[garywakeling]

Great question, serendipity is the answer for me, as a teenager I was shown a darkroom of a friend when I was on holidays, watching the image develop in the tray under the red light stuck in my mind and fortunately a family friend used to travel to Japan for work and he returned with the K1000, what nicer way to start than with a beginner K mount. Since then I have accumulated many cameras from Asahiflex right through to 67II and K3III. The thing that kept me with the system is that wonderful feeling of being able to use so many of the lenses on different format cameras, the quality of the lenses are amazing and way better than my image making will ever be able to use to the full potential of them, but I keep trying

[Ryszard]

Somewhere around 1999/2000 I bought an MZ-M, because of its good price and control layout similar to my earlier Soviet ZENITs
I'm still with Pentax, not switching to mirrorless or smartphone. Good SLR is all I want. And Pentax delivers

[Serkevan]

Obviously I'm not the same generation as many here, since I started working in 2008 .

Yuuuup... With all the stories here I feel like I'm one of the rookiest forumites

[Papa_Joe]

For my 16th birthday I was allowed to get me a SLR from the local Foto-Quelle dealer, who only sold his house brands, i.e. rebranded cameras of various manufacturers. I had no idea about SLR but read the catalogue with all the interest that a young person has in a new subject and ended up with a Revueflex AC-2 and a 50mm/1.7. I declined the 1.4 for being to expensive. The AC-2 was a rebranded Chinon ME-4s. For me still an iconic camera, very reliable, high usability, very good ergonomics. A camera much better (sorry) then the ME-super my father bought some years later.
From my meager income as a pupil and student I added step after step the gear I needed, a Vivitar 70-205/3.8, a Pentax 35/2.8 (never used the 50mm afterwards), a SLIK tripod and some more. I had the AC-2 for more then 10 years until I dropped it onto a italian marketplace. Since getting the AC-2, I always had a keen eye onto the market of K-mount cameras and as I now had my first job, I could afford a Pentax, at last. As I did not see any use in AF (I still have my doubts), I settled for a used Super Program in excellent condition. Functionally my old AC-2 but with TTL-flash and program automatic. Wonderfull camera!
We later added a MZ-7 for my wife to the Super program, but that was it. Until my son was born.

As I was aware, that the to awaited flood of pictures was only to be handled on a computerized base, I bought my first digital still camera. My first Nikon, at last. It was a 6MP Coolpix 5000 taking pictures of even today astonishing quality, but with a optical viewfinder, whose second name was parallax and a LCD-screen unusable in harsh sunlight. Regarding the fact, that a toddler leaves no space on vacation trips for additional DSLR equipment and no time for photography as a serious hobby, I replaced the Coolpix with a Fuji F20 which accompanied me on many vacations. But it was only a few years, until the istD* was available used at a reasonable (dirt cheap) price and so I started taking pictures of my kindergarten-kid with a Pentax DSLR, at last! The istD* was followed by a K-10D and a K-70 and two month ago by a K-1.

So, when did I become a Pentaxian? With my first Chinon SLR of course. Ever since Pentax cameras and lenses were the one I was looking at. I never felt, that any other brand manufacturer produced (affordable) cameras for my purpose of photography which mainly is to document the live of my familly. I need a reliable, easy to use tool for that purpose, nothing else.

[Digitalis]

My grandmother was very fond of international travel and huge fan of Leica cameras, however during a visit to Japan in the mid 1960s my grandmother noticed many locals were using these surprisingly affordable and well crafted 35mm cameras with instant return mirrors and well constructed lenses. She bought a Spotmatic, with 35mm, 50mm and 135mm lenses: she quickly grew to be rather enamored with SLRs with TTL viewing, and the modern facility of built in metering. She bought another Spotmatic with a 50mm, 135mm, and 400mm lenses, and brought these new cameras back to Australia and gave one to my mother. That camera gave her a solid foothold into photojournalism, years later: Pentax MX, Super-A and LX became stalwarts in my family and were used alongside Leica, Hasselblad, Nikon, Rollei and Canon cameras. I'm not the only one in my family* still using Pentax cameras In my family, though my older brothers have taken to the newer generation of mirror-less cameras from Canon and Nikon.

was shooting with, and not liking very much, a Nikon F3hp and a Bronica ETRs. The Bronica suffered an irreparable mishap:

Very few images Is see genuinely make me wince...but that certainly did it. OUCH.

