[BigDave]

I was at an event where there were a SLEW of Pentax cameras! DSLRs, compacts, everything! And the people wanted to talk about the cameras too!

OK, it was the PhotoPlus show in NYC at the Pentax booth, but it was great to see the equipment LIVE (I LOVE the metallic blue of the new K30). Getting my hands on the K5II and K5 to do some quick sharpness comparisons was great. And the Q on the back of the new super zoom looks more like a dust cap than a camera, but at an effective FL of about 1300, WOW! And I was able to pick up the 645D and get a feel for it. A great camera with the layout very much the same as my K7! And it is MUCH lighter than I expected it to be. Now I got to get the $20K or so up for some lenses and a body. I really need to get rich!

I even saw some on the show floor, though true, mostly Canions were out and about.

Regards,

[Stone G.]

Same story here: I went to a camera fair i Copenhagen last Sunday and lo and behold, the Nordic Pentax importer was there with physical evidence. Not the biggest booth in the hall - but it was there! I also had the pleasure of holding the 645D in my own hands. Too big a body for me, but tickling feeling to have a camera with the value of a car in your own hands. But "worst" of all, I was allowed to try out the lenses on my own K-5 body. Sigh, back to my financial controller again.........

[BigDave]

Sigh, back to my financial controller again.........

Hey, I'm with you dude!

And to boot, I didn't win the lottery this week, AGAIN!

Regards,

[ASheffield]

I went to Motorclassica on the weekend and while roaming around I took note of the cameras people had.

The majority were both Canon and Nikon (about even)


Only saw a couple of Pentaxes, one of which had a screw mount 135mm attached!



I also met a guy who noticed me using my ME and commented on still using film, he then went on about how he used to have one etc.


(i must admit, the old camera combined with my oldish looking camera bag helped when they were closing up and only teh car owners were to be in the area..... I think security thought I had retro gear to keep in character with a retro car... so I managed to stay on teh bood side of the barriers and take pictures of a lot of the cars as they left!)

At most of the car shows I've been to people use their phones. I use my Blackberry because it's to hard for me to lug a camera bag around Raleigh.

[grhazelton]

On a couple recent trips to the Atlanta Zoo I saw Canikons, many with huge, white lenses. A group of teens asked me to take their pic with their camera, since I was carrying my K-5 they must have felt that I knew what I was doing. I saw the usual raft of P&S bitty cameras, and cell phones, and people shooting with what I presume were I-Pads. I did see one guy with a Sony but had no chance to chat. Nary another Pentax to be seen.

[gilsouthwood]

Yes. We are a very sparsely found, (unfortunately), group of people. I've seen 2 other Pentax D-SLRs since I got my K-r back in march, a K-X and a K-5. I don't usually get the whole Canikon treatment, although that's probably because I'm preaching Pentax all day at school

I'm currently trying to convince two of my friends to move to Pentax, one a College photography student, the other a guy with a bridge who wants to upgrade. Both want to do it on the cheap, which is why I said we're the best, because of all the K,M and A lenses.

It's sad how good Pentax are as a brand, compared to their profile...

[westmill]

I have my usual free tickets for Focus on imaging again this year. Pentax always has a decent stand there. I too had a play with the 645D. Strangely i did not like it one bit. I remember thinking it felt cheap and plasticky. I could never part with ten grand for such a beast. I am not saying it is of course, because I know it is not. it just looks and feels it though. YUK lol. Ive had 3 medium format systems over the years. Two bronica and one mamiya RZ67. They felt like works of fine art in your hands and that you could feel where your money was spent. If I payed that amount of money for the 645 looking and feeling like a cheap plastic toy I think I would resent the hell out of it very quickly lol. I cant fault the image quality though.

[gofour3]

I was in Germany for three weeks in September/October and saw zero Pentax cameras.
The only Pentax I saw was in the Berlin Helmut Newton Photography museum, where two LX's were on display as part of his camera collection.

Phil.

[cyclone3d]

I Have never seen another Pentax camera when I am out besides the one I am carrying.

I did get one of my friends to buy a K-r or K-x back when they first came out though. So at least one person in Colorado has a Pentax.

Also trying to convince another friend here in Alabama to buy a Pentax. He is wanting to move to a high quality camera from a P&S. Will be showing off the K-01 to him when it arrives :-)

[MSM]

@cyclone3d: If you are ever down here in Birmingham, you might see a dad (me) with the K5 and his daughter (10 yo) with a White Kx.

[MSM]

Are you supposed to approach another Pentaxian in the wild given the rarity? I am afraid I might be endangering a near-extinct life form.

I did see one Pentaxian at Walt Disney World amongst tens of thousands of cameras. I also saw one at Legoland Florida and at the Pensacola NAS museum. Sad, but I do remember each of the rare occurrences.

[kadajawi]

It's weird. In Malaysia Pentax is doing ok. There's a camera shop that also sells Pentax, and they have everything (except for the 645D). At least one of the employees owns a K-5 with a 31mm Limited (got to try it, very, very nice). It also looks like they gather quite some interest, even though they do sell all brands when I was there there seemed to be more interest in Pentax (granted it is the only shop to my knowledge in the area that does sell Pentax).

At events there always seems to be one or two Pentaxes around, despite the amount of advertising that Canon does. You always see a few people with a Canon shirt around. And in Singaporean TV they sponsor a food show (shot with a C300, and constantly there is someone waiving a Canon camera into the camera), while Nikon has a photography show (think of those modelling shows, just for photographers). Lots of ads everywhere too, none for Pentax.

In Germany I made one girl buy a Pentax, another one I may have influenced a bit to buy a Pentax.

Now if only Pentax would hire me to do marketing... how about a travelling show, that is a bit more extreme. Perhaps with two backpackers who are fighting with the elements? And the camera team of course also has to use Pentax, basically everyone shooting each other, in rain, freezing cold, heat, ...

[deus ursus]

Went to Denmark with my family this summer on vacation. Spent a whole day in Legoland, and saw only Canons and Nikons, not even Sonys og Olympuses (Olympi?). Had a few other trips to a funfair and on the beach, but no Pentaxes to see.Not before we got back home to Bergen and went to the Aquarium there, I saw one bearded fellow with a K-5 or K-7. I'm not the type that approaches strangers, so I never got to talk to him, but like MSM states above, endangered species should perhaps not be disturbed.

I believe I can tell the exact spot were I saw him, though, so if someone ever makes a documentary about Pentax owners, I can imagine Sir Richard Attenborough standing in front of the camera saying: "And it was here, on this exact spot, that Asbjørn saw a man sporting what looked like a Pentax K-7 or a K-5!"

[aurele]

In Paris, at "le salon de la photo" (a very mini french photokina), we are not that rare

Japanese representative of Pentax showing the 360 degree camera (yeah, the kind of ovni !), with picture taken during a soccer match few days ago ! The result is impressive, even if the screen on which they display the picture don't do justice to them ! You have to zoom to see how much details there is !

The Q10, is very Q-te and very small ! Soooo tempting !

Taking picture with SuperA / DA*55 / DA 35/2.4 and ilford delta 400 @3200.

Result on the next week i guess '

[huyie]

At a conference I was help running 6 months ago, there was only one other guest I encountered with a Pentax, but he happened to be a Japanese visitor, so that may have been somewhat expected...