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02-24-2012, 07:56 PM   #1366
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Envious of a DL? (or a ZX!) Has she ever seen a K5? (or a 10, 20, x, r, or 7)
It's nice to hear comments other than "why Pentax?"

(Not that I am knocking a DL: my first DSLR was a DS which I loved and is now on loan (permanently?) to a friend.)

02-25-2012, 11:23 AM   #1367
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Spend 5 days at Disneyland, 1 day at Legoland, 1 day at Seaworld and not a single Pentax user, not even a compact.
Saw about 55% Nikon (Disney use Nikon's), 40% Canon, 5% Sony (alot of Nex with that little flash attachment), a few Fuji's, Panasonic and a Leica.

Pretty much gave up at this point.

Went to the city of Julian for horseback riding. The owner of the ranch got me on a horse and asked if I wanted a few pictures of me and the family. He immediately started taking picture like he knew his way around a Pentax. Turns out he's a Pentaxian, my first sighting. He shoots a K200D. We started talking and he asked if I shot any manual lenses. Showed him my 2 M lenses. He showed me his M 50mm f/1.4. Asked if I was interested and long story short. I not only saw a Pentaxian, but also bought a lens off him.
02-25-2012, 12:09 PM   #1368
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QuoteOriginally posted by rod_grant Quote
Envious of a DL? (or a ZX!)
I thought the same thing.. If I had had a more modern body, I may have had to fight to keep them
I like my DL and the ZX-7. I would like to upgrade this year. Waiting on the economy to improve.
02-25-2012, 12:45 PM   #1369
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QuoteOriginally posted by 7samurai Quote
Spend 5 days at Disneyland, 1 day at Legoland, 1 day at Seaworld and not a single Pentax user, not even a compact.
Saw about 55% Nikon (Disney use Nikon's), 40% Canon, 5% Sony (alot of Nex with that little flash attachment), a few Fuji's, Panasonic and a Leica.

Pretty much gave up at this point.

Went to the city of Julian for horseback riding. The owner of the ranch got me on a horse and asked if I wanted a few pictures of me and the family. He immediately started taking picture like he knew his way around a Pentax. Turns out he's a Pentaxian, my first sighting. He shoots a K200D. We started talking and he asked if I shot any manual lenses. Showed him my 2 M lenses. He showed me his M 50mm f/1.4. Asked if I was interested and long story short. I not only saw a Pentaxian, but also bought a lens off him.
Great story, but . . . best Nick EVAH. Whenever I hear the word "Professionals" . . .

02-26-2012, 03:26 AM   #1370
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My first and current DSLR is a K7. I went Pentax because my film SLR was a Ricoh XRP and I was assured by the sales people that the lenses were full compatible. Ha. They do work and work quite well for manual focus lenses but fully compatible - NO. At least I have not had one stuck. The only other DSLR I have ever picked up was one of those N types. It seemed to take a nice colourful image but all its controls such as focussing and zoom seemed to operate backwards. I did not like it. I am not the least bit disappointed with my choice of Pentax except for a bit of frustration in in having to go to 6 stores in two cities before one had a Pentax compatible macro lens in stock. Damned if I was going to wait a week or more for one to come in from the wholsales. I bought the first one I found. I am now the happy owner of a Sigma 105 Macro.
02-26-2012, 03:42 AM   #1371
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I think i saw someone with a Pentax earlier today in the sculpture park here in Seattle.
02-27-2012, 11:45 AM   #1372
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Saw not a single Pentax...

We went to the Atlanta Zoo yesterday. The place was mobbed, only members were admitted since they were at capacity! Membership has its privileges...!

As Flora and I wandered about waiting for the grandkids we happened upon a Canon and a Nikon shooter chatting, each with huge zooms. Noting my K10 with 28 - 200 zoom, one said that she didn't know Pentax was still made! She also touted some internet company which sold Canon gear at "50% off." I wonder if it were gray market.... I mentioned that Pentax introduced its first SLR in 1953, well ahead of those upstarts Canon and Nikon and that Pentax introduced the instant return mirror to the general market.

