[clackers]

Not sure if anyone has posted this before (and apologies if someone has) but the current week's UK Amateur Photographer mag has a feature on Isabella Smith, from Collilerville in Tennesse, who won the Young Travel Photographer of 2018 competition, and her dream assignment would be for National Geographic! Good on her!!

She uses a K-S2 with 50-200mm, 50mm and 18-50mm WR Pentax lenses (although she said that she occasionally uses her mothers EOS 7D ), !!

As they say, 'it's not about the gear'!

[swanlefitte]

I just/am traveling with my ks2, 18-50, 55-300 plm and 1.4x tc for ease.

[swanlefitte]

Add on to my post... I didn't see a Pentax. I saw about 8 nikon 6 canon 1 confirmed fuji about 20 mirrorless and hundreds of phones. I was asked to take a picture with a nikon. She wanted a picture of her on a rock in the river. Took me a few seconds to realize it was set in auto on face detection. I went for the environmental photograph to anchor it to Zion park. She wanted a photo of her in the river. I am not that photographer. You in Zion you need Zion. Hope she liked my compositions.

[steamloco76]

I subscribe to both TRAINS and RAILFAN & RAILROAD magazines. High quality railroad subject photography is featured content in both magazines, though Trains is aimed toward railroad professionals and managers these days.
R&R has a monthly photo tips column. A couple of months ago, the editor went into detail explaining why photographers should stick with top of the line Nikon or Canon lenses and mid to to line DSLR bodies.

Mr. Editor had started his photographic pursuits with a Pentax, it’s cheap 50mm lens and third party zoom lenses. He said the Pentax never worked right and he’d never met anyone who had a Pentax that didn’t have problems. Never got a truly sharp or well exposed photo with that Pentax. Next, the third party lenses were all summarily dismissed as inferior junk. “Stigma, and the like” may seem attractive based on price, but I trusted once in a lifetime photos to one and they were all unsharp.

Now, only about 65,000 rail enthusiasts subscribe to R&R , but they were told Pentax and all third party lenses are unable to produce high quality photos. In the following weeks, several more contributors to the photography column also made disparaging comments about Pentax and even Pentax brand lenses. I guess they don’t want to see the large collection oof fine, sharp, well exposed and composed images I’ve taken with my junk Pentaxes and inferior lenses.

[Helios 1984]

I subscribe to both TRAINS and RAILFAN & RAILROAD magazines. High quality railroad subject photography is featured content in both magazines, though Trains is aimed toward railroad professionals and managers these days.
R&R has a monthly photo tips column. A couple of months ago, the editor went into detail explaining why photographers should stick with top of the line Nikon or Canon lenses and mid to to line DSLR bodies.

Mr. Editor had started his photographic pursuits with a Pentax, it’s cheap 50mm lens and third party zoom lenses. He said the Pentax never worked right and he’d never met anyone who had a Pentax that didn’t have problems. Never got a truly sharp or well exposed photo with that Pentax. Next, the third party lenses were all summarily dismissed as inferior junk. “Stigma, and the like” may seem attractive based on price, but I trusted once in a lifetime photos to one and they were all unsharp.

Now, only about 65,000 rail enthusiasts subscribe to R&R , but they were told Pentax and all third party lenses are unable to produce high quality photos. In the following weeks, several more contributors to the photography column also made disparaging comments about Pentax and even Pentax brand lenses. I guess they don’t want to see the large collection oof fine, sharp, well exposed and composed images I’ve taken with my junk Pentaxes and inferior lenses.

I’m heading to our local train museum with my Topcon rangefinder, care to join with your Pentax? With 2 inferior junks, we’ll have more chances to get something sharp and well exposed. Lollll

P.S: I’ve decided to bring my Spotmatic as well.

[Alex645]

He said the Pentax never worked right and he’d never met anyone who had a Pentax that didn’t have problems. Never got a truly sharp or well exposed photo with that Pentax. Next, the third party lenses were all summarily dismissed as inferior junk. “Stigma, and the like” may seem attractive based on price, but I trusted once in a lifetime photos to one and they were all unsharp.

I too had that perception until I started seeing great images taken with Pentax cameras and lenses. That bias (and ignorance) is so pervasive that when I was a working photographer, I switched to Nikon just to stop being perceived as second rate. Of course my photography didnʻt improve, but while I was shooting, I never heard comments from the peanut gallery after that.

The same with third party lenses like Sigma. Anyone with any objectivity and an open mind will see Sigma today is not the same Sigma of 40 years ago....and sadly not all OEM lenses are the top calibre youʻd expect.

Any good media with editorials should have counterpoints, but we live in divisive times where people seem to want to live in absolutes.

