Are we really THAT rare?

kadajawi · 10-05-2013, 10:55 AM

Yeah. I used a Nikon FM2 long ago, when I was still very young. After a long time without a proper camera, and then only with a small digital Canon, I bought a Pentax *istDs (also second hand). It instantly felt like I knew the camera. There was still much to learn, but it all made sense to me. I did try an analog but modern Canon before the Pentax, and it just baffled me. Then the Pentax and everything was fine. When my *istDs started to give up last year (the buttons...) I had to rent a small Sony for a shoot. It made sense to me, not as much as Pentax, but it was fine. Also a D40x, and... well, it was ok I suppose. I've tried many different cameras in stores, Nikon makes somewhat sense, but Canon is just baffling. I really don't like their DSLRs at all (though I must admit the 100D is cute, and it does feel rather nice for a Canon). Anyway I finally bought a K-5, and while it did require some learning (no wonder, that thing is packed!) I quickly got the hang of it.

Btw., if you are looking for an upgrade... K-5? They'll be quite cheap soon (sadly...) when people start selling theirs to get a K-3...

tim60 · 10-05-2013, 01:54 PM

Last night I went out to a cummmunity event. One man there with a Canon really just seemed intent on telling me how rich he is - through the medium of bragging which ones he has. But he did have to condescend to admire my legacy glass.

Later I met a lady with K5. I had never touched one before. We talked. I put the SMCTak 135/2.5 and SMCTak 35/2 on hers. She was impressed. And I tried the K5 - much easier to focus with the default screen than my K100DS with a split image screen which was a massive improvement on the default screen. I even saw a green coloured button for the first time! And her shutter was so quiet I could use it without embarrassment. I now need to think about incrementing my camera to something better. That also helps me understand how so many participants here seem to be able to routinely produce pictures soem much better than I struggle to. Seems the view finder might be a couple of stops faster than that on the K100DS - it was so much brighter and more usable. She seemed impressed by the old glass and the prices.

dubiousone · 10-05-2013, 05:59 PM

Originally posted by kadajawi

Yeah. I used a Nikon FM2 long ago, when I was still very young. After a long time without a proper camera, and then only with a small digital Canon, I bought a Pentax *istDs (also second hand). It instantly felt like I knew the camera. There was still much to learn, but it all made sense to me. I did try an analog but modern Canon before the Pentax, and it just baffled me. Then the Pentax and everything was fine. When my *istDs started to give up last year (the buttons...) I had to rent a small Sony for a shoot. It made sense to me, not as much as Pentax, but it was fine. Also a D40x, and... well, it was ok I suppose. I've tried many different cameras in stores, Nikon makes somewhat sense, but Canon is just baffling. I really don't like their DSLRs at all (though I must admit the 100D is cute, and it does feel rather nice for a Canon). Anyway I finally bought a K-5, and while it did require some learning (no wonder, that thing is packed!) I quickly got the hang of it.

Btw., if you are looking for an upgrade... K-5? They'll be quite cheap soon (sadly...) when people start selling theirs to get a K-3...

LOL, you and I have similar stories! It baffles me as well why Pentax is so under-represented in the market. Couple of weeks ago I go to a 'Big Box' and their deals were the Nikons; 5100-5100 package deals. Actually quite attractive for the price. This week they had the new-hottest Canon's. Same deals, different box.

Like you, when I looked at Canon deciding on my first DSLR I was underwhelmed. I still love my A-1 dearly but I wasn't impressed with their DSLRs compared to Nikon. It isn't Pentax's fault per-se, I might very well have chosen the K100DS originally over the D50 but here I sit with both! I really like the top LCD among other features and the handling is just great. The more I play with the K100DS the more I like it. My outing today got sidetracked but I'm thinking I might get out tomorrow morning before work and maybe do a little head to head with them both.

formercanuck · 10-06-2013, 01:27 PM

That reminds me - I did see a pair of Pentaxes in Oregon at Bridal Veil falls (K10d I think). Typically, I have to leave SoCal to find another Pentax.

**arnold** · 10-06-2013, 06:14 PM

We all may become rare going from this clip from the Canadian National Post.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For Canon Inc. and Nikon Corp., these people were their high-margin growth customer. With half a century of dominance in the film camera business, the stalwart Japanese camera giants had traded on this reputation to ride the digital wave. A boon for SLR sales. It was long believed that the clear inferiority of smartphone pictures would ensure the safety of this stronghold.

