Originally posted by ihasa Would a Canon hold the iris open until you press the shutter, work with A lenses, or support AF for F / FA lenses? And stabilise all of them? ;P
These minute advantages pale in the face of the advantages of being able to get inexpensive 24/2.8, 28/2.8, 35/2, 50/1.8, 50/1.4, 50/2.5 macro, 85/1.8
autofocus lenses for Canon cameras. Each of these costs under $360. What does Pentax offer under this price bar? A 35/2.4 and a 50/1.4. We don't even have 24 or 28 mm lenses at any price range - you need to hit the used market to get those focal lengths.
My point was that if someone wants to buy Canon, you're not going to change their mind by pointing to some manual focus lens bargains. And if they are inclined to use MF lenses, they can do that on their Canon too - Pentax may do that better, but that's not good enough to ignore the advantages of the EF mount platform. Few people buy DSLRs to use exclusively with inexpensive old MF lenses.
Originally posted by Vylen He was talking about availability... as in how easy they are to get.
Dunno much about Canon lenses though so I still don't know if that argument is still valid, heh.
I understand. See above. Canon users are not that much excited about old MF lenses because they have access to inexpensive AF ones. Nikon has their share of inexpensive lenses too. So selling Pentax on account of access to MF bargains isn't going to work well - it might work in some cases, but not many. WR, SR, build quality, ergonomy, sensor performance - those are better arguments. Backward compatibility is overrated though - it means nothing to a new user that wants AF and needs all the technological help he can get to obtain decent pictures without being a great photographer. And it's not that perfect either due to the mount crippling.
These things come up in open discussions where people recommend multiple brands. We are here on a Pentax forum and it is easy to get blinded by one-sided Pentax arguments. But it's worth looking at what other brands have to offer, the same way we would like prospective Canon/Nikon customers to consider what Pentax has to offer. A good starting place is to look at the lens lineups of Canon or Nikon, check their prices, read reviews - you'll get a different perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of the Pentax platform.