She marveled that some of her friends still shot film. When I told her that I shot a Pentax 645n film camera, and that the 2 1/4 x 1 5/8 negatives equaled 40 or 50 megapixels she was properly impressed...maybe! Then we wandered off to look at the baby warthogs, faces only a mother could love.

02-27-2012, 11:22 PM   #1373
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Did a survey at another photo forum , Ugly Hedgehog - Photography Forum , and found we aren't even in 3rd place. :

Looks like Nikon and Canon almost evenly split and Olympus was in 3rd place.

19 Nikon
18 Canon
4 Olympus
3 Pentax
2 Sony
02-28-2012, 06:31 AM   #1374
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One more reason to stick with Pentax.
With my prize-lens - the DA*16-50 in service and uncertain of its recovery I seriously considered switching brands. Because of availability of lenses, speed of autofocus and general service availability. Since Pentax is no longer cheap for lenses (bought a NEW FA 50 1.4 for $190, now they go for $450: 20817 Pentax SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 Standard Auto Focus Lens #20817 )
Then I pictured myself with a Canon 7D. And I couldn't....
Still, the one of the main reasons to buy into Pentax was their relatively low price levels and the unprecedented backward compatibility of lenses. They're no longer cheap, and good luck finding old glass....

Still, I'll be buying a K5 this year
02-28-2012, 07:33 AM   #1375
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QuoteOriginally posted by fishy Quote
One more reason to stick with Pentax.
Since Pentax is no longer cheap for lenses (bought a NEW FA 50 1.4 for $190, now they go for $450: 20817 Pentax SMCP-FA 50mm f/1.4 Standard Auto Focus Lens #20817 )
Price correction: If you check carefully you will see the lens retails at $360 rather than $450. Adorama likes to list bare products at ridiculous prices I don't know why. They do have the same lens with (useless) extras at $370. Maybe hoping that someone lazy enough will not go further and pay the inflated price? BH, Amazon both list it at $360. Still nowhere close to $190 of course!

QuoteOriginally posted by fishy Quote
Then I pictured myself with a Canon 7D. And I couldn't....
Still, the one of the main reasons to buy into Pentax was their relatively low price levels and the unprecedented backward compatibility of lenses. They're no longer cheap, and good luck finding old glass....

Still, I'll be buying a K5 this year
I don't really know what people mean when they say Pentax prices are low and those same people buy newly released Pentax models. IMHO looking at the prices the picture looks different, namely Pentax releases its items at ridiculously inflated prices (introductory K-5 price being an example). At some point prices do drop of course and people like me can add Pentax items to the wish list at that point. The lowest price ever for K-5 was $750 and that is a good deal! Anything above $1200 for the K-5 is a rip-off though if you consider other brands offerings.

It is indeed nice to have compatibility with old lenses and it makes sense if you have them already (like in my case I had a few top quality M42 soviet lenses). However if you have no lenses at all, those old manual lenses aren't that cheap or easy to find.

Also if you someone who is only using the AF lenses, Pentax loses a lot to other brands due to poor availability of 3rd party lenses in Pentax mount. While Pentax own new AF lenses do not look cheap to me at all. Another issue is that due to smaller user base, there are fewer reviews on Pentax mount lenses online. Small user base brings many drawbacks and was almost a deal breaker for me. An extra $300 discount tipped my choice back towards Pentax though (and I do not regret it yet)

Canon on the other hand has a rather poor selection of bodies in the price range 1k-2k. Their lower end models with T3i are good value, their full frame is best value, however in the league of K-5 they have nothing comparable. (I have started my search for an advanced dSLR with looking at Canon offerings first).

Nikon on the other hand is looking strong in that price range with the D7000. And possibility to upgrade to full-frame (which is not important for me now, however it seemed to be important at the time I was picking my first dSLR). Basically the same thing as K-5 with very stable price of $1200, little loss of value over time, largest user base, good lenses, best flash system ... I was going for Nikon and then I got he $970 deal on Pentax (+ an extra $100 discount from Amazon).

