some reason. So after a year, I sold it for (you guessed it) the same money I paid, because the K-5 and K-R were about to come out. I got a great deal on the White K-X and never looked back. Fortunately for me I never sold my 28mm 2.8 prime.

One thing I'm enjoying more from my K-X is that my kit lens (though cheap and I will be supplanting it with something better), feels a lot less like a toy than the Canon kit. Also, the AF performance tends to be a lot better, and somehow the K-X challenges me to take better pictures by truly understanding what's going on in my camera. I think when I first switched back to Pentax I took more bad than good pictures, but I'm confident that all the "great" photos I've taken so far have been taken on Pentax. Sorry I can't be more concrete than that.

[psychdoc]

I started with a film Canon SLR which I used very rarely mostly becuase at that time I had no idea of what I was doing and so most of the pics were so-so. But waiting to develop pictures was also too much of a hassle and I did not have the time or patience for it. I was still a student and did not have much money then either...So photography was short-lived.

Once digital became popular I got interested in photogrpahy again and bought an Olympus P/S which took pretty nice picures for my level. Then I jumped to a Sony super zoom P/S which was a disappointment indoors but pretty ok outdoors.

After a while I decided that the dSLR's were coming down in price enough to give it another shot. Then the question was which one.

I looked at Canon and Nikon in the stores and then read extensively for about 6months. It seemed to me that for a given price range, the camera IQ did not differ that much. The lens mattered more they said and more than anything it was supposedly the photographer and lots of practice. If that were the case, I decided that to me personally what mattered most was small size. I did not want to carry a bazooka around. Pentax had a small camera and small prime lenses. I had no interest in old manual lenses so the 'vast collection' of lenses of yore had no bearing in my decision.

The Pentax K2000 was my first dSLR. I did not buy prime lenses immediately. I got a sigma 18-200 to see what I liked to shoot. I had a lot of fun with it and slowly began to venture out of the P setting. Later bought the DA 70mm and some time later the DA 35mm. Shooting portraits with the DA 70mm lens is what really got me into seriously spending time on photography. Its after getting what were for my skill level some 'did I really shoot that' pics with the DA 70mm that I took a photo class and soon joined the pentax forums shortly after.

Shooting with the K2000 soon showed me its limitations when shooting sports and dances that my kids were doing. Enter the 50-135. Nice lens! However, I also found that the lighting was absolutely atrocious in school settings. Need high iso IQ. To K5 or go with Kx or Kr was the question

I already had a beginner dSLR. Might as well get a higher model methinks. Going with K5. High ISO shooting is fun for shooting dances. Then comes the constant freezing. Ouch! Check for stains: string of pearl stains. Arrrgh! Wait 6 weeks for replacement. New K5. No freezing. No stains. Now I am back to shooting pics of the kids and enjoying photography...I hate changing lenses though because I keep getting dust in. So with the small cameras I have I have often taken both the K2000 and K5 along in my bag. Pentax suits me fine for my interests as a hobbyist photographer.

[KxBlaze]

I didn't switch to Pentax. Pentax was my first ever DSLR but I chose Pentax solely because of the Kx. It was by far the best camera for the $. As I learned more about Pentax I started to feel that way about the entire brand. I think they offer some of the best bang for your buck products out there, bodies and lenses.

[Edgar_in_Indy]

I hate changing lenses though because I keep getting dust in. So with the small cameras I have I have often taken both the K2000 and K5 along in my bag.

Do you own one of the small rubber sqeeze-pumps? I kept fretting about dust on my sensor until I discovered the hand pumps. I bought a Giotto Rocket pump and it was the best $10 I ever spent. A few blasts of that at the sensor takes care of the vast majority of sensor dust. It's no longer something I worry about.

I know this was completely off topic, but I wish I had stumbled on the hand pump much earlier in my DSLR journey since I had to deal with dust blobs in a lot of my early pictures.

[chrism_scotland]

I made the move to Pentax after having done without an SLR for almost a year, I've had Sony A700's and an Olympus E620 before.
I almost bought a K7 instead of my second A700 in 2009 but ultimately the K7 was £1000 at the time and the A700 was £500.
However this time I purchased a user K20D which seems to be beyond the A700 in handling and performance and I'm really enjoying using it!
Recently bought my first DA Ltd, the 40mm which is amazing, it makes the K20 much smaller and lighter to use all the time and I'm now sorely tempted to spend a shocking amount on a 15mm and 21mm to go with it!