Then the Nikon F4 came along, and I realized my time with Nikon was over. It was too big for a small format camera.

You certainly weren't alone with that criticism.


* I'm probably one of a very small group of photographers in Australia that use Pentax cameras for Professional work. When I prepare images to be printed onto a contact sheet, I remove any identifying brand related naming structures from the thumbnails. Even though I have very accurate custom colour profiles for my cameras and printers, It always amuses me when clients pick out the Pentax images over the others from other camera makes that may be present on the same sheet.

[cxdoo]

Growing up, there was always a SLR or two around. Thanks to my father's interest in gadgets (my mother would say junk) we had all sorts of stuff lying around often never to be used so I could grab whatever I was interested in and play. It was a very steampunk childhood and probably a reason I knew from very early age I want to be an engineer.
In the 70s and early 80s he used a rather plain Practica mostly with a 50mm lens but had a couple of rather dim teles and one weird looking fisheye. All that was either lost in one of many cleaning actions or is still somewhere in a pile of other stuff no one can be bothered to touch now.
In mid 80s he got a Nikonos V for work and that was the camera I saw used most (and used myself) while living with my parents.

Fast forward to 2000 and I'm freshly employed, and feeling it's only normal that I should have a camera. Not just any camera, but a digital camera.
So I got a 0.8mp Mustek The brand I barely knew for cheap-ass scanners so I had to search to check whether they actually make cameras...
I had that barely usable gadget for a year or so until I lost it while commuting, which was welcome, as I immediately got something better, and then again going through a bunch of compacts (last one being HP R717).

All that time I knew I wanted a SLR but didn't want to deal with film and development. The convenience of pocketable camera, practically unlimited capacity and immediate availability on computer was too high. I was willing to forego pocketability but not at the price and capabilities of DSLRs until 2007.

I knew about the brands in the market but had no preference. In those times there were actual physical cameras in actual stores so I could go around and touch stuff and form a sort of opinion on what I saw.
So, K10D looked and felt miles better that anything else in that price range. Nikons looked plasticky and hollow, Canons the same as Nikons. Once I dug into specifications it got even clearer - while Pentax crammed everything and the kitchen sink in their cameras, Nikon stuff was crippled until reaching a significant price and Canons I couldn't even figure out*.
However even K10D was out of my budget so I went with K100D Super and dual kit lenses. Have it and love it to this day.
It was a spaceship in its segment - once I compared the feel, features and prices there simply was no option B.

After that all Pentax stuff I bought sight unseen. Never disappointed. K5II & K3III both exceeded my expectations. There is something about density of these cameras that feels reassuring.

The thing I learned to expect and respect from Pentax was, they might not have the best this or that, but what they had, they gave to you. There was no "just for a few hundred more", or "think of it as a starter model" or the most ludicrous "and then you move to L glass".

I don't know w/hat the future will bring with advances in mirrorless and computational but I'm good with what I have now and see no reason to look elsewhere.



* - thing about Canon that bugs me is that I never felt I want anything from them. I understood the segmentation model, I understood the appeal for professionals but as a hobbyist, absolutely nothing in their low to mid range ever caught my eye. Holds to this day - even with significantly more disposable income and bigger appetite for higher end stuff I just ignore Canon. I also never met anyone non-professional who shoots Canon DSLR. What am I missing here? Am I blind to something obvious to, apparently, 50% of market?

[Wheatfield]

* I'm probably one of a very small group of photographers in Australia that use Pentax cameras for Professional work. When I prepare images to be printed onto a contact sheet, I remove any identifying brand related naming structures from the thumbnails. Even though I have very accurate custom colour profiles for my cameras and printers, It always amuses me when clients pick out the Pentax images over the others from other camera makes that may be present on the same sheet.

The studio I used to work with was a mix of mostly Nikon, a couple of them used Canon, and little old me shooting Pentax.
Funnily enough, I got all the jobs that required a high level of lens quality handed to me.
The Pentax glass was noticeably better by a wide margin than the Nikon or Canon glass that the other photographers were using.
To be fair, they were all using zooms, I was using primes.

