[VoiceOfReason]

I had a friend recommend it, and so I got a Kx a little over 3 years ago. I haven't looked back.

[lister6520]

I had for a long time been considering upgrading from my Fuji S9500 bridge camera. As one does, I started to look in detail at what Canon and Nikon had to offer. One of the things I most wanted was to have the best possible low light performance, especially with time exposures (bulb). I was frustrated by all the affordable models having some feature missing and it seemed that within each brand I could choose what to have missing and ended up with the impression that all the cheaper models are intentionally crippled in one way or another to entice me to go for the more expensive models.

Anyway, that is not what actually drew me to Pentax Actually I have to admit that I didn't even know that Pentax DSLRs existed at all. I first noticed it in a comparative review (on DPreview I think) between a Canon, Sony and Nikon entry level SLR. In the review there happened to be one of those little applets that lets you compare the ISO performance of many different cameras across the entire price range. That is where I first saw the Pentax name in a DSLR context and was actually quite surprised. I know Pentax very well from the days of film but I had thought that Pentax had gone to the same place where film ended up. What surprised me further that all three Pentax models (two affordable for me) had better high ISO performance than all the others within my budget and even somewhat beyond. This got me curious and at first thinking this was some sort of error, after all how could any camera be better than a Nikon? So I started searching for reviews of Pentax from as many sources as I could and comparing with the other brands, not just for the low light performance, but functionality, handling and all the other things.That quickly dispelled my initial concern that I would be buying the camera just for the low light performance and sacrificing everything else and also my concern that nobody would be making lenses for Pentax cameras and within not too long I had made up my mind.

A couple of weeks later I had my first DSLR - a Pentax K-r and never regretted it (except for perhaps wishing I could afford a K-5) . One year later I added a K-30.

[BirdDude007]

All my life I was really into cameras, these were my favorite "gadget" I was intrigued by these fascinating devices that would take pictures, I have played around with many different cameras since I was a child.
My father bought an ME and I remember how I just drooled for that camera, every chance my dad would let me I would hold it for him and pretty much became a "camera caddy" for him. I wanted that camera so bad I could taste it.
Then the day came when he got an ME Super, and he basically said to me that I can play around with the ME but be careful not to break it. It was like a birthday gift to me! It took me a while to figure it out but I must say-99% of my photographic experience and learning was solely done on this camera. My father eventually gave the camera to me, I used it all through junior high and high school and even well into my four year military stint, I shot many slide shows for my church youth group, was the main photographer for that group, during those younger years I ALWAYS had that camera on me, if I didn't have it on me then something was wrong.
I used the camera for another ten years after the military, but with the advent of digital I for some reason dropped out of photography, I barely touched the ME Super I traded up to do to the ME totally breaking down back in 92, and I only used the ME Super for about 5 years after buying it. Back in the military I bought a huge Nikon film set up but only shot maybe ten shots with it because I could not get used to Nikon cameras, although they are nice cameras, I would own Nikon if I ever dropped from Pentax. I ended up unloading the camera set up on a good friend who actually did very well with the set up.....it just wasn't for me.
Fast forward my story to approximately 2001 I was finally going to go out and look into one of those new fangled digital cameras and just wanted to get a small point and shoot to try out, I have dabbled around with digital cameras before but was unimpressed, the dang things were slow, ate up battery juice like nobodies business, and basically were crappy in IQ, I hated the pixilated images they produced compared to film cameras.
So I subcomed to the fact that I was just gonna have to wait until there are some serious improvements pertaining to digital technology before I consider a digicam. then one day I was wandering around the Vegas strip and stepped into a small camera shop and spotted a Pentax Optio S5i P&S camera, I was intrigued, it was small and compact, fast, 5 megapixels ( a lot for that time period ) and produced some actual usable images. I ordered one off the interweb and I was impressed with this tiny camera, I used the heck out of it, I STILL HAVE THAT CAMERA!!!!! and it still works like it is brand new. I since then have been given a Canon P&S Elph S770 camera which I still use a lot as well(it actually is one of the Canons that I like, they make good P&S cameras IMO)
Then about four years ago I started to think to myself " hey the technology is getting so far advanced to the point of usable images in digital cameras, maybe it's time to start looking at DSLRs. The first thing I did was researching Pentax brand (been using it all my life.....why not?) and was surprised to see the new K-7 coming out, so I drooled and dreamed of having such a nice camera and all the things I could photograph with it, AND be able to use all the old Pentax lenses as well!. well about a year passed by and my wife took notice of my interest in a new DSLR body, She (bless her heart) bought what she thought is the camera I wanted, I wanted the K-R at the time, and she accidentally got me the K-X with the two kit lenses (DALs-18~55,and 5-~200) I was not disappointed! I was so surprised to see that box with Pentax on it! and this was the Christmas of 2010.
After about twenty minutes of using the K-X I realized I really didn't need the K-R, I was more than satisfied with the K-X, I used it for a year and a half and then fell in love with the K-5, mainly for all the features that made my life a lot easier IE-weather sealing(really needed that), top LCD, battery grip option, Magnesium body, and basically all the other features that made things simpler such as the front and rear e dials, I use those extensively, that is one thing I don't miss in the K-5-digging into the menus every time I want to change a setting like I had to with the K-X.
Nowadays, just like my high school days, I now have this K-5 on me every where I go!
Yes Pentax was already the brand I use, I will most likely stay with them indefinitely when it comes to APSC models, but I may have to go to Nikon for the FF if Pentax continues to refuse to come out with one, but that will only happen when I become a pro shooter, and let me tell you- I aint no where near pro yet.
Until then I still have an awesome set up and it is starting to grow, I have my old ME Super on a shelf as a memento, I occasionally get it out and play around with it for nostalgia reasons, it still works, and who knows.....maybe one day I will shoot film again.
for me Pentax has been more of a way of life, I really know no other brand as well as I do with Pentax....why change?