[Rupert]

For me the complements have always had greater value than money. Favorable feedback tells me that I have done well with my tools, and created something good.

Somehow I have never had money give me the same feeling that I get from the success at the creative process we call photography.

Yep, and you have posted many fine shots here over time. The feedback is always a happy part of shooting, but for me the thrill of getting a shot I enjoy and consider decent is the driving force to keep shooting. A really good shot that you like can make your day....even if you start out in a bad mood.

Yesterday was a good example.....I had a Dr appointment with a heart Dr, was not in the best of moods, more than a little nervous, and feeling a tad on the depressed side of life. Just as I was about to turn off my office lights I looked out the window and saw a big black crow I have been trying to get a decent shot of for weeks. The K5IIs and mounted Bigma were on the desk......I quickly turned it on and hoped for the best!



He came down closer......


I went off to the Doc in a better mood, no worries...heck, I have a crow to process when I get home! Turned out my heart is just fine, and later that afternoon when I got home, still in a good mood, there he was on my fence again for one last shot!


My whole day went from bad to good....thanks to a damn ol' crow! I bet I am not the only one that has had bad days go good with a few decent shots..or even one that you really like! Maybe it is like a baseball player hitting a home run.....you guys that are truly into this photo stuff understand, no doubt?

Regards!

[BigMackCam]

...I had a Dr appointment with a heart Dr, was not in the best of moods, more than a little nervous, and feeling a tad on the depressed side of life. Just as I was about to turn off my office lights I looked out the window and saw a big black crow I have been trying to get a decent shot of for weeks. The K5IIs and mounted Bigma were on the desk......I quickly turned it on and hoped for the best!
...
...
I went off to the Doc in a better mood, no worries...heck, I have a crow to process when I get home! Turned out my heart is just fine, and later that afternoon when I got home, still in a good mood, there he was on my fence again for one last shot!
...
...
My whole day went from bad to good....thanks to a damn ol' crow! I bet I am not the only one that has had bad days go good with a few decent shots..or even one that you really like! Maybe it is like a baseball player hitting a home run.....you guys that are truly into this photo stuff understand, no doubt?

Regards!

Glad to hear your heart is OK

Those are superb shots - lovely detail!

[mee]

Otis thinks that is a lot of money just to go SPLAT?

Regards!

Indeed. Thus why you still see me here.

If I disappear, I either switched brands, died/very ill, or gave up photography... pretty much in that order.. I think.

[Rupert]

Glad to hear your heart is OK

Those are superb shots - lovely detail!

Thanks! The shots are well short of spectacular, but I was happy to get some detail in a black bird!

If I disappear, I either switched brands, died/very ill, or gave up photography... pretty much in that order.. I think.

Yep, it's pretty hard to do much photography when you are dead!

Regards!

[Alex645]

Although it seems a popular 'threat' do many users actually switch or are camera brands like banks and only a very small percentage ever change?

Jumping ship is not only a financial consideration, but manufacturers purposely design cameras, lenses, and menus differently so that the other brand is counter-intuitive. Zooming in on one brand is a twist to the left, but on the other brand it is a twist to the right. Same with manual focus and aperture. With two control wheels, one brand the index finger controls the aperture and the thumb the shutter speed, but it's the opposite with the other brand. Your years of trained reflex will do the exact wrong movement.

With that said, my first camera was a 35mm FSLR Yashica TL-Electro that I outgrew quickly. Then as a high school grad gift, I got a Minolta SRT-202 and that system grew into 4 bodies and 6 lenses including the Maxxum 9000 which I used professionally in Hollywood....until it was all stolen. As a pro (in the '80s) everyone shot with Nikon, so I jumped ship with two Nikon F3HP and a N2000. At that time, I also wanted to upgrade to medium format. I knew Nikon (and Hasselblad) were the only two cameras NASA took on their missions, but I couldn't afford Hasselblad and Zeiss lenses. So I went to a high level international intelligence organization and discovered that they were exclusively using Pentax because of IQ and reliability. So I bought a Pentax 645 with three primes and that has been my go-to fine art photography camera ever since.

