I know you all have heard this before but I just wanted to say a sincere thank you for the polite, dignified and caring way people have interacted on this forum. That being said I think it is time I introduced myself. My name is john and I was brought into the Pentax family about two and a half years ago. My wife and I got the news that we would soon have a baby and I realized that I wanted a camera. I had owned a point and shoot 35mm or two along the way, iPhone from the first generation, and my wife's digital point and shoot that I had access to once we met 6 or so years ago. Not having the debate skills to convince her that we needed a DSLR at that time we ended up with a Nikon cool pix digital. I not being satisfied with the state of the union at that time did some research. I goggled something like "classic 35mm" or "photo journalism 35mm camera" or something like that and happened on an article that mentioned the pentax K1000. I am a guy that likes research and for various reasons shunned Nikon, Canon, Leica, Olympus, Minolta and all the others. Pentax K1000, a couple of books, and practice was where it was at. I overshot on a couple of ebay auctions and ended up with not one but two K1000 cameras with 50mm 2.0f lenses, a flash and a 70 to 200mm 4.5f. Looking back I dont know if I could of had a better starting point, just got lucky with my research and gut feeling I guess. I rocked those two K1000s learning the basics preparing the best I could for May 6 2011, the day my son was born. As the contractions grew closer and the journey to the hospital loomed in the near future part of my preparation was to load the two K1000s with fresh batteries for both and B+W in one and Color in the other. From that day on it was game on. I have averaged a roll of film every month or so, nothing too prolific but enough to keep the blood flowing. I eventual felt like I out grew the point and shoot digital nikon and started the research process. I bought a K5iis on amazon along with a 43mm limited. Loved it but Nikon had to go and release the D7100 two days after I received the K5iis. The doubt lingered in my mind that maybe I had bought into the Pentax name based on sentimental reasons and I should look into the other options. I returned the K5iis and bought a Nikon D7100 with a fine 28mm prime and 50mm prime and ran it through its paces. The build quality was less and the color rendition was not inspiring. Both problems could of been lived with but I discovered a left side focus issue with my copy. I boxed it up and back it went to amazon. I researched Canon 6D and Nikon D600 alternatives but in the end I came back to the Pentax K5iis with a FA 50mm 2.8 Macro I picked up along the way as my final choice. I love the "thinking mans camera" feel to the pentax name. The K5iis gives me a pride of ownership that I now believe that no Nikon of Canon could give me, and the pictures it gives me make me tear up. What else could a non-professional ask for? So now I had the digital side solved for now (I am very aware that the hedonist treadmill is at full speed and the next best digital pentax is just months away) but is the K1000 right for me at this point in my hyper focused fetish. Time for more research. Several Google searches on "best 35mm camera of all time" later and I am right back to Pentax with the siren call of LX loud and clear. Don't get me wrong, I want to try my hand at a Leica M3 Single Stroke as much as the next guy. We will try to ignore that idea until my Paypal account recovers a bit. It was a tight race between the LX and the MZ-S. Once again the question came down to the question of pride of ownership and what would inspire me to get out and shoot more. I have seen the signature of one of the forum members saying, paraphrased, "Amateurs think about gear, Professionals think about money, and Masters think about light". I wish I could transcend all learning curves and make master pieces with my two K1000s, I really do but the fact of the matter is that I am an amateur and I have a serious case of gear lust. I decided to go with the idea that you pay for quality and buy only once. I bit the bullet and sold some classic fender guitars on ebay and bought a top notch LX from a senior PF member that had taken great care of the camera, sending it into the premier repair man by the name of Eric Hendrickson. (If there is a better pentax repair person please let me know). I feel extremely over gunned with my current setup and that is just the feeling I like. Just like so many amateur photographers of this day I am very much on a how many likes did my last set of photos get on facebook quest. It feels like I am just around the corner from being invited to take pictures of events for money, as I have already been the pro bono official photographer for two projects. Mostly I am a dad with the desire to get some great pictures. Onec again thanks to the Pentax Community for being who yo are.
John
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HKyXS65q2hs/UZ-sHcbG3GI/AAAAAAAAABQ/H-V7-7-KGv4/s1...e+Park+Day.jpg 
Originally posted by Johnyb3000 
Post #1 by Johnyb3000
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