Are we really THAT rare?

RioRico · 08-07-2010, 08:26 AM

In recent weeks I car-tripped across the USA southwest. I saw one Pentax P&S at Grand Canyon. I saw one surly guy with some Pentax dSLR near Taos, NM. I saw one surly kid with a K10 or K20 plus DA18-250 at Lake Tahoe. Otherwise, zip. One photo-specialty shopkeeper (and back-country photographer) near Grand Canyon saw my K20D and said, "Nice camera," and then ignored me. Pentax is pretty thin on the ground out here.

**GregK8** · 08-07-2010, 09:37 AM

Originally posted by fractal

... you don't pull up to a Ford and start talking to the bloke because he is also driving a Ford- for all you know he is a complete prick.

Unless it's a Jeep

I have two friends that drive Jeeps and whenever I am with them, they are constantly waving at other Jeeps and/or stopping to talk to perfect strangers as they get in and out of their cars.

Camera folk should be more like boat owners. It doesn't matter what kind of boat you're on, if you're on one, they'll wave to you.

Horst-Helmut · 08-07-2010, 09:43 AM

Today I was at Otava Happy Jazz festival and spotted 3 other pentaxians!

I'll post something from Nomy Rosenberg trio's gig when I process the shots. That guy must be the best guitarist alive.

johnmflores · 08-07-2010, 09:54 AM - **1 Like**

Last winter I saw this beautiful woman with a red K-x with the DA*16-50 so I struck up a conversation. Found out that she's been taking photos for years, Minolta, Nikon, and now Pentax. I showed her my K20d and DA* 50-135. She was duly impressed. We ended up sleeping together.

Ok, it was my wife

I've got it made!

**Kerrowdown** · 08-07-2010, 09:56 AM

Yep I'm the only one of me I know.

Its all about the images you capture, not the equipment used, Pentax gets my bills paid.

Horst-Helmut · 08-07-2010, 10:25 AM

Originally posted by kerrowdown

Yep I'm the only one of me I know.

Its all about the images you capture, not the equipment used, Pentax gets my bills paid.

But you still get a lot of discount questions for using the wrong brand? ;D

**ChipB** · 08-07-2010, 10:30 AM

About 2 weeks ago I was in Rocky Mountain NP, traveling on Trail Ridge Road and stopped in at the Trail Ridge Store and Cafe. Saw 2 folks with Pentax DSLRs - one was a K100D, other was a K10D. Course, there were the usual Canikons around - but,with me - we had 3 Pentax DSLRs at one spot!! Woo Hoo!!

**Kerrowdown** · 08-07-2010, 10:34 AM

Originally posted by Horst-Helmut

But you still get a lot of discount questions for using the wrong brand? ;D

But I have broad shoulders.

Unless folk dig deep and see the metadata type files, which aren't in published in printed work, folk are none the wiser as to the equipment used. Nor do they really care, it's all about does the image stand up on it's own, when called to do so.

stevebrot · 08-07-2010, 10:56 AM

My observations:

Pentax are not that rare in my region (Pacific Northwest of N. America)
I see Pentax dSLRs about as often as I see Sony
Pentax P&S are fairly common
I have never seen an Olympus dSLR in the wild, but I know there are several in my area based on Flickr posts
I have never seen a Leica in the wild
Ditto for Voigtlander
Ditto for Zenit or Zorki (saw a FED once)

The point is that there are many cameras of reputation (cult or otherwise) that you seldom see being used in public. People buy what is in the stores and the stores stock what sells and what is profitable.

I was at Mt. Rainier yesterday for a little R&R and saw

1 Nikon (D60, I think)
5 Canon (3 5D Mk II, a 7D, and a Rebel of some kind)
1 Pentax K-7 (nice guy)
1 Pentax K10D (mine)
1 Pentax KX (no hyphen...mine)
1 Ricoh XR-2s (also mine)

It was a slow day (weekday) at the mountain. If it had been a weekend, I would have seen at least 150 Canon and 100 Nikon and that would have been just in the main parking lot at the Paradise visitor center.

All that being said, ponder this...The Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area has about 1.5 million population and not a single store that sells Pentax dSLR. 180 miles to the north, Seattle has twice the population and three retailers. Olympus has no dSLR retailers in either Seattle or Portland. Nikon, Canon, and Sony are only as far away as your nearest Best Buy.

Steve

Steve

lurchlarson · 08-07-2010, 11:04 AM

Originally posted by stevebrot

My observations:

Pentax are not that rare in my region (Pacific Northwest of N. America)
I see Pentax dSLRs about as often as I see Sony
Pentax P&S are fairly common
I have never seen an Olympus dSLR in the wild, but I know there are several in my area based on Flickr posts
I have never seen a Leica in the wild
Ditto for Voigtlander
Ditto for Zenit or Zorki (saw a FED once)

The point is that there are many cameras of reputation (cult or otherwise) that you seldom see being used in public. People buy what is in the stores and the stores stock what sells and what is profitable.

