[UncleVanya]

With the original E-M10, yes. An E-M5 would likely mean a stretch, but nothing extraordinary. Of course, they have to buy used.

In the UK? I'm not seeing that price but I'm only trying eBay.

[lithedreamer]

In the UK? I'm not seeing that price but I'm only trying eBay.

@Kharan Also confused here. I tried Amazon.co.uk.

[UncleVanya]

@Kharan Also confused here. I tried Amazon.co.uk.

The sold unit prices I saw under £200 were either broken or very close and most were closer to £350. That was without a lens.

[camerateen]

Morning everyone,

I've been thinking about this carefully and hope I don't upset or hurt anyone by saying this, but I've noticed that some people whom are not recommending pentax are quickly being shot down for their recommendations. Ive seen some of these cameras and for a noob like me, I honestly can't tell a huge difference between pentax quality and other brands, other than the pentax seems to have more vibrant colours. For me although pentax seems to be the best, I feel there are many brands such as canon, nikon, olympus, sony, panasonic, fuji which are being taken out of the equation due to pentax loyalty.

What I'm trying to say is that we all know that my budget is low, so why not start looking at other brands too, so that it gives a larger choice and more chances of getting a bargain?

Of course once I'm adept at using a camera and having a more better understanding of the camera features, when I can afford more, I will upgrade to the best Pentax I get my hands on.

I really do hope that I haven't upset anyone by saying this and hope we can broaden our minds and choices.

[lithedreamer]

Some people on this forum are definitely...hardcore? Haha.

Canon Rebels are cheap and worth a look at, as I've said.

[UncleVanya]

Morning everyone,

I've been thinking about this carefully and hope I don't upset or hurt anyone by saying this, but I've noticed that some people whom are not recommending pentax are quickly being shot down for their recommendations. Ive seen some of these cameras and for a noob like me, I honestly can't tell a huge difference between pentax quality and other brands, other than the pentax seems to have more vibrant colours. For me although pentax seems to be the best, I feel there are many brands such as canon, nikon, olympus, sony, panasonic, fuji which are being taken out of the equation due to pentax loyalty.

What I'm trying to say is that we all know that my budget is low, so why not start looking at other brands too, so that it gives a larger choice and more chances of getting a bargain?

Of course once I'm adept at using a camera and having a more better understanding of the camera features, when I can afford more, I will upgrade to the best Pentax I get my hands on.

I really do hope that I haven't upset anyone by saying this and hope we can broaden our minds and choices.

Many of the other DSLR's don't offer a lot of benefit and don't come in cheaper at the same feature levels. The M43 cameras mentioned (Olympus and Panasonic - are great but lenses are more money unless you adapt manual focus lenses and many only have LCD screens and no viewfinder in your price range.)

I found this gem on the marketplace but he is only selling to the USA - you could try reaching out and seeing if there were other options:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/24-photographic-equipment-sale/333392-sal...-f4-5-6-a.html

I personally recommended several options including the LX-7 Panasonic premium point and shoot. It is a small sensor camera but has many features including very good video but lacks the ability to get really shallow DOF. However it is well within your price range from what I see on the uk ebay site. I don't think it's the only option - but I know so little about the Canon and Nikon DSLR's in your price range that I can't tell you how they compare to the relevant Pentax units that I know.

[UncleVanya]

Oh and Brand loyalty is part of it - but exposure and knowledge for Pentax will be higher here so expect that a bias will exist just based on knowledge alone.

[Des]

What I'm trying to say is that we all know that my budget is low, so why not start looking at other brands too, so that it gives a larger choice and more chances of getting a bargain?

What @UncleVanya said is absolutely right. Also have another read of what @Alex645 said in post #68. In fact I'd suggest you have a re-read through the whole thread.

The suggestions that have been shot down have mostly been for options outside your budget, or didn't meet your other criteria (such as 1080 video with 30fps). Although this is a Pentax site, most people are not "fanboys". Many of us have been through camera decision-making with friends and family and we aren't partisan. Many people have experience with cameras of various brands. You'll notice, for example, that there have been various mentions of the fact the Pentax is behind the game for video.

