[tcarter]

I started out with a couple of borrowed 127 film cameras, then my own Agfa 35mm in the early 70’s. When a neighbor wanted to sell his Spotmatic ll with a couple of lenses, I jumped at the chance. I added a 28mm, then a 2x-3x multiplier, and I had all the flexibility I wanted. Then came an “all weather” 35mm Pentax compact. The Spotmatic was brutally durable, but it wasn’t rain tight (a necessity in the rainy PNW). First digital was an Olympus tough point and shoot. Pentax still produced my art, but the Oly went everywhere with me. Sand finally did it in. Now have a trusty K7, and a raft of lenses, a new(er) Oly-tough for backpacking and water sports (and of course a smartphone) so I never go anywhere without a camera.

[silcam]

I started with Pentax and just kept going with it.

I decided to get a DSLR in 2005 or 2006 and read a review of the K100D by Terry Lane, who raved about it and said it was the equal of cameras that were twice the price.

I was disappointed it didn't have a rechargeable battery but otherwise thought it was great. When it died, I got a K7, which was a big improvement, then a K3, which was another big improvement, then a K1.

Unless I m mistaken the K100D took AA batteries which could be found as rechargeables.

[Signguy]

Bought my K S2 simply for the least costly DSLR at the time. What find!!! It does more than many far more expensive cameras - and weather sealed to boot. I had no idea that by this purchase I was becoming a member in a "club" of sorts. Only bad part is finding lenses, but I have that mostly solved.

[DylanHarris]

So I had been interested in buying a camera for a while and decided I'd do some research as to what features and specs would work well for me (a beginner with not much money to spend). After learning some basics about photography and what a camera needs to do for certain types of photography, I decided it would be best to try a mid-level camera.

Now, I don't have a lot of extra cash to throw around, so I read lots of reviews on cameras in the $500-$700 range from different brands. I compared specs from so many cameras and can't even remember half of them. I stumbled across Pentax and after researching more, liked the features for the price point. It can do mostly anything I need it to at the moment and I liked the weatherproof body feature as well.

I did notice that we have fewer lense options to choose from and it's not as easy to find Pentax gear near me, but that was okay as I'm just learning for now and it's just a hobby.

Anyway, due to money constraints, I ended up purchasing the K-70 with a $600 bonus I got at work. It was great timing and I figured hey, it's money I wasn't planning on having anyway, let's buy a camera! I got a basic 35mm lens on Amazon, and that's how it started.

I think for beginning, the K-70 is great. The reviews all jive with my experience, so I'm happy about that. I don't really know anyone around here that uses Pentax, so I feel just a tad hip. But yeah, just a lot of research and "bang for your buck" kind of lead me to Pentax.

[martin42mm]

My first SLR was a Zenit E, with 58mm Helios and a couple of Meyer 30mm and 135mm lenses. All I could afford then, although I longed for a Spotmatic, which eventually came along in the form of a Spotmatic II. Still have it, and at one time I had almost every variation of m42 body, plus almost every Takumar in every focal length. I finally bought an MX because the viewfinder was brighter than my Spotmatics, and then digital arrived, the *ist DL2 was offered, felt like a real Pentax (unlike most of the 1980's Pentax cameras!), and I moved to digital. I then moved to K-7, and my favourite, the petite K-S1 ( which despite low acuations) now shows occasional 'aperture block' issues ( Pentax want £97.50 plus VAT to repair!).

So last week I bought an outgoing KP body brand new. Brilliant, but heavy compared to my K-S1. Pentax UK's response to the aperture issue is not for this thread.....And most of my m42 bodies and lenses have gone to new collectors and users. The lenses, sadly, exhibited CA to varying degrees, and I don't like post processing no matter how simple. Something is ALWAYS lost! But no fault of the lenses, they were never designed for digital!
The Spotmatic II though is still my favourite.....

[pathdoc]

It was the film era, and I was bored with my fancy, all-singing, all-dancing Minolta Dynax (Maxxum for the US market) 3xi. (Okay, it wasn't a top-line model, but it had P, A, S and M modes and a built in flash. I was spoiled.) I wanted a more old-fashioned film camera.
with no bells and whistles.