[bigdavephoto]

I subscribe to both TRAINS and RAILFAN & RAILROAD magazines. High quality railroad subject photography is featured content in both magazines, though Trains is aimed toward railroad professionals and managers these days.
R&R has a monthly photo tips column. A couple of months ago, the editor went into detail explaining why photographers should stick with top of the line Nikon or Canon lenses and mid to to line DSLR bodies.

Mr. Editor had started his photographic pursuits with a Pentax, it’s cheap 50mm lens and third party zoom lenses. He said the Pentax never worked right and he’d never met anyone who had a Pentax that didn’t have problems. Never got a truly sharp or well exposed photo with that Pentax. Next, the third party lenses were all summarily dismissed as inferior junk. “Stigma, and the like” may seem attractive based on price, but I trusted once in a lifetime photos to one and they were all unsharp.

Now, only about 65,000 rail enthusiasts subscribe to R&R , but they were told Pentax and all third party lenses are unable to produce high quality photos. In the following weeks, several more contributors to the photography column also made disparaging comments about Pentax and even Pentax brand lenses. I guess they don’t want to see the large collection oof fine, sharp, well exposed and composed images I’ve taken with my junk Pentaxes and inferior lenses.

The best thing you can do now is to start submitting photos taken with your Pentax and third party lenses to prove how wrong he is.

On a side note, Sigma takes out full page ads in Trains magazine but not every month.

[Helios 1984]

While I was at the locomotive museum, I had a long chat with an older fella with a Fujifilm X-T30. The gentleman was a railway historian, Ex-CP worker, he had not visited the place in decades.
At first, he talked about his Fuji and peoples who dismiss anything that ain't a Canon/Nikon with a big beige lens yet that his camera was as good as theirs (Amen). We talked about Ektachrome, Kodachrome and the heydays of film photography for a little while. Then he started to talk about locomotives (a living encyclopedia), engines, boilers, piston, axel and a lot of stuff I'm not well versed in. I got so absorbed that I left my Topcon unattended 30 feet away loll It was a good day.

[Arjay Bee]

Mr. Editor had started his photographic pursuits with a Pentax, it’s cheap 50mm lens and third party zoom lenses. He said the Pentax never worked right and he’d never met anyone who had a Pentax that didn’t have problems.

A car analogy is to be critical of the current Skoda brand based on the experience of driving skodas in the 1960s. Says a lot about railroad enthusiasts. living in the past ;-)

[Larrymc]

A car analogy is to be critical of the current Skoda brand based on the experience of driving skodas in the 1960s. Says a lot about railroad enthusiasts. living in the past ;-)

Heck I didn't realize that Skoda still made automobiles????

[Arjay Bee]

Heck I didn't realize that Skoda still made automobiles????

Yup Skoda in Australia are on a par with Subaru or VW. Comes down to current ownership of the brand just as with Pentax.

[BorisKolo]

Add on to my post... I didn't see a Pentax. I saw about 8 nikon 6 canon 1 confirmed fuji about 20 mirrorless and hundreds of phones. I was asked to take a picture with a nikon. She wanted a picture of her on a rock in the river. Took me a few seconds to realize it was set in auto on face detection. I went for the environmental photograph to anchor it to Zion park. She wanted a photo of her in the river. I am not that photographer. You in Zion you need Zion. Hope she liked my compositions.

A month ago we were traveled to mountain region (Dagestan) which is very unusual for us, Russians. There were a lot of tourists, but I am not sure if I had seen more than one but me with DSLR... I haven't seen mirrorless as well. Only phones!

---------- Post added 06-12-19 at 01:33 PM ----------

Heck I didn't realize that Skoda still made automobiles????

Czech Republic holds the second place in the world by produced vehicles per 1000 capita in 2017; Skoda has produced 1,253,700 cars in the year 2018

[beachgardener]

Skoda in Australia are on a par with Subaru or VW

Skoda ia VW, probably just a VW with a different skin. Not sure if either of those are recommended for Australian conditions.

[jeallen01]

Skoda ia VW, probably just a VW with a different skin. Not sure if either of those are recommended for Australian conditions.

OK, roughly the same underpinning range of VAG (so not simply "VW"!) chassis' and drivetrains - but with its own (and much better!) "takes" on body & interior designs, and delivering "more bang for your buck" than VW itself. From a pretty happy 2007 year Skoda Octavia II estate/"wagon" owner

[Arjay Bee]

From a pretty happy 2007 year Skoda Octavia II estate/"wagon" owner

Proving the rule that Pentax and Skoda owners are savvy buyers and don't just go with the crowd.