[clockwork247]

Well, I always say that the camera matters not. Sure some have their advantages/disadvantages against other cameras, but in the end, the final photo is dictated by the photographer. I've taken really good pictures with those low end Sony thrash cameras, and awful photos with a Canon 1Ds, so yeah.. =] It's great that Sony has worked for you, I'm sure that being a descendant of Minolta, in a way, the lenses are fantastic. Hmm I wonder if there's a way to attach those lenses to Canon or Pentax mounts.. =P

the MC/MD are able to get onto a canon if there's modification to the camera mount, they fit on perfectly with infinity focus. although I'm not sure I would want to do that unless I have a spare body, the modification is costly too, maybe about 100-150 bucks.

Not sure about pentax mount, pentax is very similar to canon, you guys got so many lens that no one bother to even try to adapt other mount onto yours.

The older lens are some times not as good as the newer lens, and the price are getting hike up pretty well because of all the cheap mirrorless cameras. I have an NEX a long with a few MF lens, and while it's fun, it's a money pit lol .

[ChristianRock]

The only thing I particularly worry about is that Pentax needs some level of business so it will stay in the DSLR market. Hopefully that is happening. Being sold twice in the span of a few years is not a good sign, but hopefully Ricoh has more plans in store, other than just selling Q cameras - which do seem to be doing pretty well.
I'm going to upgrade to a K-5 or K-5 II within the next year (got started with a K20D not a long time ago).

Before I bought it I had conversations with some friends and relatives, all told me to go Canikon. One particular relative irked me saying that anything but Canikon is completely crap and unprofessional. I was kind of considering Sony at the time, hadn't even heard that Pentax still makes DSLRs. But a little research here, some reading there, and here I am in the Pentax world with a DSLR and 7 lenses Plus a K1000 that was thrown in for free with some lenses.

The main problem is that people have to do research to find out that there are other brands. I think Sony kind of suffers from the same thing - if they were still called Minolta it wouldn't make a difference either, as Pentax is showing that a successful SLR brand doesn't necessarily translate into the digital world without a fight.

Hopefully word of mouth will go around and Pentax will remain a viable business. It does seem to do well enough in Asian countries and with that being the case, we should see them around for many years to come.

The more obvious answer, to me, is a good distributor that makes things happen and works well with dealers to push the products.

[Pat_H]

That's my concern also. I worry that Pentax will just give up the effort, as they seemingly have low market share. The information in here that they're common in Asia is encouraging.

I have a really old Zeiss 35mm but I believe that they have never made the move to digital cameras. I wonder why?

[grhazelton]

I attended a week-long conference recently at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. Beautiful place. I saw a few DSLRs, including one Olympus 4/3 beauty. Chatting with its owner, a Peruvian, he was very familiar with Pentax and spoke highly of the marque, especially the 28mm f2.8A. He must be somewhat of a collector, since he has "over 200" cameras, and Pentaxes including the KX, MX, ME Super, and LX. My kinda guy.

Another guy sat at our table in the pub and, noticing my K5, said he didn't know Pentax still existed! I found this disturbing since he'd recently retired after many years running his own film/video production facility. Despite his lamentable ingnorance of things Pentax, he was well versed in photography, both digital and film.

Now, the attendees were generally very well educated, well-versed in current affairs, and generally fairly affluent. Sadly most were using cell "cameras" or tablets. If this demographic is tending away from DSLRs, including Pentax, what does the future hold for those of us who prefer "real" cameras?

[skism]

I was recently at the Scouts Canada National Jamboree in Alberta (6,000 people, all tenting for the week). There were a lot of cameras, and I did see a few Pentaxes....again, that outdoor scene is a natural (excuse the pun) market for Pentax-Ricoh.

[BigDave]

If this demographic is tending away from DSLRs, including Pentax, what does the future hold for those of us who prefer "real" cameras?

