[johnmflores]

Wondering how and why people chose Pentax cameras and why they continue to choose Pentax? Have you been tempted to move to another system? Have you moved to another system?

I'll start. My first serious camera was an MX, purchased in 1990 or so. When I jumped into DSLRs in 2004, I got a Nikon D70 because the price was right. When it came time to upgrade in 2008, I priced out a D300 and the 24-70 and 70-200 F2.8 zooms. The cost, size and weight didn't make sense for my motorcycle photography. Did some research and found that the K20d offered great value. Quickly built up a kit. Struggled with AF but was otherwise happy with price/performance. Skipped to K-5. AF better but still not quite there. Skipped to K-3. Now we're getting somewhere.

I've supplemented my Pentax kit with Panasonic Micro Four-Thirds for video. Pentax just not there. I've also added Nikon 1. Used prices are very reasonable and image quality is pretty good - I've published with it and consider it somewhere in the ballpark between the D70 and K20D. AF is lightning fast.

I also started doing more rigged motorcycle shots and looked around. IQ, durability, wide lens, manual controls, and intervalometer are requirements. Started with a Ricoh GX100. Now shooting with the Q (and also with the Nikon V1). Q stills beat the POV cameras that I've used (Drift, Contour, CamOne, etc…) and controls are much better.

How about you? I'd be especially curious to hear from some of Pentax's more vocal critics here. Why do you stay? What does Pentax offer that you can't or don't want elsewhere?

Let's not focus on what Pentax lacks - heaven knows that there are enough threads about that.

[boriscleto]

I ended up with Pentax because the D3000 and D5000 weren't compatible with older lenses. Now that I have nearly 80 K-mount & M42 lenses I'm not going anywhere...

I was tempted by the Tamron 150-600, but I have the Sigma 150-500 now.

[VoiceOfReason]

I was about to pull the trigger on either a Sony or a Nikon in 2010 when a friend who is big into photography and who I trust their opinion said I should check out Pentax. I ended up with a Kx and 18-55 DAL. Since then I've bought and sold various lenses, striving to improve on what I have, and sold the original kit to my brother in law. I've upgraded and tried out different things, and now what I have in my signature is what I currently have. I would love to see a few different lenses developed, especially on the long end, but I am fairly satisfied with what I have and I don't see me realistically changing systems. Sure, I'll upgrade bodies, and if we get a 150-600 I'll go for that. I'd like a few more WR lenses too, but I can't complain about what my kit looks like now.

[luftfluss]

I chose Pentax because its Leicable.

[Winder]

Started with Canon FD and later moved to EF. Used the Pentax 67II is school and loved it. I was shooting with the Olympus E-3 and a Canon 5D for digital and a Contax 645 for film. The Olympus E-3 was replaced by the K-7 since I needed a weather sealed body. I had pretty much ignored Pentax up to this point. Sold all of my Olympus equipment and last year sold my Canon 5D and glass. The K-3 produces better files than Canon 5D so there has been no real drop in quality. I have been waiting for Pentax to update the lenses and produce a FF for 5 years. I would love to shoot a single system, but that doesn't appear to be happening anytime soon. Other companies are moving forward at a very fast pace, and right now I looking at moving to Sony for the FE mount or moving to Fuji for the X-mount. I'm not a gear collector or a brand fanboy. I have no brand loyalty, but I think Pentax makes the best bodies on the market for the money. No FF body and the lenses are behind the competition. I'll be retired before Ricoh gets around to doing anything.

[i83N]

underdog not canon or nikon...

[normhead]

At Ryerson Polytech in the 60's when i went to school, they had Spotmatics. If you wanted to borrow lenses you had to have a Pentax 35mm SLR. I bought the camera but i never borrowed a lens. Funny how zoom is more convenient, but I'd never want to miss those first few years when all I shot was a 55mm 1.7.

[shaX 07]

When I decided to break into the DSLR world about a year or so ago, I had acquired a Canon EOS Rebel XS DSLR that I hadn't really used much at all (I didn't even know how to use it actually).

I signed up for a Photography class in college and decided I wanted to upgrade to a better camera.

I started doing research at various web sites online and I came across Snapsort.com which is great for researching specs and comparing cameras and features, etc. This is how I discovered Pentax. I hadn't heard of it until then. When I saw how well they stacked up to Canon and Nikon camera costing twice as much, I started researching more about Pentax and wound up here and that's also when I decided to purchase a K-30 from my local Hunt's.

I've since moved up to the K-5ii after an awesome Black Friday deal last year and continue to grow my lens collection (hoping to add something to it this Black Friday).

