[vinzer]

If I was a camera company, I would want my stuff out there, to show how much better it is than anything else. Getting the Pentax faithful to dump their K10D bodies for the K??, or enticing us to purchase an extra body is a smaller market than bringing new users into the fold.

AND, the three new 2.8 lenses, if of similar quality to other Pentax lenses are quite a good range for the wedding and portrait photographer.

I would hope that an announcement would come very very soon and that an event similar to the one sponsored by Nikon in Tokyo earlier this week is an absolute necessity in the battle to win market share.

Pentax does NOT have a good reputation in the wedding and portrait photography industry....that's why most people are shooting Nikon and Canon.

And certainly, the D300 and D3 are much sturdier cameras than the K10D (which I own and love), so if Pentax desires any part of the pro market, they will need to act fast and with something as good in quality and features as the K10D, but much, much better, because that's what the consumer wants.

We can argue all day over LBA, CBA (camera buying addiction) and all of that, but the fact of the matter is that for many people, 'upgrading' every 2-3 years (or even sooner in some cases) is the norm and the only way a company will survive in the 21st century.

Just one human beings opinion

I would think that a lot of people are now beginning to use Pentax in the wedding and portrait photography biz. Pentax certainly have the wonderful glass for that.

It's in sports photography that Pentax suffers a bit. Of course, this is all due to the general lack of long, fast glass. Third-party manufacturers aren't also helping the cause, seeing as to how Sigma pulled production of it's 70-200 2.8 lens.

Part of a system's appeal is glass, and the reason why I bought into Pentax for the first time is the usability of old glass for a ~$1000 DSLR (at the time), as well as the Limiteds. Even if a company has 5 different DSLRs selling concurrently, with 5 replacements due out in the coming 2 years, without the glass, a lot of people won't buy into the system. At the very least, sales of models marketed to the advanced hobbyist and pro would stink.

So as much as all of us here would love an announcement of a new higher-end DSLR suited for pros (then again, I'd think the K10D is already capable of being a pro camera, and some are using it as such), that camera wouldn't sell much to it's intended market if the glass isn't there. The old timers with a collection of lenses would buy it, but without glass, that camera won't entice prospective new Pentax users to buy that.

So, Pentax really needs to release those lenses ASAP. Also, it wouldn't hurt them to re-issue the FA/FA* line as a stopgap measure.

[pentax07]

Agreed. except, there are NOT a lot.... just go over the Digitial Wedding Forum and ask. And that's a problem, in a world where Pentax used to be.....ummmm.... at least a prince among princes.....

Now it's King and Queen Nikon and Canon (you pick the order).

And many pro wedding photogs want to rent lenses from time to time....there is NO Pentax lens rental in the USA that I am aware of.

My only hope is that the 50-135 I'm planning on getting focuses on my K10D faster than the primes or the 16-45 I have.

BTW, many wedding shooters won't even consider taking you on as a seond shooter if you don't have Canon or Nikon.....

I guess they havent seen the beautiful rendition of our pentax glass.

[SloPhoto]

Agreed. except, there are NOT a lot.... just go over the Digitial Wedding Forum and ask. And that's a problem, in a world where Pentax used to be.....ummmm.... at least a prince among princes.....

Now it's King and Queen Nikon and Canon (you pick the order).

And many pro wedding photogs want to rent lenses from time to time....there is NO Pentax lens rental in the USA that I am aware of.

My only hope is that the 50-135 I'm planning on getting focuses on my K10D faster than the primes or the 16-45 I have.

BTW, many wedding shooters won't even consider taking you on as a seond shooter if you don't have Canon or Nikon.....

I guess they havent seen the beautiful rendition of our pentax glass.

It will not.

It gets slightly less confused in odd - wedding like situations, but it is nothing stellar.

Quite slow at focusing compared to the other brands (IMO it is the focusing system, not the lenses).

I was hoping that it would solve my problems, but it did not.