[pepperberry farm]

after I sold off the last air-cooled VW and a barn-full of spares, I needed a new hobby... something to occupy my mind when not at work....

something less expensive but more portable ...

I had always been interested in photography and had been through several bridge cameras, but found them too restrictive, not having enough control in the camera's processes...

I started shopping for a DSLR - and bought a Pentax K-50, with the two kit zooms...

I'd never held a DSLR before, had never used one, but it felt right in my hands... and off I went....

I don't have the benefit of a film past - didn't grow up around cameras, didn't know anyone with a darkroom, etc.. so everything I've learned has been here...

and I've learned so much - this hobby isn't any less expensive than building/driving old VWs, but it is more portable...

now, multiple bodies and multiple systems are in play here... and I'm still learning and absorbing as much as my tiny brain can hold....

[jersey]

Given all the stories of the 60ies I feel young...

I got a Praktica EE2 as Christmas present in 1979

What you not say, I was 1 year old in 1979 granpa :P

Anyway, I am hardly a Pentaxian, more a Pentax user. Switched to K-50 after my Samsung NX1000 died. Why Pentax? It was only DSLR in the local shop And I did not want EVF MILC nor returning to no VF camera like NX1000.

I liked K-50 handling, had some lenses so got K-3 Mk III when I started to think that camera is limiting me. But frankly I am not that much attached to the brand and would not mind changing it if there was something better (also from financial POV).

[UncleVanya]

A couple of things I’ve noticed in this thread:

1) many who didn’t start with Pentax and stay via inertia came to the brand because of in person experience with the cameras.

2) value vs competition was a big factor, particularly in the early dslr phase.

3) ergonomics of certain cameras sold the brand - when experienced in person.

It seems to me that the dearth of physical outlets to see and hold and experience Pentax is a major impediment to the brand - perhaps more than I realized. I knew it on some level but seeing these stories suggests that even with alternate brand experience and loyalty Pentax won many of us over. Very interesting.

[ehrwien]

K-S2...

Got interested in photography in 2015. Entry-level camera choices for me were a Pentax K-S2 vs. Canon T6i.

[...]

In addition to weather-sealing, Pentax offered in their entry-level camera, what other companies withhold until you upgrade into much more expensive models such as pentaprisms instead of pentamirrors, dual-control wheels, faster max shutter speed, wider viewfinder coverage, and more AE bracketing stops. On top of that, Pentax offered in-body stabilization, no anti-aliasing (simulated if you wanted it), and astrotracer capabilities - all in a smaller, tougher-built, more affordable package.

It was an obvious choice.

I see a part of myself in those lines. I was interested in photographing a few years before. There's a dim memory of developing some film photos in a darkroom, but it was a one-off event, perhaps that was a daytrip with the school or something, but that didn't spark my interest really. At home we never had anything but disposable film cameras when I was a kid, and those only on holidays or special occasions.
I liked taking photos in school with cheap point and shoot cameras because that's what we could afford back then. It was a slow progression over better point-and-shoot cameras, to a heavily discounted Nikon 1 V1 double zoom kit as my first ILC and the first camera that enabled me to change the basic exposure parameters (and that in turn challenged me learn about the technical side of things). I liked the camera for its compactness, but the 10 MP, 1 inch sensor did have its limitations that I reasoned myself into saying I ran into, and apart from my heavily discounted entry deal the lenses and cameras were not exactly cheap, and when comparing them with APS-C systems and considering equivalence and such, it was definitely not a cheap system, and I guess that's what contributed to its death in the end (but the technology was quite nice).
[/END OF PRELUDE]

So there I was looking for the next step, a camera with an APS-C sized sensor in 2016. Mirrorless was far too expensive, so I was basically comparing offerings by Nikon and Canon. I was looking for something that had the specs of a D7200/7100 or 80D/70D, but didn't cost more than D5500/5300 or 700D. It must have been the advent of the K-1 around that time that even put Pentax on my radar, I don't think I had heard of Pentax before. And there it was, the K-S2, which was everything I had asked for and more. At that time I didn't know about the possibility of the solenoid in its aperture block failing, which it did last year and which I managed to fix myself thanks to PF in general and photogem and his dedication to the issue in particular. The itch for full frame got the best of me and I found a barely used K-1 at a great price last year. I'm not yet ready to talk about the temptations I gave into this year

[Grokh]

At first I had a Russian K-mount camera. Then came the Ricoh 20sp, followed by the Pentax LX.
In the 90s I had Pentax Z-1 and two Pentax MZ-S. After the arrival of digital photography, I had K10D, K20D, K7, K5, K5 IIs, K3 and K3 Mark 3.
And, of course, there is a large park of lenses - from 10 to 500 millimeters.