Sorry for rant

Last edited by vanyagor; 02-28-2012 at 07:43 AM.
02-28-2012, 03:03 PM   #1376
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Unfortunately, I have never seen another Pentax user here in the UK.

For me (someone who doesn't use their dSLR nearly enough, but still wants top quality), Pentax is absolutely the best value. That definitely doesn't mean cheapest, but I get the impression that they only release products that they think will work well and last. That way, what they do produce may occasionally fall short of the state of the art, but I've never felt that they have held something back for a pricier camera based purely on price points. Even the K-01 and Q, cameras that I really don't get, seem like the engineers wanted to produce products that last beyond the initial sales pitch and actually provide something useful, different, and expandable. They may not have the widest lens selection, but there is something there for almost every use, and they will beat the obvious choices on at least two points when it comes to price, build, IQ and size.

In many ways, Pentax keep Canikon and the others honest. What really matters lands in a Pentax sooner rather than later, and what Pentax excels in, we have all to ourselves!

David
02-28-2012, 08:14 PM   #1377
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QuoteOriginally posted by orangezorki Quote
What really matters lands in a Pentax sooner rather than later, and what Pentax excels in, we have all to ourselves!
QuoteOriginally posted by orangezorki Quote
there is something there for almost every use, and they will beat the obvious choices on at least two points when it comes to price, build, IQ and size.
QuoteOriginally posted by orangezorki Quote
Pentax is absolutely the best value.
+1. I agree completely. Well stated, David.
02-28-2012, 09:59 PM   #1378
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I wandered around Las Vegas for a few days recently. SLR sightings: mostly Canon, including one huge FF; a few Nikons, including various folks asking me to shoot their portraits; zero Pentax, Sony, Oly, film. I didn't bother glancing at compacts nor phones. What I've noted in the past is that Canon owners ask me for technical help, Nikon owners ask me to shoot them, and other dSLRs are invisible.
02-28-2012, 10:20 PM   #1379
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QuoteOriginally posted by RioRico Quote
I wandered around Las Vegas for a few days recently. SLR sightings: mostly Canon, including one huge FF; a few Nikons, including various folks asking me to shoot their portraits; zero Pentax, Sony, Oly, film. I didn't bother glancing at compacts nor phones. What I've noted in the past is that Canon owners ask me for technical help, Nikon owners ask me to shoot them, and other dSLRs are invisible.
So other dSLR users know what they are doing and can go about their business unobtrusively and are not ostentatious.
03-01-2012, 07:06 AM - 3 Likes   #1380
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Most people in Mexico buy point and shoot cameras; except maybe for journalists or professional photographers, there are only a few places where you can buy a DSLR and they all handle either Canon, Nikon or Sony.
I did some research a couple of years ago and there was a representative or distributor for Pentax in Mexico City; that was all. When I was about 16 my father let me borrow his SLR (I believe it was a Minolta or Olympus); and that's when I got really interested in photography. A year later I had managed to save some money and I was on vacation in Houston, TX; went to a store (can't remember which one it was, this was in 1985); I could not afford an autofocus camera (which would have been a Nikon or a Canon), so the salesman showed me the only SLR I could afford: a Pentax K-1000 with a 50mm f1.7 lens. A few years later the company that I worked for sent me to a trade show in New York City, where I bought a mechanical timer, a remote shooting cable and a Vivitar 28-200 mm zoom lens.

I was very lucky to have been offered that K-1000; I have always lived on a tight budget and I was still shooting film in 2006; when I was able to buy a point and shoot digital camera, which was really disappointing, since I learned those cameras are only good for portraits in good lighting conditions. In 2010 things started to get better on the money side, and I decided to make the leap to a DSLR; I never considered anything else, I knew from the very beginning I would buy a Pentax. My wife would have killed me if I spent $1000 on a camera; so I went for the Kx; and then I chose the blue one because it was $40 less than the black one.

So here I am, using two 27 year old lenses and the one that came with the Kx; shooting the one that is probably the only BLUE DSLR in all of Mexico. Good thing if some one steals it and tries to resell it, I can track it right away, since it's almost unique around here.
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