[tobiasj]

My first Pentax was a K1000 I got in the early 80's ('83 I think) but when it was stolen I got a P3 which I still have to this day, I have to admit however that I have not used it since I got my first *ist DL a few years back... (then the *ist DS2, ghad I regret selling THAT one, gotta pick another one up..) and now my K10d.


-John

[smidsy]

I have to admit that I got my first Pentax about two weeks ago - picked up an MZ60 body off ebay for $50AUS and added a Sigma 24-70mm lens for $29.

Been using a Minolta X300 for years, but I wanted to go full auto and everything I read is that Pentax is way better quality.
Cheers

I got my first Pentax, an ME, back in 1982 while I was working at Laursen Color Lab in Southern California. Bought it from one of the photographers that used our lab to develop & print all his work. I got the body, winder, 4 lenses, 2 hard cases, and some filters all for $400. I still have all of it. The ME still works great and I still use it every now and then. I'll never get rid of it.

[JamesD]

My first Pentax was the IQZoom 105G. Loved this little beauty.

[kurt]

This is easy .... K10D is my first, and maybe my last ... camera ever (too old to change anymore ).

[JamesD]

LOL... you're never too old for anything. I spoke the other day with an elderly gentleman at our bookstore. He wanted a book on how to build a website. He is 84 years old. I told him that I admired his willingness to learn and he thought that odd. He asked, "How many hours do you have in a day?" I replied, "Twenty-four." He responded, "Well, I have twenty-four hours in my day as well." Good attitude!

[ve2vfd]

Hmmm, the first camera I ever used was a K1000 back in high school (around 1983).

In college I bought a Minolta X700, an amazing camera which I still love.

Then when digital came out, I got a big clunky Fuji Finepix which was ok for it's time....

Then I got an Optio 450 which I LOVED and still use.

After that I got an Optio S6 which I still use a lot as it's an amazing camera.

For Xmas this last year I gave my parents an Optio S10 and they absolutely love it (they were still using film point and shoots!). My mother's friends are all jealous of her "cute little camera that always takes awesome pics!"

And of course my latest toy, my K110!

Pat

[Cloudy Wizzard]

My first Pentax is the K100D Super (I think everybody here still remembers that one ).

my First camera was an Agfa ISO Rapid (ISO Rapid I I think) that I got from my uncle when I was a kid (I don't think I used it much since it was kinda outdated when I got it and it was very hard to find flash-bulbs and batteries for the flash).

Also the viewfinder was not aligned to the lens so an object in the middle of the viewfinder was to the right of the image (you can imagine that in the hands of a kid most of the pictures were useless since stuff I wanted to capture just fell of the picture).

[blpphoto]

My first was (and still is) an Asahi Pentax Spotmatic with a 50 1.4 that I inherited 30-some years ago from my Grandfather. I purchased an SP1000 some years later (still have that too) and then followed that up with an ESII and several other accessories (still have all those, too).

I sold cameras for a couple of years at a department store. We carried Pentax and Canon. I sold far more MEs, K1000s and MXs than AE-1s, AT-1s, and A-1s.

I dropped photography as a hobby for several years - time and film costs got me down. My ex bought me a Canon EOS Rebel X - it eventually got stolen. I never really liked the feel of it but it was OK for several years of vacation photos, etc. I replaced that with a digital Canon P&S and it served me well until May 2007.

When I decided to get back into photography, there wasn't really any question as to brand. The only debate was between the K100 and the K10.

[BPT]

It was a sunny afternoon of July in the year 2007, I opened the brown wrapped paper of the parcel with customs stickers on it and what did I see, a shiny K100D which I happily ran outside to play with.

So no I havent owned a pentax for a long time

[Lowell Goudge]

First pentax KX bought used in 1982 and still have it.

Bought it as a second body, mainly for long lenses, as it did not have a split image focusing screen, but 100% ground glass. I discovered you could get different screnes with this camera. Also a consideration with the KX is that it has fully mechanical timed shutter, battery is only for light meter.

Origonal camera was a Ricoh XR-2s. (Still have it too) The Ricoh and KX have identical control layout and view finder (except in one camera the transparent shutter speed indicator is green and in the other it is blue).

Since then, progress has gotten the better of me. PZ-1, *istD and K10D.

Still own them all but have not taken a single frame of film since aug 2006

[Sefirato]

My first Pentax camera (and the only SLR camera to date) has been the Honeywell Pentax Spotmatic II camera (at least I think it's II, it's stored somewhere in a storage shed down in Florida, either there or Philly!) It was handed down to me from my rich aunt (one has to appreciate rich family members) for use in my Photography class in High School. I used the camera and the B/W film for both Photo 1 and 2. That's how I got into the Pentax world. Unfortunately, I didn't take very good care of the camera for the most part (at least for the lens, not the camera itself). I was careful, yes but I was young and naive back then.

After I got out of High School, I just put the camera aside as I couldn't afford to go into film again as it was getting expensive at the time. It wasn't until 2002 when I came over to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving that I stumbled upon my aunt's new Nikon D70. At that moment I fell in love with it. At the time I didn't know that Pentax had a DSLR already as I was fascinated by it. Fast forward years later, in another forum I stumbled across info about K10D and K100D. That made me want to own a Pentax once again, this time a DSLR.

[gpaual]

k1000 given to me by friend....1970 something or 80-ish ( not sure ) next pt was a zx-10 on the way to london......now have zx-ist ds-kiod, and waiting to see whats next

[raymeedc]

An S3V given to me by my brother in the late sixties or early seventies when I was about 20 years old. I've since been through my Olympus, Nikon, & Contax phases, only to return to my original inspiration, as I once again am shooting with, among other Pentaxian mechanisms, an S3V. (............ rosebud.....)

[craftsmansky]

first pentax was a used spotmatic in 1971. added a non-metered pentax the next year with the add-on meter. used those until 1978 when i (gasp) switched to an olympus om-1. i have various oms over the years, all manual until i got a p/s canon digital in 2002. i realized i needed a dslr on a recent trip and purchased a k100d in july of this year. feels good to be back in the pentax fold...