Originally posted by kyteflyer Interestingly, I would probably not have considered Pentax if it weren't for two or three intervening factors... 1) There were no current Minolta models in existence that would take my old lenses... and nor would Sony. 2) A friend who had a K1000 years back when she was doing a fine Arts course absolutely swore by them, and I loved her work and 3) the startup cost for Pentax was half what it was for any other brand, and I got weather sealing and a top LCD into the bargain. It was a no brainer. I didnt really learn about the rest of what Pentax had to offer until I began hanging out in this forum.
Not to turn this into a WHY I CHOSE PENTAX thread, but... to parallel your points:
(1) I'd been gifted with Minolta MD glass and one Alpha body and lens; and my P&S digicams were all Sony. I've accumulated much Sony gear since 1980. My research and analysis still showed that my first dSLR should be Pentax.
(2) Not relevant. I'd had zero contact with Pentax in past decades.
(3) ABSOLUTELY! I moved from an advanced P&S to dSLR because I wanted ultrawide, superzoom, and speed. Nobody else had anything like the DA10-17 at a reasonable price, and other-brand users bitched more about their cameras, so my first kit was K20D and DA10-17 and DA18-250 and FA50/1.4 and AF360 -- with the K20D out-spec'ing everything else in the price range. That whole package cost less than the body of the next-'better' camera. I'd handled Canikony dSLRs; but I went Pentax without ever fondling one, because the numbers worked out.
And with a bigger budget, I'd be a 645D owner like the guy I ran into a couple days ago.