Now, Nikon shares are down 33% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange so far this year, and Canon, which at least has other business lines to fall back on, is down almost 7%. Smartphones — especially today’s batch of modern, capable, high-resolution shooters — have proven more of a threat, harder to emulate, and even harder to beat, than anyone could have thought.

Instead, it is Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Google Inc. and even Microsoft Corp.’s Nokia that, have become consumer photography’s new guard for the typical shooter and even the avid enthusiast.

Richard Briggs · 10-07-2013, 01:57 AM

Re the last post. The whole camera industry has got it badly wrong and it's summed up by a photographic chain here in the UK called Jessops. They were around for many years (probably before I was born) and up until about10 years ago they were a specialist outfit and their shops were usually hidden away down back streets off the main town centres (for this read 'low rent'). Of course the enthusiasts knew exactly where they were. With the advent of cheap, quality digital compact cameras there was a boom in this market and they made the great mistake in thinking that Joe Public were becoming keen photographers. So, they moved into the high street with (in the UK) ridiculously high rents and local authority taxes. But that was OK because they were selling compact digital cameras by the truck load. That is until phones started hosting decent cameras. Then the truth became apparent. Joe Public was no more interested in photography per se than 20 years before (remember Kodak Instamatics etc?). Their (new) core business dried up and they had all these expensive shops that were now only visited by the more serious amateurs and there just wasn't the business to sustain these overheads. The rest is history. I did a close examination of some apparently superb shots off my daughters Samsung Galaxy S4 and compared to my K5. The Samsung shots were rubbish quality I'm afraid. But more than adequate for excellent 6x4 or even A4 blow-ups. And that is all Joe Public wants, DSLR business will shrink back to where it was 30-40 years ago in my view. A specialist market.

Sorry for digressing.
Richard

kadajawi · 10-08-2013, 06:48 AM

Hm, I've been walking around Singapore today and visited a couple of camera shops. The employees in the shops were rather curious... "what's that? Does it have interchangeable lenses?", one (rather cute) lady was like "oh you've got a K-5? Nice camera. Won many awards, weather-proof, ...". Then she explained the camera to her colleague. They sold pretty much everything... except for Pentax DSLRs.

Oh well.

redrockcoulee · 10-08-2013, 07:01 AM

Last weekend our camera club and another camera club rented a retreat in the hills. There were 16 photographers and one had a Panasonic, one a Olympus, one a Nikon bridge camera and four Pentaxians, three of them K5. The rest were evenly divided between Nikon and Canon and from Rebel to two D800s. To be fair my wife and I were the only couple who had cameras however we did not know the other K5 users before last weekend. The other two also had WG3s one with GPS and I had a MZ7 as well as the K-r.

My wife was the only one with a 5X7 pinhole camera so that is even rarer than a Pentax.

Richard Briggs · 10-08-2013, 11:03 AM

Re kadajawi 's reply. I was in Singapore in Nov 2011 and spend hours in that huge technology-only mall (needless to say my wife was not with me!). I have never seen so many camera shops in such a small area. And there was seriously expensive kit in the shop windows. I was looking for a good deal on one or two Pentax lenses or maybe a top end flash gun. In fact ANYTHING! But, as you say, I was just given a blank look when I mentioned Pentax! Never found any Pentax equipment in Singapore at all. As an aside, my daughter wanted a Kindle case - "Something 'unusual' please Dad". Kindles may have captured the hearts and minds of USA and Europe but, in Singapore at least, they were totally unknown. To quote one person in a shop "why would you want a tablet that you can only read stuff on?".

kadajawi · 10-09-2013, 12:06 AM

Actually in 2010 I bought a Pentax lens at Sim Lim Square. Tokina SX-Z 80-200, the owner was desperate to get rid of his Pentax stock cause there's little to no demand. He gave me a pretty good price

And asked me to take more lenses.

mamethot · 10-10-2013, 07:12 AM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by sjeller

It seems to be a common thread among Pentax owners. Being unafraid to step outside the box, and choosing a product for it's features and handling instead of following the herd. I bought my Pentax K-30 for just those reasons. It's also why I bought my 2010 Mazda 3 hatchback. The car was engineered for those who love to drive. I think Pentax is designed for folks who love to take photographs.

-Steve

Is buying a Mazda 3 "not following the herd"? It's one of the best selling car in the world...

I say thar their marketing is damn good!