Better images and better reputations than the cell camera crowd! Let's face it, most people just want to "record" the moment (like someone is going to sit through all those images or you are so important to have the rest of the world peruse your FB pages). Once you start down the DSLR path, you are getting into some serious photography, unless it is for a status thing. The deeper you go, and the more experience you get with your equipment, the better your images, to the point you can out shoot anyone else with their own cell phone!

In short, the more people switch to the phone for their pictures, the better it is for us that are serious!

Regards,

[Kerrowdown]

I am completely sure he will make the switch too

Don't switch use both systems, get the best from each.

[kadajawi]

Better images and better reputations than the cell camera crowd! Let's face it, most people just want to "record" the moment (like someone is going to sit through all those images or you are so important to have the rest of the world peruse your FB pages). Once you start down the DSLR path, you are getting into some serious photography, unless it is for a status thing. The deeper you go, and the more experience you get with your equipment, the better your images, to the point you can out shoot anyone else with their own cell phone!

In short, the more people switch to the phone for their pictures, the better it is for us that are serious!

Regards,

Nokia Lumia 1020

[Pat_H]

Better images and better reputations than the cell camera crowd! Let's face it, most people just want to "record" the moment (like someone is going to sit through all those images or you are so important to have the rest of the world peruse your FB pages). Once you start down the DSLR path, you are getting into some serious photography, unless it is for a status thing. The deeper you go, and the more experience you get with your equipment, the better your images, to the point you can out shoot anyone else with their own cell phone!

In short, the more people switch to the phone for their pictures, the better it is for us that are serious!

Regards,

I don't know about that. If DSLRs take the status that Hasselblad and Zeiss film cameras once had, there will be a lot fewer made and a lot fewer brands to choose from. I don't know that I'd expect Pentax to be one of the survivors.

Having said that, I don't know that tablets, etc. are replacing cameras so much as supplementing them. It used to be that when you had your camera, you intended to take pictures. That still might be the case for most folks. Now, however, a lot of people just always have a camera.

[FoTom]

Don't switch use both systems, get the best from each.

Yup. That's what I'm doing, Pentax and Canon in harmony hehe.

[TheOtherRob]

Before I bought it I had conversations with some friends and relatives, all told me to go Canikon. One particular relative irked me saying that anything but Canikon is completely crap and unprofessional.

I get this all the time. It's because we live in a world where everyone has been trained to be brand loyalists and part of that training is to fear and loath "lesser brands" more than similar "big brands". You can see it in other areas as well. Walk up to two guys arguing the toss over Ford and Holden, and announce yourself as a Volvo or Subaru driver. The two big name fanbois will turn on the newcomer, because they are more afraid of the unknown that the newcomer represents than they are of their own evil twin. Ford and Holden are actually so similar in product and approach, that a criticism of one is really a criticism of both... and non-conformity is the greatest criticism of all. It's your classic market duopoly dynamic; the major players actually ensure their mutual survival by killing of the real competition. The end result from a consumer's point of view is effective monopoly (ie: bad news for innovation and competition).

Photography is not my day job; it is a hobby and an art form for me. However, I have been lucky enough to start getting enough paid gigs now that I can effectively feed my hobby with my hobby. That which I earn by the lens gets spent on the lens. This means that I am rubbing shoulders with a lot of lesser professionals and wannabe professionals and the comments I get for using Pentax gear in some discussions reflect the duopoly theory precisely. I have actually been bailed up by two competing Canikon guys and told that my Pentax should not be used for professional shooting, and that my work cannot be good enough as a result. Well, that might be true, but that would be because I am only an average photographer. But when pressed on why Pentax is to blame for my average photos, the effective response is that only Canon and Nikon are used by professionals...