[Spot Focus]

It will not.

It gets slightly less confused in odd - wedding like situations, but it is nothing stellar.

Quite slow at focusing compared to the other brands (IMO it is the focusing system, not the lenses).

I was hoping that it would solve my problems, but it did not.

You are aware that the new 50-135 is SDM and for reports I've seen it is faster and all most silent

[SloPhoto]

You are aware that the new 50-135 is SDM and for reports I've seen it is faster and all most silent

The one sitting next to me fits the bill,

But honestly from close focus to infinity, it may be faster with the screw drive, or at least it is close. (I intentionally did not upgrade firmware until I had a chance to test this).

It still makes noise moving the elements around, not as silent as some canons I have used, but close enough (not important to me).

It is slightly better at finding focus in tough conditions, slightly.

It does NOT make it focus like a canon or nikon, which is what he may be hoping for. I know I was a bit let down by it.

Longitudinal chromatic aberrations ARE present, which kinda bugs me as you cannot fix them in post, and the build is a bit sub par for 1k retail.

Don't get me wrong, I like the lens, but it is not perfect.

[and]

Accoring to the user reports I have read its not really faster. But imo this is hard to measure unless its like night and day. And imo if you make a lens focus much more quietly then it can give the illusion of actually being faster because to your ears it sounds very effortless, it just silently snaps into focus whereas a noisy screw operated af lens sounds like its doing more work.

I think the k10d af is fast. But I dont think its so good in terms of AF tracking and in terms of low light focus, compared to some of the competition.

but then I MF 90% of the time anyway

[little laker]

I may be wrong, bit I believe that the cameras still just a tool.

If someone could prove to me that I'd be able to take better pictures with brand X I'd jump ship. However that day hasn't come yet.

I almost hate to say this, but I'm getting more and more good shots not because of the camera but because of what I'm learning.

Like Mr Hyde said, if any of you ship jumpers care to part with any of your lenses please let me know what you have to sell.
I can't pay much for them, after all Pentax is suddenly not the best thing out there. But I'll pay the shipping costs and may even pay a little extra

[SLC Flyfishing]

good grief, there's going to be a lot of Pentax equipment on the second had market soon isn't there?

Hooray for me!

SLC

[Tom Lusk]

"good grief, there's going to be a lot of Pentax equipment on the second had market soon isn't there?

Hooray for me!"

This may well be the case. The main reason I bought into Pentax after being out of photography for a number of years was value. Value as in - for a limited amount of $$, what is the best IQ I could hope for.

Pentax was the obvious choice.

Now though, as I'm getting more serious about making the absolute best of the photo opportunities that present themselves to me, price is becoming less of an issue.

Anyone who actually believes that the equipment has little to do with the finished product is dreaming. I proved this to myself when I bought my FA*300 lens. The quality of my photos improved drastically and immediately. No increase in skill involved at all, believe me.

Why would I not believe that a camera that has better performance in many areas would not also let me elevate the quality of my photos?

Pentax products appeal to budget-minded photographers, and there is nothing wrong with that.

But I believe that there are many baby-boomers (like me) that, as they get more serious about their hobby, will opt for a more professional system.

[SLC Flyfishing]

I agree with you only to a point.

I will say that the finished product has less to do with the equipment used and more to do with the collection of cells sitting behind the viewfinder.

Lenses are a bit different, they are the one piece of equipment that I will concede to be directly involved in IQ. Bodies on the other hand just store what the lens and the photographer are able to feed in.

But like I said in my previous post, if you are going to switch and you'd like to get rid of that lens, I'll get rid of it for you! You're more than welcome to be extortionized by the Nikon corporation as far as I'm concerned.
SLC

[Peter Zack]

I don't know why everyone seems to claim that the K10D (or othe Pentax DSLRs) is not suitable for sports... There is no reason this camera cannot perform well in the sports arena (no pun intended). Sure we don't have 500fps and 6GB buffers but the K10D specs are more than adequate for sports such as motorcycle or bicycle racing. I've shot both with my K110D and got respectable results.

