[emalvick]

Nice thread.

I've met people here and there that comment on the Pentax, but I rarely get looks or any condescension or ignorance type of tone with it.

What I do find more often are the silent looks that I believe come with the size of the whole kit (and perhaps a recognition of the p-word on the camera). You see, when I go out and shoot landscapes with my K3 or K5 and any of the DA 21, FA 31, 43, 77 lenses, the whole camera is actually quite compact. And, I sense a superiority complex that is strictly based on physical size of the system. It's all silent, and perhaps in my head.

In fact, occasionally when some do talk they are impressed by the size of the whole system. Some are envious when they see me on a hike while they slog along with their C or N and a multi-pound lens.

---------- Post added 06-22-2018 at 02:06 PM ----------

BTW, I think the sheer mass of Canon and Nikon cameras out there rely on impulse buys and the cheap and prominent availability of packages of both systems (at least here in the U.S.). I've seen people, including my in-laws, literally walk by the camera display at the warehouse store (i.e. Costco) and buy the Nikon on a whim. Same family members often look down on my Pentax. Costco doesn't sell it so it can't be that good. These are the same types of people that fancy themselves as great photographers because they have a dSLR or struggle with the fact that every picture isn't perfect with a dSLR.

Humans are strange sometimes.

[LensBeginner]

The opposite actually happened to me once... I was trying a difficult shot, braced against a wall, because it was already dark and there was jack sweet light.
I had my K-01, with the kit lens on, and was using one of those LCD loupes to remedy the lack of viewfinder, so the "thing" looked imposing to an untrained eye - it would have looked a jumbled mess to someone with a little of photographic knowledge, especially because you knida tend to use loupes for video, not stills...
So, a guy with his girlfriend passes by and says to her: "see? that's a nice camera!"

[bhbrake]

Costco doesn't sell it so it can't be that good. These are the same types of people that fancy themselves as great photographers because they have a dSLR or struggle with the fact that every picture isn't perfect with a dSLR.
Humans are strange sometimes.

I bought my K-50 from Costco with the two kit lenses, memory card, bag, straps, and some software shortly after Pentax put it on the market. It was a replacement for my Nikon D40. I was shopping for a Nikon D7200 originally, but with the K50 being $200 cheaper, weather sealed, internal stabilization, and coming with two kit lenses. I had to try it out. Turns out, it was way more comfortable and intuitive to use than the D7200 even though I had only use Nikon and Fuji cameras from the time I was 7.
Ultimately, Pentax's ergonomics and value are what have sold me. I am yet to find a more comfortable camera to use that offers so much for the price. Even though i had the dreaded aperture block issues, I still upgraded to a K3 for these reasons.

The SLR thing is funny. When I was very young and used Fuji point and shoots, I thought having a SLR would make my pictures awesome automatically, kinda like rich guys think buying a Ferrari will make them a grand prix driver. I dabbled with my Dad's F3 and got pretty terrible images at first.I will say that going from a Fuji S3000 to a D40 made for much nicer images, but only as far as actual image quality due to the larger sensor.

[Digitalis]

How do you explain it? The lenses? Or maybe you prefer the Leica and Pentax, so you shoot better when you use them?

I'd say it is a combination of the cameras themselves and the lenses, Pentax makes interesting lenses - so does Leica...both have a heavy backward compatibility component you can use old and current Zeiss,Voigtlander,Nikkor,Pentax and Canon lenses on a Leica M body, you can do exactly the same thing quite painlessly with a Pentax.Nikon does have similar backward compatibility as Pentax, albeit with older pre-Ai lenses there are a few caveats.

I'm very much against homogenization of the industry - I like seeing manufacturers making different cameras, If every major manufacturer came out with a mirrorless camera with only slight variations of specs in 2019...who would buy them?

[redpit]

I'm very much against homogenization of the industry - I like seeing manufacturers making different cameras, If every major manufacturer came out with a mirrorless camera with only slight variations of specs in 2019...who would buy them?

One of the best points I've read recently.

[LensBeginner]

I'm very much against homogenization of the industry - I like seeing manufacturers making different cameras, If every major manufacturer came out with a mirrorless camera with only slight variations of specs in 2019...who would buy them?

It's not much "who would buy them", people would just choose one among those available.
Without competition, there's not incentive to do better, thus no innovation.

I agree however that a varied market is better, with video-oriented models, stills-oriented models, sport-oriented models etc.