All that being said, ponder this...The Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area has about 1.5 million population and not a single store that sells Pentax dSLR. 180 miles to the north, Seattle has twice the population and three retailers. Olympus has no dSLR retailers in either Seattle or Portland. Nikon, Canon, and Sony are only as far away as your nearest Best Buy.

Steve

Steve

I live in the Portland area and I see Olympus DSLRs on a fairly regular basis. Granted it is one among 50 or 60 Canikons but I do see them. Usually it's the e-3 or the e-450. I've only see one e-620 and that's my wife's. Some of the photo stores down here in portland do sell olympus. Mostly the PENs but they sell DSLRs too.

I think that Pentax is so rare because they aren't in big-box stores. If they were in the stores and the sales reps properly trained, we would see a whole lot more Pentax's. Why the heck Pentax didn't try and get the KX (and the multiple colors) into Best buy is beyond me...Costco and Walmart would have been two other stores they should have tried to get into as well.

mickeyobe · 08-07-2010, 11:35 AM

Originally posted by abmj

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?

abmj,

Your biography is very similar to my own. I started with a canon FTbn and then used a T90 for 20 years before going digital with Pentax in 2005. My reason for switching was the same as yours.

I, too, have noticed a dearth of Pentax's in some groups.
But I don't let it bother me.
Not everyone has our wisdom and insight.
Besides, the Pentax does exactly what I want so I really don't care about others' choices.

Mickey

digitalight · 08-07-2010, 11:38 AM

I live in the UK and don't see many other Pentax users, apart from my Dad who has a K200D. On a trip to Holland I saw a fellow K20D pentaxian.
Wherever I look I seem to see Canon's. I was recently shooting at a local RSPB and struck up a conversation with a Canon user and he didn't mind I was using Pentax. Canon's are mass produced on a larger scale to Pentax so it is always going to be the case that you see more but ever since I saw a review of a canon lens that basically folded back on itself with lens creep I knew that I'm pretty safe with my well built pentax lens.

boddah · 08-07-2010, 12:49 PM

Here in Manila, It's pretty much like everywhere else. It's either you have a Nikon or a Canon. I spotted a colleague with a white K-x and asked her why Pentax? She says she read all the reviews and declared the K-x would suit her needs. Bravo (in my head) I said. Haha... Ive been itching to get a K-x since December of last year but was put off by a very ugly and unpleasant old hag named Ketsana (Ondoy). I had to funnel my K-x funds into fixing up the house. In any case, I already got me a white K-x with the 55-300mm, and I love it.

ShiftR · 08-07-2010, 01:24 PM

I was in my local camera store not to long ago looking for new bag to accommodate my K-x and equipment. One of the sales guys came over and asked if he could be of assistance. He then asked what I was shooting with (I had the camera with me). I said a Pentax. He saw the color, and then asked if it was a K-x. Somewhat shocked, he then asked to play with it, as he had never actually seen one in the wild. He was highly impressed with the build quality and the features for the prices he had seen them for. I told him Pentax was back, and that they should look into selling them, to which he replied, "I think you might be right!".

Honestly I would much prefer that Pentax stay little known in the market. I can't stand it when things get real popular (brands, music artists, etc.) and start to attract people who have no real appreciation for them. Hoya is after the dollar though, so things may just head that way really fast.

kytra · 08-07-2010, 02:44 PM

Originally posted by lurchlarson

I live in the Portland area and I see Olympus DSLRs on a fairly regular basis. Granted it is one among 50 or 60 Canikons but I do see them. Usually it's the e-3 or the e-450. I've only see one e-620 and that's my wife's. Some of the photo stores down here in portland do sell olympus. Mostly the PENs but they sell DSLRs too.

I think that Pentax is so rare because they aren't in big-box stores. If they were in the stores and the sales reps properly trained, we would see a whole lot more Pentax's. Why the heck Pentax didn't try and get the KX (and the multiple colors) into Best buy is beyond me...Costco and Walmart would have been two other stores they should have tried to get into as well.

Actually I have purchased my white K-x in November 2009 from BestBuy Orlando. It was the last though...

08-07-2010, 10:34 AM	#53
Kerrowdown PEG Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Highlands of Scotland... "Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand" - William Blake Photos: Gallery Posts: 57,816	Originally posted by Horst-Helmut But you still get a lot of discount questions for using the wrong brand? ;D But I have broad shoulders. Unless folk dig deep and see the metadata type files, which aren't in published in printed work, folk are none the wiser as to the equipment used. Nor do they really care, it's all about does the image stand up on it's own, when called to do so. Last edited by Kerrowdown; 08-07-2010 at 10:41 AM.