Cue the P3 in the pawn shop. Just what I wanted. Unfortunately this was shown to be dead once I got it home and got a battery in, but they had a P50T there and swapped it out for that. Not as manual as I would have preferred... but still pretty good. The Minolta got traded in shortly thereafter.

Then came Digital, and I got myself a Nikon Coolpix 8700 because it had a microscopy interface. Unfortunately, someone wanted that more than I did and stole it from my house. The insurers wouldn't replace it one for one, but the option they offered that I ended up taking was the *istDL (all the options were Pentax, oddly enough). That was 2005. That was also when I learned that my P50T's lens would function on that camera. Very happy accident. It's been Pentax all the way since.

[AntonioS]

Long, long time ago... It was a ME-Super in the mid '70s then several other ones MX, P30T, UC1, Ist*D, K200D, K5 II, K3 II and that's it.

For lenses I don't have any clue about how many manual focus ones I had... Lots of them, but never wider than 24mm or longer than 200mm

For digital lenses, just the basic: 18-55 WR (kit), 21mm, 35 Macro, 50 1.8, 40 DA limited pancake, 18-135, 70 DA limited

Too bad Pentax is not sold in Brazil.

[tonyzoc]

in the late 70s I was at college and using a 1950 Exakta V my uncle gave me. I wanted a newer camera so around 1980 when silver prices were spiking I traded some half dollars in and had $150 to spend. My options in that price range in 1980 was a Konica TC with 40/1.8 or a Pentax K1000 with 50mm f/2. I chose the Pentax. Around that time I started working full time and continuing school part time, so within a year I bought a Pentax MX body. The next purchases were the 40mm pancake ($60) and the 135/3.5 M. 40 yeas later I have 30 bodies and 68 lenses... and I probably sold another 30 bodies.

[silcam]

Interesting but no one mentioned starting out with a Miranda, which were heavily advertised about the same time as the Spotmatics came out. I started with a Spotmatic then used a Nikkormat through most of the 70s. Then dropped out for quite a while and came back to Pentax in the 90s. Loved the K100D. I always said to my wife that even though I owned a Canon 20D, I always came back to Pentax because there was something about the Pentax images "Look" that I loved. I still think the K200D had and still has the best ergonomics and feel of all the line, including current models.

[mattb123]

My dad used to hand his Pentax over to me on occasion when I was little in the 70s. I don't even remember which one it was (K-1000 maybe?) but I loved the feel of it in my hands and the satisfying click of the shutter. Then I owned a few terrible 110 cameras and then an even worse Kodak Disc camera. I took some terrible kid photos during that time.
A few years later, a family friend gave me his ME Super kit when I was in high school. It came with the M 50/1.7 and an M 135/2.5. It even had an auto winder for action. I loved that camera and took it with me when I moved from the Midwest to Colorado and used that for a few years skiing, hiking, and traveling.
Digital arrived and I had a few compact digital cameras: aSony, a Canon Elph, A Canon S2 but I wanted more and starting looking at dSLRs. Then I got my first dSLR, an Olympus e510. That camera was ok but very noisy above ISO 400. I wanted to expand my lens collection but the lenses I was interested in were expensive and I didn't have much money. I decided to sell the Olympus and buy a Pentax K-x so I could use my old 50 and 135mm lenses.
Since then I have stuck with Pentax, maybe not so much for loyalty but because I liked them and I had an investment in the system. Since that K-x I've gotten the following Pentax bodies: K-5, K-3, K-S2, K-1, K-3iii, 645, and 645D. I also now have many lenses, both modern and vintage.
I might get a GFX at some point if we don't see much more action on the Pentax MF front but I'm in no hurry at the moment so I'm waiting to see if we get a Zii or something like that.

[Mundj]

My first SLR was a Minolta I bought in 1975. I became interested in digital photography in 2001 using Olympus and Casio models. I started looking a DSLR cameras in 2007. I wanted in body stabilization as opposed to in the lens and started my journey with a Pentax K-7 with the 18-55 and 55-200 kit lenses. It was far the best bang for the buck at the time. I have upgraded to a K3 and have purchased several lenses from Pentax since. Overall I have been pleased with my choice. But, there have been disappointments as well, early on I purchased a 16-50 f2.8 lends. When it worked it was very slow to focus, I have paid to have it repaired and it is still slow. But, it does take great images. I purchased the 18-135 lens as my walk around lens. It was great and extremely fast to lock on focus until the aperture mechanism jammed. I have sent it to be repaired twice and know it works but hunts when focusing. I have too much Pentax glass to change but I believe Pentax really messed up with the new K3ii. They should have incorporated some of the feature from the K1, led lights, built in GPS, and articulating screen and it should have been a mirrorless design. I amazed at the number of pro photographers that are transitioning to Sony, Fuji and Canon digital.