[BryantCP]

How did you become a Pentax user (Pentaxian) ? And share with us your thoughts on that first Pentax model you owned please.


My first 2 digital cameras were a 2 megapixel HP camera and then a prosumer Olympus c5050z digital camera.

My ex-wife bought me a Pentax k2000 at Sam's Club. It was my very first SLR (film or digital). I was amazed at how good the operation and pictures were, compared to my previous cameras. It came with the 18-55mm DA L kit lens.


I have been a Pentaxian ever since then. Shortly after she bought it for me, I purchased a Pentax 55-300mm - it was the DA version that had the metal mount - unlike the DA L version that had a plastic mount. It was the first and *only* new lens that I've ever purchased for any camera - it cost over $300 and I think it cost like 4 or 5 hundred US dollars. I didn't purchase another lens for many years after that. I knew nothing about SLR lens and the 55-300mm lens was selected for me by my wifes friend, who was a Nikon professional photographer - all we told him was that we wanted a zoom lens for it to photograph our daughter playing sport.

My thoughts on the Pentax k2000 are as follows. It took excellent photos compared to the Olympus prosumer c5050z camera. I really really really enjoyed the SLR experience where looking through the optical viewfinder gave nearly a 100% view of what the resulting photo would cover (width and height that is). The k2000 did not have a proprietary rechargeable battery. It took four AA batteries, of which I opted to buy four rechargeable AA batteries - I may have already had 4 as the Olympus c5050z also only took 4 AA batteries. I didn't think much of the battery situation; however, when I acquired my next Pentax DSLR, it came with a proprietary battery which I enjoyed very much more as it took many more pictures. One last thought is that the k2000 was a 10 megapixel DSLR - having twice the megapixels of the Olympus camera (5 megapixels) and having 5 times those of the HP camera (a 2MP camera).


So, how did you become a Pentaxian, and please share with us your experience(s) and thoughts about that first Pentax camera.


Regards,

Michael

All of my film cameras were Nikon. Ended up with a Nikon FM & FE2, both of which I still have. Circa 2006 when I was ready to go to digital SLRs I looked at the Nikon D50 & D70 as well as the Canon Rebel of the time and didn't care for them, especially since the Nikons couldn't meter with my F mount lens. Ritz Camera carried the Pentax ist* Ds. It was love at first sight. The Ds felt better made, had much better ergonomics and could use legacy lens. Size wise it was perfect, it had a well designed & comfortable grip, & it was enjoyable to use. I still have it & use it occasionally. Since then I've stayed with Pentax for APSc cameras which have included a K10, K7, K5, K3 & a KP. Although I do have a used Nikon D700, I much prefer both the build quality & ergonomics of Pentax DSLRs & their lineup of DA lens.

[jopenmx]

Pentax Z-1p + FA 50 f/1,4 on 1999.

[vector]

My childhood in the 80s was captured on my dads ME Super and my grandfathers A3000, both of which are now in my collection. I lived with my grandparents for part of my college years and my grandpa gave me that A3000 and a couple lenses to learn with. Fast forward a few years and I went through some digital compacts but in 2007 the time came for something better. In the store I was able to hold the entry level DSLR offerings from Canon, Nikon and Pentax side by side. I just liked that K100D Super better than the others and not knowing much other than that my existing old Pentax lenses were still compatible I went for it. That camera captured my kids early years and did it well. In 2012 my photographic interest was moving past just family snapshots so I went looking again. I knew enough to know I didn't want the entry level Canon of the day so it came down to the Nikon D7000 vs the Pentax K5. Same sensor and similar price but boy did that K5 feel better in my hands than the Nikon. I wasn't very heavily invested in lenses yet so I was open to switching but I just liked that K5 way more. After the K5 came lenses and then a K3, K1 and way too many lenses. I have no intention of changing course now. I really like what I have and that most of my lenses still work on that old ME Super and A3000 when I feel like shooting film.