[Digitalis]

It's not much "who would buy them", people would just choose one among those available.

People would be more inclined to choose the camera system that has the most accessories,lenses, and biggest marketing budget - everyone else would pretty much fold, unless they could take a financial loss for several years*.


*As we know: there are a few players Panasonic,Olympus, Fuji,Pentax/Ricoh included that would suffer if the market suddenly oversaturated with too many "Me Too" products.

[VSTAR]

What is worse is when you get "the look" from the sales clerks at camera stores like Henry's Photo & Video. Then they tell you that lenses are too hard to find, or that the brand will disappear soon.

I know exactly that look. Went to my local store outside Toronto and asked them about the K1. Got an even more puzzled look, had to look it up in their computer. Was told they could order one if I wanted. Told them I would like to handle one first. Told, sorry, not possible. So I drove to the main Toronto store and they had one. No knowledge about it...no help...so I left. Researched it and also received an email from one grand opening Henrys store offering $100 off any camera that price. Rushed over and ordered.

Even worse was the pick up. Had to wait 15 min to get a salesperson attention and then they rang up with the wrong price. I asked if we could open the box and check the contents....got that look again! Since it was raining I had to ask for a bag.

So IMHO not only do Pentax consumers represent a very small percentage of total camera buyers, but the major CDN stores could care less about us.

[bhbrake]

So IMHO not only do Pentax consumers represent a very small percentage of total camera buyers, but the major CDN stores could care less about us.

Pentax HQ was here in Colorado up until last year when Ricoh moved it and our last Pentax dealer liquidated their Pentax inventory a couple years ago. There virtually zero dealers between Chicago and LA, so B&H is basically our best option.

[Wheatfield]

I know exactly that look. Went to my local store outside Toronto and asked them about the K1. Got an even more puzzled look, had to look it up in their computer. Was told they could order one if I wanted. Told them I would like to handle one first. Told, sorry, not possible. So I drove to the main Toronto store and they had one. No knowledge about it...no help...so I left. Researched it and also received an email from one grand opening Henrys store offering $100 off any camera that price. Rushed over and ordered.

Even worse was the pick up. Had to wait 15 min to get a salesperson attention and then they rang up with the wrong price. I asked if we could open the box and check the contents....got that look again! Since it was raining I had to ask for a bag.

So IMHO not only do Pentax consumers represent a very small percentage of total camera buyers, but the major CDN stores could care less about us.

I'm lucky where I am, the manager of my local Don's Photo is a Pentax user. This doesn't help in terms of having product on the shelves, but at least I can talk to someone who is familiar with the product line and shares my enthusiasm for it.
I just ordered the FA*50/1.4 from her, and I think she is almost as excited to see it as I am.

[AtitG]

when someone gives me the look I show them my back up camera, a sony a7ii with a 85GM.

[krre23]

This story makes me think of my 1st photography class, of course the teacher was going to teach us how to change the settings of our cameras and the instruction to the class was:

"The ones with Canon, go to the left, and the ones with Nikon Cameras go to the right"

— Huh? and you?
— Sorry, I'm Pentax but I know how to change the ISO.

Lol

[VSTAR]

when someone gives me the look I show them my back up camera, a sony a7ii with a 85GM.

When the sales staff asked me a similar question last week...I told them it was my Pentax 645D...that made the conversation change!

[hadi]

i went on a shoot with a sony brand ambassador.
there were a lot of his fans also using sony.
i think there were 20 photographers. 16 sony users. 2 canon users. 1 nikon user. and me, a pentax user.

no one got questions as to what camera they use and why. and then it came to me. 'why pentax?'

i replied back " because this camera has gone with me to the sand storms of UAE and Oman, and survived. its gone through intense rain storms of Ireland and Scotland, and survived. it took a dive in fresh waters of a lake in Ontario, Canada, and survived. it went through intense smog where i was coughing out blood, but this survived. it has survived an all night of shooting in subzero conditions on one battery. now tell me, can your camera do that?''

they chuckled, looked around and nodded their heads.

i will admit that sony and canon have INTENSELY fast focusing cameras. that would be awesome over pentax. video is better with other cameras too. i wish pentax was able to do that as well. but since i'm now only doing weddings once every few months, i'm okay with slight slow focusing camera.

[Mikesul]

I have had a number of young people come to me to show off their new K1000. Most were unaware that they still make digital and didn't really care since they want to play with film. All good.