Let's put this another way. Do a search in the relevant category on Gumtree or ebay for interchangeable-lens cameras with a price limit within your budget, and see what turns up. Then ask yourself whether they offer this combination of features:
1. Ability to use a wide range of cheap but high-quality lenses, including wide-aperture lenses for short depth of field and high-quality images. .
2. In-body image stabilization. (Rules out any Canons and Nikons in this price range.) This is invaluable when you can't afford stabilized lenses.
3. Viewfinder (rules out some mirrorless, such as Sony NEX and Pentax K01)

And video, since that is one of your key criteria.

If they don't have all these qualities, strike them off the list. Now see what's left. There won't be any Nikons, or Canons (no IBIS), or Fujis (too expensive), or Panasonics (Panasonic only introduced IBIS with the Lumix DMC-GX7, which will be outside the price range). What's left? Pentax, Sony and maybe Olympus. Lenses for Olympus are relatively expensive. So that should narrow your choice.

[Alex645]

I've noticed that some people whom are not recommending pentax are quickly being shot down for their recommendations.
I feel there are many brands such as canon, nikon, olympus, sony, panasonic, fuji which are being taken out of the equation due to pentax loyalty.

What I'm trying to say is that we all know that my budget is low, so why not start looking at other brands too, so that it gives a larger choice and more chances of getting a bargain?

I really do hope that I haven't upset anyone by saying this and hope we can broaden our minds and choices.

Like all families, some Pentaxians are less inhibited and will disagree ("youʻre wrong") rather than simply state their counterpoint. There are always three sides to every coin, unless your currency has a hole in it.

Some of us only know Pentax, most of us have used other makes but currently use Pentax, and I currently use both Pentax and Nikon. But everyday I teach and troubleshoot for Canon, Sony, Lumix, and Olympus users. Each camera has itʻs strengths and mediocracies. Iʻm very happy and biased for my Nikon and Pentax for different reasons, but the equivalent Nikon in terms of features is more expensive than Pentax. You can go to the BHphotovideo.com site and do side-by-side comparisons, but without writing a chapter analyzing each similarity and difference, the Pentax is the most robust, backward compatible, and best quality for the price for entry-level DSLRs, flagship APS-C and FF.....except video.

I am also a member of the Nikonforums and theyʻve been helpful, but not nearly as generous or active as Pentaxforums. Photographers that only own Canon and Nikon are more religious and blind to how or why everything else is inferior. Pentax owners are not followers or else they would not have bought a camera that is hard to find and does not have the reputation in numbers like Canon, and to a lesser degree Nikon.

Here, in this forum, you can expect to get the Pentax view, and for some responses, a comparison with non-Pentax alternatives.

[camerateen]

Thank you. I'm glad that I've joined this forum and that many on here are not biased, but simply want to explain the advantages of why the Pentax is better than the rest within it's price range. I hope you agree though that as a new starter there is nothing wrong with exploring all options and getting other brand owner opinions?

From what people have posted, it's clear getting decent lenses for cheap price is not an issue, but what about cheap cameras? What can a cheap camera achieve and how cheap should one go before there is a huge loss of photo quality?

[Photator]

Morning everyone,

I've been thinking about this carefully and hope I don't upset or hurt anyone by saying this, but I've noticed that some people whom are not recommending pentax are quickly being shot down for their recommendations. Ive seen some of these cameras and for a noob like me, I honestly can't tell a huge difference between pentax quality and other brands, other than the pentax seems to have more vibrant colours. For me although pentax seems to be the best, I feel there are many brands such as canon, nikon, olympus, sony, panasonic, fuji which are being taken out of the equation due to pentax loyalty.

What I'm trying to say is that we all know that my budget is low, so why not start looking at other brands too, so that it gives a larger choice and more chances of getting a bargain?

Of course once I'm adept at using a camera and having a more better understanding of the camera features, when I can afford more, I will upgrade to the best Pentax I get my hands on.

I really do hope that I haven't upset anyone by saying this and hope we can broaden our minds and choices.

Thank you for saying this publicly, I certainly did feel shot down earlier, so much so that (as a new member here) it made me feel like signing out. As I said earlier my intention is most definitely not to be discussing what's more superior and I thought I'm mdade it clear that I was only going on what I know. I am not a professional reviewer and have not had enough experience with other brands of SLR to be able to do accurate 'side by side' comparisons. I am here mainly because I am interested in legacy lenses and this site has by far the best review section on legacy glass (including of course Pentax/Takumar) I've seen anywhere on the net.