[john clark]

I has various 120 and 127 cameras in my youth and when I married Judy she had an Instamatic which did us very well for many years. My sister was very keen on her Olympus Trip so we bought one, and when that failed just ahead of a holiday to Venice I bought an Olympus XA2 in a rush. Excellent pocketable camera. I bought my son a Ricoh Singlex TLS in about 1984. In 1986 a colleague said how pleased she was with an ME Super and it was all downhill from there, although I stopped buying Pentax at the K7. When money permitted I bought an MX, a Z1-p, an MZ5n, an SFXn, and LX, a Spotmatic and an F, an ESII and a 110 Super. I forget how many lenses I have - mostly Pentax - and a few flashes.

I also bought an ist DS new and then the El 100 and E1 200. The 100s were cheap and easy to find so I have some to my grandchildren. They seem to have disappeared now !

have been using film during the pandemic which has led to a rash of CLAs ! I'm afraid on a day to basis I use a Sony HX90V - pocketable, great zoom and good pictures - and easy to recharge. Some time in the 1990s I discovered my brother had been collecting Canons of all varieties.

Somehow Pentax feels friendly and of course technically good, especially the prime lenses in M42 and bayonet.

[Harriet L]

Pentax ME Super - in the early 80's - always loved it.
Went back to film a few years ago, and the ME Super had lost none of it's charm!

[Photos-by-Chas]

I have told this story before, but I'll tell it again. My first camera was an instamatic (I think) and I took a few "snapshots" with it. Near the end of my freshman year of college, my father died and I was given his Kodak 8mm movie camera. That did not get much use until I was in the Navy and on a Med Cruise. When a screw, necessary to properly record on the film, broke, I still wanted to document my travels in Europe. So, I purchased a Petri FT and a few accessory prime lenses. I thought of getting a Pentax but the Petri seemed to have the functionality matching the Pentax (and the many other more expensive cameras of the day), and being frugal I opted for the Petri. Fast forward several years and the petri developed a light leak in the primary shutter curtain and I went looking for a replacement. What I found was a used Pentax K1000SE and a Petri FTEE. I bought them both since I still had the lenses for the Petri. To me the Pentax operated and handled better, so the FTEE was set aside. Since then I have been a Pentaxian exclusively.

I did trade off the original Petri and the FTEE for a CLA of another Petri FT I had managed to find. I still have the Pentax K1000SE and the replacement Petri FT, both in very good operation condition along with the Petri primes and a couple extra lenses for the Pentax.

In DSLRs I have owned, or still own, Pentax istD, two Kx, and a K-70. I knew of Pentax's reputation in the film era and figured it extended to the DSLRs so it was a simple step from film to digital for me. I found the reputation continued and am very pleased with Pentax. I truly enjoy and appreciate the form and function of the Pentax line. At my current age of 74, I may not be making another camera purchase but do hope that perhaps one or both of my grandsons will take up photography and I can leave my photo gear to him or them.

[Jim909]

Lots of good stories here.
I had never owned a camera, but in 1969 I found myself stationed in Taiwan, doing a lot of sightseeing and having no way to send pictures to the folks back home. As luck would have it, the local exchange had about 20ft of glittering showcase stuffed with photo equipment and among the goodies was the Spotomatic with a 50/1.4 and a 135/3.5 for just slightly over 2 months pay, so I put it on lay away and paid on it for several months before I got my hands on it. I don't recall exactly why, but I don't recall even considering another brand or doing any comparison - I wanted the Pentax. I must have read an article or seen some advertisement that made a strong impression on me.
I still have the kit, although I retired the camera at the end of the last century. I used a point and shoot for a while, but just couldn't swing the price of the Pentax I wanted when I moved to a DSLR and instead got a Canon that I could easily adapt to use my Takumar lenses.