Anyway, folks, the impression I am getting is that the prosumer ranks (these are the most vocal) of photographers are filled with individuals who know more about camera gear stats than they know about taking photos. They are prime candidates for marketing and the brand snobbery that follows from it.The real professionals I have been lucky enough to encounter know enough to realize that gear is just gear and I can actually understand why they go Canikon; they are looking for a complete system, and every accessory made for cameras is made first for Canikon. Really, not even Pentax loyalists can argue with that. I love my cost effective Pentax stuff, but if I was earning my real money from photography I would want to buy into the system with ubiquitous support. But as for most other camera toting folk... it all comes down to the marketing and people's training as good little consumers.

That is why two mega-companies selling stuff that is too expensive for mediocre products can whip companies that produce innovative and cost effective stuff at the cash register. Pentax only really stands a chance with folk who are pragmatists, sentimentalists, experimentalists or are simply bloody minded. But lets not forget... its not as though Canikon produce rubbish cameras, either. Get a modern DSLR from any of these manufacturers and you are going to get an amazing bit of gear, especially when you compare what you are getting with a lot of other consumer-grade electronic fluff.

As one last little example of the power of simple brand identification... my offsider who actually runs the biz side of my photographic ventures has decided she'd like to jump behind the lens, too (she has a better eye than me, after all!). After me teaching her on Pentax and us producing all of our successful stuff on Pentax (ya know, the reason we have a biz in the first place)... now that she is looking at cameras herself she is going to get a Canon or a Nikon. She doesn't know which. She doesn't know why. She actually described it as simply feeling that with Pentax she was always alone... and that Canikon is all around. You can't reason with that.

[bigdavephoto]

Besides taking photos, I am also a fan of Japanese anime and I found an anime that started a couple of weeks ago that has photography as a central theme. The anime is called Tamayura more aggressive and is the second season. What caught my eye is one of the characters is using a white Pentax Q. Other cameras I have seen in this anime have been Nikons and a Rollei 35s. All the cameras are branded with the proper names.

Pentax users may be rare but maybe not as rare as we think.

[Watson]

For Pentax to become more popular, they must not only get their products into more stores but they have to get their products known by the salespeople in the stores. Where I live in Ontario, Canada, there are two stores that carry Pentax. One is a chain called Henry's Camera and the other is a small independent called BJ Photo. At Henry's they have a small section devoted to Pentax. Its in an out of the way corner. When customers come in for camera buying suggestions they are shown the usual Canikon products or Sony but the Pentax stuff is ignored. I think one reason for this is the salespeople know almost nothing about the Pentax product line. When I went in to buy the K511s nobody their even knew the difference between it and the K511. They have no idea what lenses are available or other accessories and since they carry almost no Pentax inventory, almost anything must be ordered. I can do this myself online, so there is no real point in having the store at all.
When I need to buy though, I usually do it through the smaller independent guy at BJ Photo. His prices are no better, he has no Pentax inventory in his store and he too must order everything in. The difference is however, that he knows the product. He also seems to like Pentax. Part of this I believe appears to be nostalgia. This store has been around for a long time and the owner told me that back at the start and for years after, he sold more Pentaxes than anything else by far in this area. Just goes to show what complacency and arrogance can do to a leading business. I wonder if Nikon and Canon learned from the Pentax experience?

[Mr Spocko]

I think the recent price hikes on lenses put people off, and it has an impact on sales. Pentax are selling bodies at a fairly good price, but when you look at the lens range and prices (EU and USA) it's a real turn off IMO. I know some here are old hand's with a decent lens inventory, but for newer users starting off it's a real problem for Pentax

[Cynog Ap Brychan]

I'm depressed. I just filled in a tech survey: one of the questions was about which camera manufacturer I preferred. Pentax wasn't even on the list - and the survey didn't have an "Other Brand" box so that I could declare my preferences. I've also recently been to the seaside. Not a Pentax in sight, despite the wet and salty environment they were built for. I felt like shouting, "There's other cameras beside Nikanon, you know!" On the other hand, I like the feeling of exclusiveness being a Pentaxian gives me. It's like a guilty pleasure I keep all to myself. But I do think Ricoh should make the Pentax name better known. After all, I want them to stay in business and feed my CBA.