Nothing wrong with owning a mazda it's just that your statement does not make much sense to me ;-)

mamethot · 10-10-2013, 08:50 AM

Your numbers represent nothing. The 3 is the best seller of its class in Canada. A pretty big herd imho. Needlass to say that while driving on the roads here, seeing a 3 means nothing more than seeing a civic or an echo or yaris. They make you believe your outside of the box or not part of the herd is fine by me. Zoom zoom as they say. I bought and drove a 6 in 2004 and it was my best car EVER. Definitely not felt out of the herd as there are many of them on the road.

stevebrot · 10-10-2013, 01:22 PM - **1 Like**

Originally posted by mamethot

I say thar their marketing is damn good!

...and I say that the car is damn good.

In my part of the continent, Mazda ownership ranks right up there with Volvo ownership in terms on using other than "herd-think". Market share here is somewhat less than Kia.

Steve

mythguy9 · 10-13-2013, 06:50 AM

Originally posted by kadajawi

Actually in 2010 I bought a Pentax lens at Sim Lim Square. Tokina SX-Z 80-200, the owner was desperate to get rid of his Pentax stock cause there's little to no demand. He gave me a pretty good price

And asked me to take more lenses.

Good for you kadajawi. Pentax second-hand items are really friendly to new comers because they are cheap and allow us to explore different equipment, but sadly the money does not go into Pentax's pocket and will not help the company to develop. Unless the second hand buyer eventually expands his collection by buying new items.

No offence, I'm also a second hand user and always hope to have more money to buy new stuff while helping the company to grow...

GibbyTheMole · 10-13-2013, 07:26 AM

DJ'ed a wedding last night & there was a pro photographer there with softboxes, Alien Bees, the whole works. She came up to the vicinity where I was located and I thought: "That doesn't look like a Canon or Nikon". It turned out to be a Pentax K-5II. I chatted with her a bit & she was using an FA 77 / 1.8 Limited on it.

So there ya go.

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10-05-2013, 10:55 AM	#2446
kadajawi Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 2,799	Yeah. I used a Nikon FM2 long ago, when I was still very young. After a long time without a proper camera, and then only with a small digital Canon, I bought a Pentax istDs (also second hand). It instantly felt like I knew the camera. There was still much to learn, but it all made sense to me. I did try an analog but modern Canon before the Pentax, and it just baffled me. Then the Pentax and everything was fine. When my istDs started to give up last year (the buttons...) I had to rent a small Sony for a shoot. It made sense to me, not as much as Pentax, but it was fine. Also a D40x, and... well, it was ok I suppose. I've tried many different cameras in stores, Nikon makes somewhat sense, but Canon is just baffling. I really don't like their DSLRs at all (though I must admit the 100D is cute, and it does feel rather nice for a Canon). Anyway I finally bought a K-5, and while it did require some learning (no wonder, that thing is packed!) I quickly got the hang of it. Btw., if you are looking for an upgrade... K-5? They'll be quite cheap soon (sadly...) when people start selling theirs to get a K-3...

10-05-2013, 01:54 PM	#2447
tim60 Pentaxian Join Date: Apr 2011 Photos: Albums Posts: 8,748	Last night I went out to a cummmunity event. One man there with a Canon really just seemed intent on telling me how rich he is - through the medium of bragging which ones he has. But he did have to condescend to admire my legacy glass. Later I met a lady with K5. I had never touched one before. We talked. I put the SMCTak 135/2.5 and SMCTak 35/2 on hers. She was impressed. And I tried the K5 - much easier to focus with the default screen than my K100DS with a split image screen which was a massive improvement on the default screen. I even saw a green coloured button for the first time! And her shutter was so quiet I could use it without embarrassment. I now need to think about incrementing my camera to something better. That also helps me understand how so many participants here seem to be able to routinely produce pictures soem much better than I struggle to. Seems the view finder might be a couple of stops faster than that on the K100DS - it was so much brighter and more usable. She seemed impressed by the old glass and the prices.

