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10-10-2011, 05:01 PM   #1171
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There aren't too many Pentax users in my area. I doesn't matter to me though since I love Pentax.

10-11-2011, 09:41 AM   #1172
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This seems really strange to me. I have no doubt that Pentax is more rare that Canikon. That is pretty obvious. However, my personal experience is quite the contrary.

I really don't know why, but almost every time I go out to public places to shoot (parks, museums, zoo's, etc., etc.), I always see Pentax DSLR's. Seriously! I'm always shocked by how many I see. Just this weekend, again, I was at a nature reserve and sure enough, there was a guy with a Pentax (I think Kr or something?). The other DSLR I saw there was a Canon 7D. I see Pentax's all the time. It is actually really strange to me.

Now it can't just be the city I live in because I recently moved to a different city. I can safely say the percentage I have seen balances out between the two cities. Maybe it's a Canadian thing?
10-11-2011, 10:03 AM   #1173
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Sorry for the double post. Just one more thing...

I also was approached by a gentleman who noticed my camera this weekend. He stated he was very much into photography and loved Nikon cameras. He glanced at my camera (Pentax K7) and immediately said, "Oooo, Pentax! Those are really expensive aren't they!!" He seemed under the impression that Pentax was a more "specialized" or "professional" brand. I just go with it!!

I saw a bunch of mothers around taking photos of their kids. Many of them had Canon Rebels. ALL of them had the pop-up flashes (popped up of course). They buy the Rebel (big DLSR camera to them) and put it in Auto mode. I even saw a "professional" doing an autumn family photoshoot. She was obviously getting paid to do it. She was using a Rebel w/ kit lens and of course the pop up flash. Canon marketing sheeple everywhere.

Not saying you can't get paid to shoot a family with a rebel. It's just that when to see the pop-up flash (when conditions reveal you can do better in manual or at least AV) there is something wrong.
10-11-2011, 10:18 AM   #1174
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Recently a product pushing party hostess was in our house making small talk after the sales. She remarked on some of my photographs. "These are really good! What did you use?"
"A camera."
"I have a D60? A Nikon? I think it is made by Nikon. I need to learn how to use it better. These (images) are nice."
"Thank you. I use Pentax."
"A Pentax? Is that a camera?"
(I was not surprised. But I had questions until it was clear she would not have answers)

10-11-2011, 10:33 AM   #1175
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Taking the time to read a manual or learning 'complicated' camera settings is just too much for a lot of folks. They just want to shoot pics, and they assume owning a DSLR is going to give them top quality automatically. That's what "Auto-Pict" is for, right? For 3 or 4 years I've tried unsuccessfully to wean my wife from auto mode on her Sony A300. I should say partial success, as she is now using the 'scene' settings (portrait, landscape, etc) so I guess that's a small step up. She, and I presume many others, have zero interest in the nuts & bolts of how a camera works, and she's happy with her results using her kit lenses. Which aren't bad, by the way - she does have a keen eye for composition.
10-11-2011, 04:35 PM   #1176
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QuoteOriginally posted by Seamripper Quote
... I even saw a "professional" doing an autumn family photoshoot. She was obviously getting paid to do it. She was using a Rebel w/ kit lens and of course the pop up flash. ...

Not saying you can't get paid to shoot a family with a rebel. It's just that when to see the pop-up flash (when conditions reveal you can do better in manual or at least AV) there is something wrong..
I have a niece who shoots weddings and family portrait stuff with a couple of Rebel bodies (all she can afford at the time.) She does a very nice job. Of course, she uses a variety of lenses and actual speedlights.
10-11-2011, 04:50 PM   #1177
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A friend who is both a good photographer and a computer sciences PhD candidate....thus savvy on both the end results and the nuts-n-bolts aspects....recently switched from Canon to a K-5.

He claims I sold him on it, but I never made any sort of pitch.

10-11-2011, 04:53 PM   #1178
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QuoteOriginally posted by paulh Quote
Taking the time to read a manual or learning 'complicated' camera settings is just too much for a lot of folks. They just want to shoot pics, and they assume owning a DSLR is going to give them top quality automatically. That's what "Auto-Pict" is for, right? For 3 or 4 years I've tried unsuccessfully to wean my wife from auto mode on her Sony A300. I should say partial success, as she is now using the 'scene' settings (portrait, landscape, etc) so I guess that's a small step up. She, and I presume many others, have zero interest in the nuts & bolts of how a camera works, and she's happy with her results using her kit lenses. Which aren't bad, by the way - she does have a keen eye for composition.
Sounds familiar.. I think my next move is throwing on my Pentax-A 50 f2 or Pentax-A 70-200f4 macro and saying leave it in M and go out and shoot for the day even not relying on AF systems and using TAv mode is "ok".. come to think of it I have a sorta crappy Takumar-A 28-80 macro as well.. I would recommend using an A or newer lens because it's amazing how quickly people forget and or just don't check their aperture if they have the "--" in the aperture field.
10-11-2011, 05:29 PM   #1179
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On a recent trip to Spain I saw two Pentax DSLR shooters and one Pentax film shooter. (ME Super)

Unfortunately compared to other brands Pentax is near the bottom.

I also saw four other film shooters (non Pentax), one 35mm and three MF.

Phil.
10-11-2011, 11:38 PM   #1180
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QuoteOriginally posted by gofour3 Quote
On a recent trip to Spain I saw two Pentax DSLR shooters and one Pentax film shooter. (ME Super)

Unfortunately compared to other brands Pentax is near the bottom.

I also saw four other film shooters (non Pentax), one 35mm and three MF.

