[Cynog Ap Brychan]

When I think of who I know in real life that's a photographer, five people come to mind, one of whom is a Pentaxian, and it was nothing to do with me. We met after we had both acquired the habit (and brand).

Pentax isn't a habit... it's a calling!

[barefootdesigns]

My best friend's husband worked in a good camera store. He developed his own B/W film at home. When my dog ate my old Voigtlander range finder, he recommended the Spotmatic F and 50mm f 1:4 lens. I bought it and fell in love with the preview button that taught me so much about DOF and developing my own film. I still love it but can't afford film on Social Security. Now I have many old manual lenses (mostly M42's) and am having a ball with my Pentax K-50 and K-01. Wouldn't abandon my Pentax cameras for anything.

[dbs]

Being only 3% of new sales world wide I guess we are.
And Australia is vast and sparse in population so that helps / hinders too.


Dave

[totsmuyco]

We still have 1 brick and mortar chain store that sells Pentax throughout the country. However, there's not much Pentax sales as the market was dominated by Canon and Nikon. I'm not sure about the mirrorless dominance. Maybe Fuji is number 1 here. We're just as rare as we can get
The Pentax Jedi clan.

[vow20]

I'm from Mexico and ever since I got my first Pentax DSLR (K10D) in 2008, I've only seen two Pentax shooters in my city and one of those was a german immigrant from whom I bought a Pentax K-x. Judging from the used gear that I've come across in local sites, I would say that there are no more than 50 active Pentax shooters in Mexico. I might be wrong, but over here we are really rare. Most of the time people tell me something like "I didn't know Pentax still existed", and then I would tell them about how awesome they are compared to Canikon, which are pretty much the only DSLR brands known over here.

[DamienW]

When I think of who I know in real life that's a photographer, five people come to mind, one of whom is a Pentaxian

Interesting observation on people you know, and reflecting on that personally, I actually don't know all that many people who are into 'real' cameras at all, Pentax or otherwise.

I know a couple of the guys I work with have Canikons...which they rarely, if ever, use. My father has an Olympus, which comes out only for holidays. Another colleague shoots Sony, and does use it regularly. Some close family friends of mine actually do use Pentax (K-1 and K-1ii), and shoot frequently.

So, considering all of this, a very high percentage of shots taken by people I know with dedicated cameras (dare I say most), are actually taken on Pentax. Funny!

[fayssal]

Salam Pentaxians,

Yes we are that rare, in my country there is only few photographers equiped with green brand.
Second hand bodies and lenses are very well priced thanks to people ignorance ; Pentax cameras offers a lot for less money.
My main complaint is continuous autofocus tracking.

[derekmadge]

yes we are and that is because of Pentax marketing strategy not because of the actual products

Sadly I agree. When I came to digital after leaving expensive film photography behind for years I knew I could save money by using my old lenses. I'm glad I did, discounting a problem with the lens release button of the K5 which eventually figured out could be done with a paper clip instead of the $150 just out of warranty repair Pentax Canada wanted.

But my experience doing my research was centered around internet sources and I had to go digging around for information. Local stores did not carry Pentax anything. Some would order in for me. Now, years later can not remember where I ended up buying. So while I like the gear and it feels good to me, Pentax is not deeply in my community.

[automorphism]

I'm from Mexico and ever since I got my first Pentax DSLR (K10D) in 2008, I've only seen two Pentax shooters in my city and one of those was a german immigrant from whom I bought a Pentax K-x. Judging from the used gear that I've come across in local sites, I would say that there are no more than 50 active Pentax shooters in Mexico. I might be wrong, but over here we are really rare. Most of the time people tell me something like "I didn't know Pentax still existed", and then I would tell them about how awesome they are compared to Canikon, which are pretty much the only DSLR brands known over here.

I actually see a lot of real cameras out there still, mostly because I go to wildlife spots and phones for that kind of photography can't even produce an ID shot most of the time.

About 4-5 years ago I used to see a Pentax every once and a while but actually these days am seeing quite a few people with mirrorless, mostly Sony and Nikon. I think the other day I saw a Fuji. The only DSLRs I see are Canon and Nikon, with most of them Nikon. Of course, recently I also haven't been to many crowded areas due to Covid, so maybe if that ever clears up I might get a wider sampling.

[HoutHans]

Same here. There's an unofficial wildlife spot over here (just a small lake with two spots where you can sit relatively unnoticed) and I just found out that I was sharing that with another photographer and guess what, the guy has a pentax k-3 in addition to a Nikon D850. He says he likes the K-3 better as the D850 is rather heavvy. I alerted him to this forum and the K-3iii.

[RobSpain]

I've read the "pros dissing Pentax" thread and had a bit of a laugh. I shot high-end Canon for 30 years in my film days but am at a more laidback place now during semi-retirement. For the switch to DSLR, I couldn't justify the expense - particularly for good glass - that Canon entailed and went with Pentax. I am very happy with that choice despite the occasional sneer from my former Canon compatriots.

Now, my topic. During the recent Worldwide Photo Walk, I joined 40+ area photographers for a fun day of shooting followed by a group lunch and wrap-up. In that group, I saw exactly zero Pentax DSLRs - aside from my own. I found myself "justifying" my choice not to go with Canikon during good natured discussions. Not so much distain but more "why in the world would a serious photographer NOT buy Canikon??"

Are we really that sparse out in the world?

I've lived in Spain for over forty years and only know one other Pentax user. If you look at the Pentax World user map, there's only a handful of users who have registered in Spain.

[totsmuyco]

I wish that there will be more of us. More people, more users. More users, more sales. More sales, more profits. Profitability means viability. Viability is more years with Pentax. Just thinking out loud.

[Cerebum]

I've lived in Spain for over forty years and only know one other Pentax user. If you look at the Pentax World user map, there's only a handful of users who have registered in Spain.

I am sure there use to be links to the Pentax user map, so you could view a profile and see where the person was! I am in Lancaster, UK, but my heart lives in Cádiz

[luckylu]

I am sure there use to be links to the Pentax user map, so you could view a profile and see where the person was! I am in Lancaster, UK, but my heart lives in Cádiz

Here is the link for the map Worldwide Pentax User Map - PentaxForums.com

[Cerebum]

Here is the link for the map Worldwide Pentax User Map - PentaxForums.com

Thanks. I was actually looking for links in peoples bios, so I could go into yours and see where you are. I thought that was the case but maybe I dreamed it lol