[mattieyp3]

Hey all, just a friendly hello from a Pentax k-5 user! I started with the zx-30 around 12 years ago, progressed to the *istDS and am now a proud owner of the k-5. Im not a pro but love shooting! I had considered switching systems because of the shear volume of market share that the competition has but after discussions with my wife I realized a few things... 1. I don't have the money to start over. 2. the k-5 performed just as nicely as if not better than others in it's price range and category. 3. Something about Pentax just drew me. So, I decided to stay with the fam. But I would love to hear why we love Pentax from you all who have been long standing family members. The reason being, since I am not a pro I tend to have a limited understanding of this world. I would love to learn. In addition, I get a little worried when I see how "small" Pentax is. Anyway, right now I have a great camera and love shooting. I'm glad I can be here! Have an awesome day everyone.

[dmort]

Hey - I wouldn't worry about the brand being small... In one way, I think that the smallness is nice, it simplifies things for us. For me, I love Pentax for its flexibility. I challenge you to find another camera company that lets your k5 go from being tiny (paired with a limited) to being quite sizable (with grip and DA*). I like that I can moderate the weight based on my activity while maintaining flexibility and iq. Furthermore, Pentax gear just feels really well made in a way that the other companies don't replicate until much higher price points. Weather sealing is a wonderful feature and we don't have to pay nearly as much to get it. Any hiker who wants a dslr should get a k5, duh!

[mattieyp3]

Thanks dmort! I do like the weather sealing and I never thought of the size thing; you're right about that! I appreciate the thoughts. THey help me understand the company better and encourage me to shoot more.

[dmort]

Personally, I think Pentax does a good job of keeping this old adage in mind: "The best camera you have is the camera you have with you." The cameras, overall, are built to be used by photographers and are I think very natural to use. Hence, I bring it with me a lot and end up taking more photographs. I think that this in fundamentally the point of the q, for example.

[RioRico]

Extrapolating from dmort a little: The best camera (or lens) is the one you use. The worst is the one you don't use. Sometimes my best camera is the P&S in my pocket, because it's THERE. (And my worst are the cameras I left home.) When I'm lugging my K20D around, my best lens is whatever I'm using -- again, because it's THERE.

I've been shooting for 5+ decades. It was my job long ago. But in all that time, my first Pentax was the K20D I got 4 years ago. The qualities that brought me to Pentax had nothing to do with the size of the company or product line -- it had the best price-performance index, and Pentaxians bitched much less than other-brand owners about how they wanted to 'upgrade' their cameras immediately.

Pentax ruled the SLR world long ago. Pentax-Ricoh isn't in the same sales bracket as Canikon -- not at the moment, anyway. That should change. Ricoh seems intent on growing Pentax into a major player again. So, you're not stuck with a luzer camera maker -- you're an Early Adopter!

Oh yeah, welcome aboard. Have fun here. Or else...

[mattieyp3]

Thanks RioRico. I suppose as you are hinting at, you could have a million dollar camera but if it's at home, god luck explaining that amazing shot you missed to a friend, right? What that means to me know is that I'll have to start carrying my k-5 with me on a regular basis! The more shots the merrier.

[AnttiV]

Thanks RioRico. I suppose as you are hinting at, you could have a million dollar camera but if it's at home, god luck explaining that amazing shot you missed to a friend, right? What that means to me know is that I'll have to start carrying my k-5 with me on a regular basis! The more shots the merrier.

Hi from another new (or wanna-be, more specifically) Pentaxian. I can add to that sentiment - It doesn't matter what specs/price/whatever the camera has, if it isn't WITH you when you want to take a photograph. If you buy THE BEST/PRICIEST camera on the market but never take it with you - is it really a good camera at all? Short answer is - no. That's really my reasoning when I changed systems from Sigma to m43 (... and learned about the K-30 some month after that. Curses.). The Sigma is so huge and heavy that I didn't lug it around - not much of a good camera, then. When I hadn't taken a single shot "on-the-go" for more than a year, I started to think that it isn't the right camera for me anymore (even though I *love* the Foveon sensor..).

The best camera you can buy/acquire/own is one that you carry with you most of the time. There aren't much places that I currently DON'T take my Lumix G3 to and that makes it a much, much better camera than anything I'd leave at home.

Another way to look at it, is divide the price you paid by the shots you have taken. $5000 camera with 1000 shots taken? $5 per shot. $120 P&S with 12000 shots taken? $0.01 per shot. Take that one step further and only count the shots you enjoy (or occasions you enjoyed photographing). It might come to 50% from the pricier camera and only 10% from the P&S, but still - $2.5 per shot compared to $0.1 per shot.

But, really, it may all come down to ONE shot. Either:

"I really wish I'd had my camera with me THAT ONE TIME..."

or

"I'm really happy with this shot! It was great that I had my camera with me THEN!"

I've had both. There's a couple of shots in my library that I wouldn't trade for ANYTHING and I remember at least one occasion that I hadn't my camera with me and I really, really, really wished I did.


Very shortly said - "Not much of a camera if you don't take pictures with it."

[dadipentak]

I started with a K100D which was a superior value as I was getting started and I liked the availability of the old lenses--from which I got a bad case of lba. Now I have a bunch of k-mount glass so it would be a real pain to switch systems.

I'm not inclined to, anyway--the lba notwithstanding, I'm not much of a gear guy and really pay no attention to the color of the grass on the other side of the fence. First & foremost, I'm enjoying photography and working on my skills and, while I've welcomed new features and functionality, I've never felt it was my gear that was holding me back.

[dmort]

I'm not much of a gear guy

ha! I'm a huge gear guy which is one of the reasons why I like pentax. There isn't really another company that makes similar products - the limited lenses, and the q (to a certain extent) are very unique tools.

I've always been of the opinion that new and better gear can't make you better, but it can allow you to grow. I think a lot of pentax gear is designed and built according to this ethos: What sort of gear allows photographers to grow? Lightweight, weather sealed, smaller bodies, (semi) affordable medium format, consistent lens mount, etc... all these things are not marketing but real attempts to allow photographers to get to more places, under a variety of conditions, to capture outstanding images.

[harrisonww]

Hey,

I have had a kr for 8 months now, had several issues with the e-dial so I sent it to pentax and they sent it back to me fixed. I have the same issues as you. I have over 3000 invested in Pentax gear, as a amateur photographer the selection of lenses is limited compaired to nikon and canon. If i started over I would probably not have gone with Pentax just because they have never once had a camera capable of shooting skateboarding and snowboarding. I need a camera good in low lighting which pentax does not have. My biggest issue with pentax is that the sync for flash is 1/180!! thats WAYY to slow! And my last issue is they have never had a camera capable of 9-11fps shooting. and the 7fps is too slow and the buffer is horrible. Does not compare to nikon or canon. I hate to rip on pentax because they do build a solid and heavy camera its just frustrating having 5 years of shooting with pentax and they still are so far behind the big 2 dslr pro companies. I am going to upgrade to the k5 next month possibly or I am debating selling all of my gear and just buying a nikon or canon body for the same price as 5 lenses, 2 flashes and 2 bodies... Rather annoying!

[dadipentak]

I think a lot of pentax gear is designed and built according to this ethos: What sort of gear allows photographers to grow? Lightweight, weather sealed, smaller bodies,

All true and certainly part of my disinterest in other systems.