08-07-2010, 10:56 AM	#54
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	My observations: Pentax are not that rare in my region (Pacific Northwest of N. America) I see Pentax dSLRs about as often as I see Sony Pentax P&S are fairly common I have never seen an Olympus dSLR in the wild, but I know there are several in my area based on Flickr posts I have never seen a Leica in the wild Ditto for Voigtlander Ditto for Zenit or Zorki (saw a FED once) The point is that there are many cameras of reputation (cult or otherwise) that you seldom see being used in public. People buy what is in the stores and the stores stock what sells and what is profitable. I was at Mt. Rainier yesterday for a little R&R and saw 1 Nikon (D60, I think) 5 Canon (3 5D Mk II, a 7D, and a Rebel of some kind) 1 Pentax K-7 (nice guy) 1 Pentax K10D (mine) 1 Pentax KX (no hyphen...mine) 1 Ricoh XR-2s (also mine) It was a slow day (weekday) at the mountain. If it had been a weekend, I would have seen at least 150 Canon and 100 Nikon and that would have been just in the main parking lot at the Paradise visitor center. All that being said, ponder this...The Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area has about 1.5 million population and not a single store that sells Pentax dSLR. 180 miles to the north, Seattle has twice the population and three retailers. Olympus has no dSLR retailers in either Seattle or Portland. Nikon, Canon, and Sony are only as far away as your nearest Best Buy. Steve Steve

08-07-2010, 11:04 AM	#55
lurchlarson Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Oregon, USA Photos: Albums Posts: 681	Originally posted by stevebrot My observations: Pentax are not that rare in my region (Pacific Northwest of N. America) I see Pentax dSLRs about as often as I see Sony Pentax P&S are fairly common I have never seen an Olympus dSLR in the wild, but I know there are several in my area based on Flickr posts I have never seen a Leica in the wild Ditto for Voigtlander Ditto for Zenit or Zorki (saw a FED once) The point is that there are many cameras of reputation (cult or otherwise) that you seldom see being used in public. People buy what is in the stores and the stores stock what sells and what is profitable. All that being said, ponder this...The Portland/Vancouver metropolitan area has about 1.5 million population and not a single store that sells Pentax dSLR. 180 miles to the north, Seattle has twice the population and three retailers. Olympus has no dSLR retailers in either Seattle or Portland. Nikon, Canon, and Sony are only as far away as your nearest Best Buy. Steve Steve I live in the Portland area and I see Olympus DSLRs on a fairly regular basis. Granted it is one among 50 or 60 Canikons but I do see them. Usually it's the e-3 or the e-450. I've only see one e-620 and that's my wife's. Some of the photo stores down here in portland do sell olympus. Mostly the PENs but they sell DSLRs too. I think that Pentax is so rare because they aren't in big-box stores. If they were in the stores and the sales reps properly trained, we would see a whole lot more Pentax's. Why the heck Pentax didn't try and get the KX (and the multiple colors) into Best buy is beyond me...Costco and Walmart would have been two other stores they should have tried to get into as well.

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08-07-2010, 08:26 AM	#46
RioRico Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Limbo, California Posts: 11,263	In recent weeks I car-tripped across the USA southwest. I saw one Pentax P&S at Grand Canyon. I saw one surly guy with some Pentax dSLR near Taos, NM. I saw one surly kid with a K10 or K20 plus DA18-250 at Lake Tahoe. Otherwise, zip. One photo-specialty shopkeeper (and back-country photographer) near Grand Canyon saw my K20D and said, "Nice camera," and then ignored me. Pentax is pretty thin on the ground out here.

08-07-2010, 09:37 AM	#47
GregK8 Site Supporter Join Date: May 2008 Location: Western New York Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 614	Originally posted by fractal ... you don't pull up to a Ford and start talking to the bloke because he is also driving a Ford- for all you know he is a complete prick. Unless it's a Jeep I have two friends that drive Jeeps and whenever I am with them, they are constantly waving at other Jeeps and/or stopping to talk to perfect strangers as they get in and out of their cars. Camera folk should be more like boat owners. It doesn't matter what kind of boat you're on, if you're on one, they'll wave to you.

08-07-2010, 09:43 AM	#48
Horst-Helmut Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 138	Today I was at Otava Happy Jazz festival and spotted 3 other pentaxians! I'll post something from Nomy Rosenberg trio's gig when I process the shots. That guy must be the best guitarist alive.