Frankly the "spray and pray" approach to sports photography mystifies me. Anyone can point a high speed camera at a moving subject and get at least one acceptable shot out of 10 or 20.

So, learn to use your tool and don't limit yourself just because you don't have the fastest shooter on the planet. Afterall, as many on this forum keep saying it is the photographer, not the camera.

Use your tool Huh?.... I couldn't agree more.
I feel like you do as well as others. The only thing I'm impressed with is the shot and I frankly don't care if it comes from a disposable camera or a Mark III. Really who cares? These types of threads are getting droll. The majority of owners pro or otherwise will have a beef or two about their brand choice. Ours might be not enough lenses, Canon's might be the second mortgage to buy another lens or body, Nikon's might be is any lens compatible with any body (not!) and so on.
Starting to ignore these threads that are I want, I want, Why don't we have, why don't we have.....

[EdZarts]

The new bodies from Nikon (and Canon for that matter) look quite nice, but I am not remotely tempted to "switch". I bought a pentax system for the glass (ltd primes) and the in-body AS.

If I needed a gazillion-FPS and superduper AF (actually I find the k10d AF just fine even in low light) I would have bought canon or nikon in the first place.

[stewart_photo]

(snip) Pentax products appeal to budget-minded photographers, and there is nothing wrong with that.

But I believe that there are many baby-boomers (like me) that, as they get more serious about their hobby, will opt for a more professional system.

Perhaps. But it's just as likely that some, if not most, old-timers eventually grow tired of the endless quest for the latest and greatest, while their long experience helps blind them to the hype surrounding that. They know full well they don't really need the latest and greatest gimmick to get good images - and calling a product "professional" is perhaps the biggest gimmick of them all. These things may ultimately lead many old-timers (like myself) to be more conservative in their purchasing choices, avoiding over-priced equipment ("pro" or other) in favor of 'enough to get the job done, at a reasonable price.'

In my own case, the Pentax K10D fits that bill in spades and then some. And this has nothing to do with being especially "budget-minded." Instead, it was a conscious decision not to waste money once again on higher-priced equipment that won't be worth a tiny fraction of it's price in just a couple of years, followed by considerable research into the various products available with realistic requirements and expectations foremost in mind. Pentax was included in that research due to it's very long history in the photography industry (another factor influencing old-timers to consider Pentax) and my own past, though certainly not recent, experiences with Pentax products. At the end of all that, the Pentax K10D stood out well above the rest.

stewart

[little laker]

I've seen KingsofRonin's pictures. I dont think the latest Canon or Nikon is going to help.

I agree with you for the most part, however in my opinion if he changed his attitude a lot and actually listened to what people say about his work he might start taking nice pic's
They have some potential. He just has to learn how to focus a little better, and either shoot in auto for a while or learn a little about exposure

[Kingsofronin]

You guys have got to be the nicest forum in existence. We get a post from someone wanting to jump ship based on a camera no one has even physically held, nor has anyone seen a single production shot from.

Your responses were much kinder than mine would have been.

My thoughts are that if you want to buy into the F-mount (I do not, no matter the specs of the camera) then you should already be there and you are wasting your time with Pentax. The D200 is essentially the same camera (minus the VPN) as the K10D. There are some minor tweaks between the two but they are not even noticeable to most people. (Position of the rear scroll wheel, placement of the ISO button, mechanical aperture linkage for fully-manual bayonet lenses, etc.)

There are an ABUNDANCE of differences between the D300 and the k10d though, and thats why i might jump ship. I'm not buying a D200. 12 MP, Metal body, 8 fps shooting, HD screen, 100% viewfinder, faster glass, oh lord the list goes on. The D300 kills the K10D. I will only stick with pentax if they release something similar by the end of the year. I mean...ill still keep my pentax stuff but id be switching my main setup to a nikon.