Phil.
I'm in Barcelona right now, in 12 days i've seen one pentax shooter a k7 with a tamron 17-70 (they are for sale but the k5 prices are stupid. I have seen 7 other film shooters none were pentax, 1 was a nikon f2, one a nice contax kit, one a minolta srt101 the others were all rangefinders but no leicas though
only one i spoke with was the nikon as we we're waiting for the light on the roof of la perdrera
10-12-2011, 12:26 AM   #1181
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QuoteOriginally posted by Seamripper Quote
I really don't know why, but almost every time I go out to public places to shoot (parks, museums, zoo's, etc., etc.), I always see Pentax DSLR's.
You're not alone in this, and it's definitely not just a Canadian thing. I see Pentax dslrs every time I'm out with my camera here in Seattle. Of course there are more Canikons out and about, but I see way more Ks than Sonys. Just today I sat down on a bench to rest and was thinking to myself how I hadn't seen any Pentaxes all day. Just then I heard the tell-tale K autofocus screw. At first I thought I had pressed my shutter button by accident, but no, it was a dude with a K-r standing right next to me. I'm pretty sure we're actually everywhere.

QuoteOriginally posted by Mike Cash Quote
He claims I sold him on it, but I never made any sort of pitch.
You most certainly did. Someone respects and admires your talents, and the gear sells itself by association.
10-12-2011, 01:20 AM   #1182
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To be honest, do you really need to know everything about your camera? I know a photographer/artist who doesn't know how all the basics, but who takes great photos, better than that of most pixel peepers. You can do great compositions without knowing how to manually expose a photo.

Saw a white K-r (I believe) recently, I think it was in Berlin or Cologne. But that was it AFAIK.

Fixed my *istDs with superglue, and the rubbery thing around the viewfinder is gone. Oh well, guess that's a well worn camera, and I won't give it up. Seems like the AF is going bad though, even in daylight it has problems getting a fix, can't remember that behavior in the past.
10-12-2011, 01:09 PM   #1183
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I went on a trip to Colorado a couple weeks ago and saw hundreds of photographers, but ran across only one Pentax user. It was at Maroon Bells, and the circumstances illustrate the "sheeple" narrative surrounding the Canikon crowd. Maroon Bells, as is well known, has been photographed way too often; and in early autumn, especially, when the leaves are turning, the place draws photographers like a dog draws fleas. When I was there, the entire lake front was infested with photographers. And as far as I could see, most of them had Nikon or Canon DSLRs sporting some sort of Nikon or Canon zoom lens. Everyone of them had their tripod fully extended and their lenses pointed in the same direction.

To my left was a photographer who was using one of those Fuji panorama film cameras. He turned out to be a professional photographer who generally used Pentax cameras and lenses. In his bag, he had a K20D attached to an FA* 28-70/2.8 lens. At one point, he showed me the camera and demonstrated the power zoom feature of the lens.

Now what struck me in all this was that here, in the midst of all these Canikon shooters, just about the only two photographers present that morning who were trying to do something a little different at this over-photographed location were Pentax shooters. I was the only photographer along the lake front who had lowered his tripod and was shooting just a few feet off the ground. I was one of the few shooters that morning using a prime lens; I almost certainly was the only shooter using a 10 stop ND filter (to smooth the troubled waters of the lake). The other Pentax shooter to my left was shooting film with a panoramic camera. Meanwhile, nearly everyone else was taking a generic image using generic Canikon lenses attatched to generic Canikon cameras of a lake and a mountain that had already been photographed thousands upon thousands of times with the very same cameras and lenses. While I'm sure that some of these photographers zoomed their lenses in and out to get a slightly different look, there's no real great merit in that, since thousands of photographers have done the exact same thing over the years. The most adventurous and individualistic of the Canikon shooters sported square neutral density filters on their zoom lenses. But beyond that bit of wild innovation they dared not go.

Now I'm sure that are at least a few Canikon shooters who are not so completely domesticated and even neutered by mass marketing and peer pressure that they actually can think for themselves and even come up, on ocassion, with an original thought or two. But I have never run across such a beast in the wild and I suspect that the individualistic Canikon shooter is even a rarer animal than the Pentax shooter.
10-12-2011, 04:55 PM   #1184
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QuoteOriginally posted by eddie1960 Quote
I'm in Barcelona right now, in 12 days i've seen one pentax shooter a k7 with a tamron 17-70 (they are for sale but the k5 prices are stupid. I have seen 7 other film shooters none were pentax, 1 was a nikon f2, one a nice contax kit, one a minolta srt101 the others were all rangefinders but no leicas though
only one i spoke with was the nikon as we we're waiting for the light on the roof of la perdrera
Nice, I got back from Barcelona on Oct 3rd. Seems like ages ago now that I'm back at work.

I was impressed by the number of MF shooters:

1 6x4.5
1 6x6
1 6x7 (Mamiya)

Enjoy the rest of your trip!


Phil.
10-12-2011, 11:13 PM   #1185
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QuoteOriginally posted by northcoastgreg Quote

nearly everyone else was taking a generic image
I too try for something different on common locations. For instance, I don't need to see one more shot of Antelope canyon in my lifetime if it's more lightrays and sand dust. A far more interesting pic would be swinging the camera about 180 and using a wide angle to capture the circus.

In the current issue of B&W there is an excellent photo by George Gardener titled Naked City. Here is a link to the photo. Warning: NSFW! http://www.georgewgardnerphotography.com/gallery/america-1960-1985/4191036

That's a good example of what I mean as taking a different twist on a much overdone theme.
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