08-07-2010, 09:54 AM - 1 Like	#49
johnmflores Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Somerville, NJ Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 5,361	Last winter I saw this beautiful woman with a red K-x with the DA16-50 so I struck up a conversation. Found out that she's been taking photos for years, Minolta, Nikon, and now Pentax. I showed her my K20d and DA 50-135. She was duly impressed. We ended up sleeping together. Ok, it was my wife I've got it made!

08-07-2010, 09:56 AM	#50
Kerrowdown PEG Moderator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Highlands of Scotland... "Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand" - William Blake Photos: Gallery Posts: 57,816	Yep I'm the only one of me I know. Its all about the images you capture, not the equipment used, Pentax gets my bills paid.

08-07-2010, 10:25 AM	#51
Horst-Helmut Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 138	Originally posted by kerrowdown Yep I'm the only one of me I know. Its all about the images you capture, not the equipment used, Pentax gets my bills paid. But you still get a lot of discount questions for using the wrong brand? ;D

08-07-2010, 10:30 AM	#52
ChipB Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Eau Claire, WI Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 2,701	About 2 weeks ago I was in Rocky Mountain NP, traveling on Trail Ridge Road and stopped in at the Trail Ridge Store and Cafe. Saw 2 folks with Pentax DSLRs - one was a K100D, other was a K10D. Course, there were the usual Canikons around - but,with me - we had 3 Pentax DSLRs at one spot!! Woo Hoo!!

08-07-2010, 11:35 AM	#56
mickeyobe Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada Posts: 1,759	Originally posted by abmj 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? abmj, Your biography is very similar to my own. I started with a canon FTbn and then used a T90 for 20 years before going digital with Pentax in 2005. My reason for switching was the same as yours. I, too, have noticed a dearth of Pentax's in some groups. But I don't let it bother me. Not everyone has our wisdom and insight. Besides, the Pentax does exactly what I want so I really don't care about others' choices. Mickey

08-07-2010, 11:38 AM	#57
digitalight New Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Northamptonshire Posts: 6	I live in the UK and don't see many other Pentax users, apart from my Dad who has a K200D. On a trip to Holland I saw a fellow K20D pentaxian. Wherever I look I seem to see Canon's. I was recently shooting at a local RSPB and struck up a conversation with a Canon user and he didn't mind I was using Pentax. Canon's are mass produced on a larger scale to Pentax so it is always going to be the case that you see more but ever since I saw a review of a canon lens that basically folded back on itself with lens creep I knew that I'm pretty safe with my well built pentax lens.

08-07-2010, 12:49 PM	#58
boddah New Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 3	Here in Manila, It's pretty much like everywhere else. It's either you have a Nikon or a Canon. I spotted a colleague with a white K-x and asked her why Pentax? She says she read all the reviews and declared the K-x would suit her needs. Bravo (in my head) I said. Haha... Ive been itching to get a K-x since December of last year but was put off by a very ugly and unpleasant old hag named Ketsana (Ondoy). I had to funnel my K-x funds into fixing up the house. In any case, I already got me a white K-x with the 55-300mm, and I love it.

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08-07-2010, 01:24 PM	#59
ShiftR Forum Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Virginia Posts: 62	I was in my local camera store not to long ago looking for new bag to accommodate my K-x and equipment. One of the sales guys came over and asked if he could be of assistance. He then asked what I was shooting with (I had the camera with me). I said a Pentax. He saw the color, and then asked if it was a K-x. Somewhat shocked, he then asked to play with it, as he had never actually seen one in the wild. He was highly impressed with the build quality and the features for the prices he had seen them for. I told him Pentax was back, and that they should look into selling them, to which he replied, "I think you might be right!". Honestly I would much prefer that Pentax stay little known in the market. I can't stand it when things get real popular (brands, music artists, etc.) and start to attract people who have no real appreciation for them. Hoya is after the dollar though, so things may just head that way really fast.

08-07-2010, 02:44 PM	#60
kytra Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Bucharest Posts: 482	Originally posted by lurchlarson I live in the Portland area and I see Olympus DSLRs on a fairly regular basis. Granted it is one among 50 or 60 Canikons but I do see them. Usually it's the e-3 or the e-450. I've only see one e-620 and that's my wife's. Some of the photo stores down here in portland do sell olympus. Mostly the PENs but they sell DSLRs too. I think that Pentax is so rare because they aren't in big-box stores. If they were in the stores and the sales reps properly trained, we would see a whole lot more Pentax's. Why the heck Pentax didn't try and get the KX (and the multiple colors) into Best buy is beyond me...Costco and Walmart would have been two other stores they should have tried to get into as well. Actually I have purchased my white K-x in November 2009 from BestBuy Orlando. It was the last though...