Originally posted by NRM7000 Originally posted by Clicker Originally posted by NRM7000 I believe that there is a degree of brand "snobbery" - how many people choose their camera based on the name rather than image quality, etc..?
aren't we to the same extent doing just that?
Yep, I guess so.
I don't think so, at least not on my watch. In 50+ years of shooting, I'd never had a Pentax before i bought the K20D. And I did *lots* of research. My bias was toward Sony or Olympus. But my analysis of all the offerings in Spring 2008 led me to Pentax. (More on that below.) Had I desired (and had the cash for) a snob system, I'd have gone the digital MF route. But first I wanted certain lenses; then I wanted a camera I wouldn't feel impelled to 'upgrade' at the first opportunity.
Originally posted by SpecialK I ended up with Pentax primarily because they had the 10-17 fisheye, I did not want to become a Nikon person, and the current Canon was few hundred more at the time.
It was the DA10-17 that brought me to Pentax also. I'd asked myself, "What do I want to do that I can't do with what I have?" (a fine 5mpx Sony DSC-V1 'NightShot' cam with 4x Zeiss optics). The answers were: ultrawide, ultralong, and low light (and then macro). Well, everybody had long and fast lenses at not-too-terrible prices. But only Pentax and Oly had affordable fisheye zooms then, and Oly had problems. Canon and Nikon lenses cost too much then and the bodies comparable cost-wise to the K20D felt like cheap plastic and garnered many bitches and gripes from users.
Quote: If I was doing it all over from scratch with what I know now, I might not choose Pentax.
The lens price points have changed quite a bit since I ordered my K20D, which was just when Hoya devoured Pentax. If I re-did my analysis now, knowing what I do about the total lens market, I still might go for Pentax... or Sony. I still find the K20D to be a tough act to follow. I still feel no compulsion to 'upgrade'. I'm not sorry for my decision nor for where I am. I'm not a Pentax snob; I got the best tools I could afford. And I won't blame those tools for my not knowing how to get the most from them. It's a poor worker who blames their tools, etc.