10-05-2013, 05:59 PM	#2448
dubiousone Senior Member Join Date: Aug 2013 Photos: Albums Posts: 112	Originally posted by kadajawi Yeah. I used a Nikon FM2 long ago, when I was still very young. After a long time without a proper camera, and then only with a small digital Canon, I bought a Pentax istDs (also second hand). It instantly felt like I knew the camera. There was still much to learn, but it all made sense to me. I did try an analog but modern Canon before the Pentax, and it just baffled me. Then the Pentax and everything was fine. When my istDs started to give up last year (the buttons...) I had to rent a small Sony for a shoot. It made sense to me, not as much as Pentax, but it was fine. Also a D40x, and... well, it was ok I suppose. I've tried many different cameras in stores, Nikon makes somewhat sense, but Canon is just baffling. I really don't like their DSLRs at all (though I must admit the 100D is cute, and it does feel rather nice for a Canon). Anyway I finally bought a K-5, and while it did require some learning (no wonder, that thing is packed!) I quickly got the hang of it. Btw., if you are looking for an upgrade... K-5? They'll be quite cheap soon (sadly...) when people start selling theirs to get a K-3... LOL, you and I have similar stories! It baffles me as well why Pentax is so under-represented in the market. Couple of weeks ago I go to a 'Big Box' and their deals were the Nikons; 5100-5100 package deals. Actually quite attractive for the price. This week they had the new-hottest Canon's. Same deals, different box. Like you, when I looked at Canon deciding on my first DSLR I was underwhelmed. I still love my A-1 dearly but I wasn't impressed with their DSLRs compared to Nikon. It isn't Pentax's fault per-se, I might very well have chosen the K100DS originally over the D50 but here I sit with both! I really like the top LCD among other features and the handling is just great. The more I play with the K100DS the more I like it. My outing today got sidetracked but I'm thinking I might get out tomorrow morning before work and maybe do a little head to head with them both.

10-06-2013, 01:27 PM	#2449
formercanuck Veteran Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: SoCal Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 518	That reminds me - I did see a pair of Pentaxes in Oregon at Bridal Veil falls (K10d I think). Typically, I have to leave SoCal to find another Pentax.

10-06-2013, 06:14 PM	#2450
arnold Site Supporter Join Date: Aug 2012 Location: Queensland Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 4,294	We all may become rare going from this clip from the Canadian National Post. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Canon Inc. and Nikon Corp., these people were their high-margin growth customer. With half a century of dominance in the film camera business, the stalwart Japanese camera giants had traded on this reputation to ride the digital wave. A boon for SLR sales. It was long believed that the clear inferiority of smartphone pictures would ensure the safety of this stronghold. Now, Nikon shares are down 33% on the Tokyo Stock Exchange so far this year, and Canon, which at least has other business lines to fall back on, is down almost 7%. Smartphones — especially today’s batch of modern, capable, high-resolution shooters — have proven more of a threat, harder to emulate, and even harder to beat, than anyone could have thought. Instead, it is Apple Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Google Inc. and even Microsoft Corp.’s Nokia that, have become consumer photography’s new guard for the typical shooter and even the avid enthusiast.

10-07-2013, 01:57 AM	#2451
Richard Briggs Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 106	Re the last post. The whole camera industry has got it badly wrong and it's summed up by a photographic chain here in the UK called Jessops. They were around for many years (probably before I was born) and up until about10 years ago they were a specialist outfit and their shops were usually hidden away down back streets off the main town centres (for this read 'low rent'). Of course the enthusiasts knew exactly where they were. With the advent of cheap, quality digital compact cameras there was a boom in this market and they made the great mistake in thinking that Joe Public were becoming keen photographers. So, they moved into the high street with (in the UK) ridiculously high rents and local authority taxes. But that was OK because they were selling compact digital cameras by the truck load. That is until phones started hosting decent cameras. Then the truth became apparent. Joe Public was no more interested in photography per se than 20 years before (remember Kodak Instamatics etc?). Their (new) core business dried up and they had all these expensive shops that were now only visited by the more serious amateurs and there just wasn't the business to sustain these overheads. The rest is history. I did a close examination of some apparently superb shots off my daughters Samsung Galaxy S4 and compared to my K5. The Samsung shots were rubbish quality I'm afraid. But more than adequate for excellent 6x4 or even A4 blow-ups. And that is all Joe Public wants, DSLR business will shrink back to where it was 30-40 years ago in my view. A specialist market. Sorry for digressing. Richard

10-08-2013, 06:48 AM	#2452
kadajawi Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 2,799	Hm, I've been walking around Singapore today and visited a couple of camera shops. The employees in the shops were rather curious... "what's that? Does it have interchangeable lenses?", one (rather cute) lady was like "oh you've got a K-5? Nice camera. Won many awards, weather-proof, ...". Then she explained the camera to her colleague. They sold pretty much everything... except for Pentax DSLRs. Oh well.