Why do I stay with Pentax? Because I get way more bang for the buck. I would have to spend at least twice as much with Canon or Nikon to achieve the same level of quality and performance that i'm getting with Pentax.

[siamthai]

Started with Pentax as I had bad experiences with Minolta and Canon in humid enviorements. The only weather resistant camera I could afford was the K-7. Have only used Pentax since then but if I should change I'd probably change to Fujifilm as I do like their cameras. I'd not change to Nikon or Canon.

[Clavius]

I was using a Fuji bridgecamera in 2008 and wanted to upgrade to ILC. So, after following Pentax for a while, I decided that they were the most innovating brand at that time. They were affordable, without being "cheap". That affordability came directly from IBIS. The lenses didn't recuire their own stabilisation. Most lenses didn't even need their own motor. Pentax made the other brands look like total ripoffs. (Well we all know how well that advantage kept.)

At that time, Pentax was widely represented in many dedicated Dutch camera shops. And when I showed interest in Pentax the salesperson was very enthustiastic about the brand. Quick to outline all the Pentax features that were missing in the other brands.

I especially fell in love with the tiny limited line of lenses. So small, yet such good build quality and image quality. Perfect! And wow, if MILCs ever really hit off, then Pentax with their lust for compactness, mobility and innovation will surely join the race with one of the best entries... Remember that was 2008.

So, a K20D, K10D infra red, K-5, K-3 and more lenses then I'd like to admit later, I'm still with Pentax.

Since 2010, Pentax completely disappeared in each and every shop here in the Netherlands and neighbouring countries. Even webshops don't show them. Lots and lots of people here are selling their gear, which nobody seems to buy. So joining them and selling mint Pentax gear at rock-bottom prices is the only way out. Which I refuse. As long as there is a bit of hope of Pentax re-emerging, I'm going to save and keep using my stuff. That's actually all that's still tying me to Pentax.

In the meantime I've also added (and sold) Canon 5DII with a bunch of lenses. Added NEX. And added the A7r with a few lenses. Sony is the new leading innovator now. They're the one that produced those tiny but powerfull cameras that I wanted. To bad their lenses aren't as compact as the limiteds.

[Venom3300]

I started with a Canon Rebel GII back in 2003. Had a tamron 28-200 lens.

I went digital in 2009 with a Canon Rebel XSi. It was the best value for the money in my opinion at the time. I built up a decent lens kit. In December of 2013 I bought a Canon 50D. While the performance was better than the XSi, it wasn't great. I especially didn't like the noise levels, and it didn't offer much improvement in DR.

I began searching for an alternative around June. I searched for a Canon alternative since I owned lenses. But canon sensor technology is behind and there are no real alternatives. I looked at olympus 4/3 micro, but didn't want to lose a stop of depth of field control. I ran across someone mentioning a Pentax DSLR. I gave my girlfriend a K1000 and thought it was well made, so I gave Pentax a good look.

I then rented a K-5 and 55-300DA, and compared it to my 50D. The 55-300 is a mediocre lens in my book, but the K-5 sensor blew the 50D sensor out of the water. So I sold my canon gear off, and looked high and low for a better long lens than the 55-300, and came up with the Tokina 400 AT-X 5.6 AF.

Pentax has some nice lens offerings, even if there aren't a billion of them. Every camera they introduce to the top tier of APSC is true upgrade (see canon 60D for a non upgrade). They use the same sensors as Nikon, but tune more out of them, and Pentax cameras have a more organic feel. I think the backing of Ricoh mean we don't have to worry about the doors suddenly closing if a product fails. The 2 new longer zoom lenses shown at photokina, to me shows that Pentax recognizes where the holes in the lineup are, and is working to fix them.

Canon hasn't innovated in year apart from video. I don't do video, so Canon just didn't make sense for me anymore.

[digital029art]

In all honesty, the Q is the only Pentax product that was (and is) truly unique. I bought it specifically because of the 03 fisheye lens. This very lightweight combination is ideal for the very niche use in Pole Aerial Photography: A Kayak Aerial Photography Method – a behind (and above) the scenes look! | kayakfari ( kayak .. far .. i )

You can enjoy some of the results here: Aerial & VR Panoramas | kayakfari ( kayak .. far .. i )

BTW, the Q can produce great results, good enough to be published in books and magazines!