[BrianR]

From what people have posted, it's clear getting decent lenses for cheap price is not an issue, but what about cheap cameras? What can a cheap camera achieve and how cheap should one go before there is a huge loss of photo quality?

Searching flickr by camera brand was suggested earlier to find some examples:

Flickr: Camera Finder

Just Pentax models:

Flickr: Camera Finder: Pentax

And the "lowly" k100d (many will indicate the lens used):

Flickr: Camera Finder: Pentax: K100D

Entry models from the k100d's time (around 2006) are cheap, often available for a little over $100CDN. Compared to newer entry level models you lose:

• Video (which may make them a non-starter)
• Live View
• Pentaprism viewfinder (Much nicer to look through)
• Dual Control wheels (makes it easier to change camera settings)
• More refined autofocus (it wasn't great in earlier models)
• maybe 2-3 stops of iso performance
• A bunch of resolution
• Some dynamic range (ability to capture a scene with a wide range of lights and dark)

Only the last three would affect your image quality. How much depends on what you plan to photograph and what the final output will be. In my underused flickr stream linked below, at some point I changed from a k100d to a newer k5iis. For how I use my camera and viewed at web sizes, I'd wager you'd be hard pressed to tell where that happened (without looking at the exif). The other features can make image capture easier, but can mostly be done without if the combination of your finances and patience are dictating your purchase.

As a plus, a $100 used body from 7-10 years ago is not going to depreciate in value much more. Assuming you don't break it, you could probably sell it easily for $80 in 3 or 4 months if you decide it's not what you want.

That said, how long would you have to wait to save up to afford something like the k5 listed earlier and an old manual focus film-era prime (or two)? Spend less time worrying about what you're going to buy, and more time mowing lawns or raking leaves or delivering papers or dishing out fish & chips and you'll be there before you know it.

[Photator]

Thank you for saying this publicly, I certainly did feel shot down earlier, so much so that (as a new member here) it made me feel like signing out. As I said earlier my intention is most definitely not to be discussing what's more superior and I thought I'm mdade it clear that I was only going on what I know. I am not a professional reviewer and have not had enough experience with other brands of SLR to be able to do accurate 'side by side' comparisons. I am here mainly because I am interested in legacy lenses and this site has by far the best review section on legacy glass (including of course Pentax/Takumar) I've seen anywhere on the net.

...I forgot to add, I am also here to discuss technique, results and experience ...after all, it's all about them photographs isn't it :-)

[Urnamaster13]

Thank you. I'm glad that I've joined this forum and that many on here are not biased, but simply want to explain the advantages of why the Pentax is better than the rest within it's price range. I hope you agree though that as a new starter there is nothing wrong with exploring all options and getting other brand owner opinions?

From what people have posted, it's clear getting decent lenses for cheap price is not an issue, but what about cheap cameras? What can a cheap camera achieve and how cheap should one go before there is a huge loss of photo quality?

About the non-Pentax camera issue, to be honest i find this forum less fanboyish then what i have experienced in other products forums. mostly discussions are rational and Pentax owners seem up front about limitations of this brand.
That being said, purely as still photo camera, i find no reason why a pentax DSLR should be treated as inferior product. Autofocus is supposed to be slow, i myself am not that a good photographer yet to have it become an issue.

i am unsure about older models, having used k-500 only. But as for budget, whatever the body costs you..with time you will find you need to buy more things. a Decent bag if you travel, tripod, flash maybe, more lenses.

[HarisF1]

Thank you. I'm glad that I've joined this forum and that many on here are not biased, but simply want to explain the advantages of why the Pentax is better than the rest within it's price range. I hope you agree though that as a new starter there is nothing wrong with exploring all options and getting other brand owner opinions?

From what people have posted, it's clear getting decent lenses for cheap price is not an issue, but what about cheap cameras? What can a cheap camera achieve and how cheap should one go before there is a huge loss of photo quality?

I'd probably say that image quality won't be hit too badly but you'd be missing some features if you went for a much older or lower tier model. Some of these guys come up with insane images with old cameras and sensors.