10-08-2013, 07:01 AM	#2453
redrockcoulee Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Medicine Hat Posts: 2,306	Last weekend our camera club and another camera club rented a retreat in the hills. There were 16 photographers and one had a Panasonic, one a Olympus, one a Nikon bridge camera and four Pentaxians, three of them K5. The rest were evenly divided between Nikon and Canon and from Rebel to two D800s. To be fair my wife and I were the only couple who had cameras however we did not know the other K5 users before last weekend. The other two also had WG3s one with GPS and I had a MZ7 as well as the K-r. My wife was the only one with a 5X7 pinhole camera so that is even rarer than a Pentax.

10-08-2013, 11:03 AM	#2454
Richard Briggs Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Posts: 106	Re kadajawi 's reply. I was in Singapore in Nov 2011 and spend hours in that huge technology-only mall (needless to say my wife was not with me!). I have never seen so many camera shops in such a small area. And there was seriously expensive kit in the shop windows. I was looking for a good deal on one or two Pentax lenses or maybe a top end flash gun. In fact ANYTHING! But, as you say, I was just given a blank look when I mentioned Pentax! Never found any Pentax equipment in Singapore at all. As an aside, my daughter wanted a Kindle case - "Something 'unusual' please Dad". Kindles may have captured the hearts and minds of USA and Europe but, in Singapore at least, they were totally unknown. To quote one person in a shop "why would you want a tablet that you can only read stuff on?".

10-09-2013, 12:06 AM	#2455
kadajawi Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 2,799	Actually in 2010 I bought a Pentax lens at Sim Lim Square. Tokina SX-Z 80-200, the owner was desperate to get rid of his Pentax stock cause there's little to no demand. He gave me a pretty good price And asked me to take more lenses.

10-10-2013, 07:12 AM - 1 Like	#2456
mamethot Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Greater Montreal Area Posts: 736	Originally posted by sjeller It seems to be a common thread among Pentax owners. Being unafraid to step outside the box, and choosing a product for it's features and handling instead of following the herd. I bought my Pentax K-30 for just those reasons. It's also why I bought my 2010 Mazda 3 hatchback. The car was engineered for those who love to drive. I think Pentax is designed for folks who love to take photographs. -Steve Is buying a Mazda 3 "not following the herd"? It's one of the best selling car in the world... I say thar their marketing is damn good! Nothing wrong with owning a mazda it's just that your statement does not make much sense to me ;-)

10-10-2013, 08:50 AM	#2457
mamethot Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: Greater Montreal Area Posts: 736	Your numbers represent nothing. The 3 is the best seller of its class in Canada. A pretty big herd imho. Needlass to say that while driving on the roads here, seeing a 3 means nothing more than seeing a civic or an echo or yaris. They make you believe your outside of the box or not part of the herd is fine by me. Zoom zoom as they say. I bought and drove a 6 in 2004 and it was my best car EVER. Definitely not felt out of the herd as there are many of them on the road.

10-10-2013, 01:22 PM - 1 Like	#2458
stevebrot Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Vancouver (USA) Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 42,007	Originally posted by mamethot I say thar their marketing is damn good! ...and I say that the car is damn good. In my part of the continent, Mazda ownership ranks right up there with Volvo ownership in terms on using other than "herd-think". Market share here is somewhat less than Kia. Steve

10-13-2013, 06:50 AM	#2459
mythguy9 Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Photos: Albums Posts: 276	Originally posted by kadajawi Actually in 2010 I bought a Pentax lens at Sim Lim Square. Tokina SX-Z 80-200, the owner was desperate to get rid of his Pentax stock cause there's little to no demand. He gave me a pretty good price And asked me to take more lenses. Good for you kadajawi. Pentax second-hand items are really friendly to new comers because they are cheap and allow us to explore different equipment, but sadly the money does not go into Pentax's pocket and will not help the company to develop. Unless the second hand buyer eventually expands his collection by buying new items. No offence, I'm also a second hand user and always hope to have more money to buy new stuff while helping the company to grow...

10-13-2013, 07:26 AM	#2460
GibbyTheMole Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Iowa Photos: Albums Posts: 2,275	DJ'ed a wedding last night & there was a pro photographer there with softboxes, Alien Bees, the whole works. She came up to the vicinity where I was located and I thought: "That doesn't look like a Canon or Nikon". It turned out to be a Pentax K-5II. I chatted with her a bit & she was using an FA 77 / 1.8 Limited on it. So there ya go.