As far as K mount DSLR, this was more of a "default" decision because I already had some K mount lenses from the film era, so the ist DS was a natural choice. Was it techincally the best? No. Would I recommend Pentax to new users today? Only maybe..
For my photography I use mostly old school MF (manual focus) glass, which I much prefer to the plasticky zoom craze of late. There are so many beautiful and excellent K, SMC-M, A, and screw mount lenses that are a real pleasure to shoot with! So I'm glad to be with the K mount for this backwards compatibility that is unequaled. As far as looking to the future and other needs, there are many other choices out there today. I love APS-C for anything above medium telephoto, but it would be so nice to shoot wide angle, standard and portrait in the native 35mm full frame format. Mirrorless or not, in the FF format, I'd like it to be Pentax for the convenience of open-aperture metering with those lenses!

[ChristianRock]

Like a lot of people, I looked into Pentax when I was already pretty much decided to go with Nikon - my brother, brother in law and my friends all have Nikons. What kept me from buying a D3200 or D3100 was the lack of body controls and little compatibility with a lot of the older lenses. So when I saw a few Pentax cameras on Craigslist, I jumped at what I thought was a good deal.

Since then I've assembled a lens lineup that makes sense to me, and will make even more sense when the full frame camera comes out (I intend to buy it but only after we are done paying our mortgage, so that's a few years down the road still). I've also added a 2nd body, again because it was a deal I couldn't pass on.

Why do I stay? I think the gear I have is more than a match for my level skills, and I am having a blast using the K20D especially (the newly acquired K-r went to the wife so now she finally leaves my K20D alone and I can always have it with me). I'm getting to the point where all the controls are becoming intuitive and I don't have to think about them, I just change settings as I need to. Also, there's a couple lenses that keep me in the fold. First the Plastic Fantastic 35 2.4 - maybe I have a very good copy but mine is the sharpest lens I own other than the Auto Sears 50mm f2 - mine is sharper than all my other nifty 50s including the highly regarded M 50 1.7. The other lens that I love is the SMC-A 70-210 f4. Again, maybe I have a good copy. Mine seems to have an old type of pixie dust, the way the pictures come out just speaks to my heart. Then come my Rikenons/Auto Sears (all made by Ricoh) and my Tokina 19-35, and then a few others, I enjoy them all.

I am quite happy with my setup but of course I have an upgrade path in mind but I'm not in a hurry.

[jatrax]

When I decided to move up from a bridge camera to a DSLR I had several sets of rechargeable AA's and charger from the bridge camera and wanted to continue using those on the DSLR. A search on the internet showed the only DSLR at the time that would take AA's was the k-x. Not knowing anything about DSLR's or popular brands I ordered the k-x sight unseen.

I have since tried both Nikon and Canon bodies and find the ergonomics not to my liking. I had a D610 two lens kit in my shopping cart @ Costco once, but after handling the demo camera I put it back. It just did not feel as good in my hand as the Pentax.

The availability of excellent, inexpensive glass certainly helped keep me interested and I now have a good collection of manual primes as well as a nearly complete collection of 'F' glass. I moved from the k-x to the k-5, had to buy a k-5IIs while the k-5 was in the repair shop and pre-ordered the k-3. My son uses the k-x, my wife shoots with a k-5IIs and I carry a k-5IIs as backup and shoot with the k-3.

I think the image quality from my gear exceeds my abilities and will do so for some time so I see no need to change systems. The ergonomics continue to be my primary attraction to Pentax as I suspect any good camera in current production will yield good images.

[TER-OR]

Pentax has some nice lens offerings, even if there aren't a billion of them. Every camera they introduce to the top tier of APSC is true upgrade (see canon 60D for a non upgrade). They use the same sensors as Nikon, but tune more out of them, and Pentax cameras have a more organic feel. I think the backing of Ricoh mean we don't have to worry about the doors suddenly closing if a product fails. The 2 new longer zoom lenses shown at photokina, to me shows that Pentax recognizes where the holes in the lineup are, and is working to fix them.

Canon hasn't innovated in year apart from video. I don't do video, so Canon just didn't make sense for me anymore.

That was apparent back in 2008 when I bought a used K10. Lots of different models with C&N but what are the differences? Certainly they take their time upgrading sensors - how many T3 series are still available?

Anyway - weather resistance is a big thing for me. Also, having grown up with manual cameras I appreciate being able to control the parameters myself and having the dedicated controls on the camera body, rather than menu-diving or swapping controls with a single wheel etc.

Every decision involves compromises but I always appreciate ruggedness and ergonomics. Lenses are expensive enough I'll never have dozens of them. I'd like to get a DA300* but that's a wishlist item right now.