Because of my Nikon FSLR system, I stayed with Nikon for DSLRs, but as a photo teacher with 240 students/year that are all required to supply their own DSLR, I have become a huge fan of Pentax. In a class of 20, typically I'm looking at 14 Canons, 5 Nikons, and 1 Pentax. The best images come from the best photographers, and that being equal, from the best lenses, and that being equal, Pentax....unless it's a FF.

For my own son, I purchased a K-50 with the two kit lens, and recently the 40mm pancake. IF all of my Nikons were abducted by aliens tonight, I would start from scratch with a K3ii and 2 or 3 primes.

Did anyone see the film "Boyhood"? I loved the film but I did have an issue that the main character shot with a Nikon 35mm FSLR in high school and then at the end of the movie is shooting with a Canon DSLR. Yes, it happens, but in the case of the movie which took 12 years to shoot, I bet Canon sponsored the producer to get product placement.

[Racer X 69]

Well.


Jump ship?


Lemmesee.


My first SLR was a Ricoh XR2s, with a Pentax M40~80 zoom lens. After much research and a million questions asked of those I knew who were into photography, I had set out to Cameras West in downtown Seattle to by a Pentax camera. The salesman convinced me the Ricoh would be a lower cost way to get started without sacrificing quality.


Twenty five years later I made the jump to digital with the Pentax camera with the funny name, the istDL, with the 18~55 kit lens. Since I had the M40~80, and a few other K mount lenses, I figured it made sense to stick with a brand that supported their continued use.




It wasn't long and I picked up the new K10, and soon after the 18~55WR.


And a bunch of other Pentax manual and digital lenses.


Then I grabbed a K5IIs.





I've made a few really great photos.


And just like with film, I've wasted a lot of shots. Ask any photographer, and if they reply with complete and candid honesty, they will admit that it can sometimes take a great deal of failure to achieve the success of that one shot that stands out.




I have looked at and handled Canon, Nikon, Sony, and other cameras. As mentioned, the main differences are button and menu layout, and things that are peculiar to each brand. Sure, each brand has a strong and a weak point.


But.


It ain't the size of the ship that gets you seasick, its the motion of the ocean.


Likewise, the brand of camera gear has little to do with how well a person uses that equipment. The results can be spectacular. The results can be mediocre. The results can be garbage.


So.


Jump ship?


Why?


I get the results desired with my Pentax gear.


It doesn't make sense to ditch more than thirty five years of equipment accumulation to move to Canon or Nikon, when there is absolutely no guarantee that I will make better photos.






I can say with complete confidence that Pentax cameras and lenses (as well as some K mount aftermarket lenses) will be the only gear in my camera bag, and in my hands, for the remainder of my days.


'Nuff said.

[pinholecam]

Jump ship is totally fine with me.

However, so often, those who do forgot something called 'courtesy'
So they keep coming back telling everyone of their friends they made over the years that they are suckers.

[Racer X 69]

Yep, and you have posted many fine shots here over time.

Thank for the props Jim. It means a lot coming from you!

[clackers]

Jump ship is totally fine with me.

However, so often, those who do forgot something called 'courtesy'
So they keep coming back telling everyone of their friends they made over the years that they are suckers.

A bizarre phenomenon, indeed.

[Rupert]

There are exceptions, in most any debatable subject, but I don't see many when it comes to Jumpers. I do have a friend over on Flickr Pentaxians that went Nikon FF and it did increase his quality output, which was already very good with a K5. He does mostly studio models ( nice stuff! He is one of Otis' favorite shooters) and the K5 gave him focus headaches. He didn't make a big scene, bash Pentax or make any unreasonable claims, he just got the FF and starting shooting. His switch was out of necessity and he was already an exceptional shooter and long time Pentax user...and will most likely come back to the FF Pentax.

What we are missing? Maybe there is something underlying in the message of the Jumpers we are speaking of here? I'm no psychologist, but I sense some need for attention at any cost from those that go on rants against Pentax and try to bully others with their message. Perhaps their current work does not get enough attention from others? Perhaps they seek a little revenge in their threats to jump, or in actual jumping? They are often, in my view, not the most personable posters to start with, and may harbor some resentment that they don't get the recognition they "deserve"? Just guessing, but I don't think it is only about the gear, it is deeper than that.

Some good advice from Otis this morning as he was here looking around for loose nuts or NSFW photos that need critiquing.....

"You don't make friends by making people not like you." As usual, Otis is right once again!

Regards!

[csa]

Many years ago, I started out with Canon DSLR's, went to Nikon briefly; back to Canon. Then point & shoot for years. A friend was posting images taken with his Pentax, so I came here to check out Pentax, and bought not one, but two K10D's off of marketplace. I just moved up to a K3. Anyway, if I ever decided to "jump ship" (which I won't be doing!!), I'd just silently fade away, rather than bidding goodbye to the brand. I've found my home here, and in Pentax!

[normhead]

It would be such a pain jumping ship, especially where I am, so far away from anywhere to sell anything to anybody, I'm not sure it would make any sense at all. Jumping ship is for people with no patience, and big wallets. They want the latest greatest right now and "have to have" it. It's the lenses thing. I have 17 pentax K-mount lenses and 5 camera bodies. That's 22 items to turn around. It's simply not going to happen. Especially when the gains to be had are so minimal, and so rarely even important.

If your Pentax does 8 out of 10 things well, paying three times the price for 9 out of 10 isn't cost efficient. Unless the new system is going to make you a lot of money you would't make with your Pentax. I figure, after my K-3, anything better I buy has to make me a pile of money. I that to pay for itself 5 times over in a year.

Or as I've often said, give me a $50,000 contract that I can complete in a month, and I'll buy any friggin camera you want me to buy.

[Rupert]

Or as I've often said, give me a $50,000 contract that I can complete in a month, and I'll buy any friggin camera you want me to buy.

Otis love your work Norm and in particular your squirrel shots. He is always looking for a replacement for my lowly skills and he has a ton of cash from all that junk he sells on E-bay. I'm certain $50k is nothing to Otis......however, if you can make a deal, get your money up front....Otis brings a whole new meaning to "Slow Pay".

Regards!

[Canada_Rockies]

There are no really bad cameras; Some focus a bit faster, some focus a bit more accurately, some have better colours straight out of the camera JPG, and some cost more than others and ... on and on and on, but anyone can take a superb image with any of the established brands and some of the brands that aren't yet established. Some really good photographers take superb pictures with cameras that we all think are junk. Unfortunately for my pride, my wife is one of those. She has an eye for composition that I have to really work at to equal.

There are people who have to push up their pride with possessions that they point to. I feel sorry for them. I enjoy seeing photos taken with any camera, if they are good photos. There are innumerable people who take better photos than I do. All I can do is try to get better at it than I am. I can admire anyone's car even if I would never, ever, buy one after winning the lottery. Different strokes for different folks.

[csa]

There are no really bad cameras; Some focus a bit faster, some focus a bit more accurately, some have better colours straight out of the camera JPG, and some cost more than others and ... on and on and on, but anyone can take a superb image with any of the established brands and some of the brands that aren't yet established. Some really good photographers take superb pictures with cameras that we all think are junk. Unfortunately for my pride, my wife is one of those. She has an eye for composition that I have to really work at to equal.

There are people who have to push up their pride with possessions that they point to. I feel sorry for them. I enjoy seeing photos taken with any camera, if they are good photos. There are innumerable people who take better photos than I do. All I can do is try to get better at it than I am. I can admire anyone's car even if I would never, ever, buy one after winning the lottery. Different strokes for different folks.

That sums it up nicely!