[BrianR]

It can't be. It's not fair. Another Pentaxian mocked me when I used my favorite body, ME super. Told me to get real camera...

Pentaxians are good, honest, noble, and would never mock another photographer based on their choice of equipment. I can only conclude that this 'Pentaxian' who mocked you was a 'Canikon' fanboy in disguise for the purpose of sowing discord in the Pentax community. They're easy to spot once you know the signs - a camera with black electrical tape over the original markings with "Pintex" written on the tape using white-out (the "P" will often be backwards) and they carry around an unmistakable air of confidence and superiority.

A real Pentaxian can be spotted by the correct spelling of "Pentax" in white out on the electrical tape that covers up a 'Ricoh' label AND an inferiority complex that's practically palpable and almost impossible to fake. Olympus users often have this inferiority complex as well and are virtually impossible to detect if they disguise themselves as 'Pentaxians' - since Olympians can spell Pentax correctly, watch for the subtle signs of a 5-axis image stabilization system in the underlying disguised camera.

[clackers]

Gold, Brian!

[redcat]

a camera with black electrical tape over the original markings with "Pintex" written on the tape using white-out (the "P" will often be backwards) and they carry around an unmistakable air of confidence and superiority.

you must be funny in parties =))))

[micromacro]

but the Canon combos is so great that I'm speechless !!!

Yes, Canon 5D mark series, and their line of lenses are great combo. As for cheaper lines of Canon and Nikon cameras, I'm not so sure. However, it's hard to compare because there is no any Pentax in stores next to canon-nikon-sony-samsung. None.
I can talk only from what I have comparing pretty much the same price Canon SL1 and PentaxK5IIs. For the price I get more from Pentax combo.
Waiting for Pentax FF to compare with Canon FF.

[robthebloke]

I had a similar situation when I was shooting a wedding earlier this month. I had a pair of k-3's, with the 31 and 77 attached.

One of the guests pointed at my camera, said "that's quite a nice camera", and then started explaining that his son has just bought 'a really really good camera' (6d + kit lens as it turns out). I just nodded, agreed, and moved on.

Later in the evening he then asked me what camera setting I was using to be able to shoot pictures without the flash :/ I just pointed at the 31 and said its all about the lenses.

Mind you, there was another guest who was very excited about the fact I was shooting Pentax with FA limiteds. Turns out he's an LX owner who only shoots Pentax!

[Braveheart]

Today I was attending my six year old niece's ballet recital with my K-3 and Tamron 17-50 f/2.8. As I took my seat up front, the person siting next to me said "that's a nice little camera you have there."He then showed me his "dream camera' - a Canon 70d and the "awesome zoom lens" - a Sigma 18-300. He wanted me to hold it to feel how solid it was. I politely declined by saying "I'm good" and "You have a great set up." I'm not even sure how I was supposed to react to the brash and uninformed Canon fanboy - we'll let them live in their delusion while we Pentaxians just keep taking high quality pictures with the most intuitive, ergonomic, brilliant and underrated photographic system in the world

Well, this Canon guy's setup (70d with 18-300 lens) is physically bigger yours (K-3 with 17-50f2.8). So we cannot deny him saying that yours a "nice little camera". If I were you, I wouldn't mind to hold his set up a while and then asked him politely to hold yours to let him feel for himself how the word "solid" should be defined.

I had compared my workplace's 7d with 18-135 to my K-30 with 18-135WR for a week last year. The 7d is better in tracking focus and skin tone for portrait but my K-30 is better in every other aspects (DR, high ISO, focus in dark room), has more features (HDR, WR, IBIS) and better build quality.

Bottom line: different strokes for different folks.

[tvdtvdtvd]

I can see now Canon is not just popular because of their marketing, they actually have great lens lineup, paired with high class camera. It's very pricey of course ^^

The primary problem with the Canikon masses is that the guy with the 70d and Bigma zoom thinks his camera and his talents
are equally capable and comparable to the guy with the 5D II and fast primes. That more than anything else has been the
success of the Canon marketing campaign.

[normhead]

It's funny, a friend of my sisters came up with her camera a few years ago with a brand new Nikon D5200 and a Sigma 18-250, which she also proclaimed to be her "dream camera" . I asked about why it was her dream camera. " I never have to change lenses." I make fun of that, but really I see her point. It's better IQ than a point and shoot, which was her frame of reference, and she loved the pictures she got with it. So, who's to argue? My guess is that is a lot of people's dream camera. I wish it were my dream camera. Or to quote Bob Seeger, "Wish I didn't know now what I didn't know then."

Driving through Algonquin park to go shopping in Huntsville, I often spend more time deciding what lenses to take for one trip than she'll spend in her whole life. There is a certain reward to simplicity.

[pathdoc]

There is no zealot like a recent convert. This applies regardless of which philosophy they have just converted to. Some want to tell you about Jesus, others about Canikon. On the other hand, we sit here in our quiet little corner, snapping happily away while others wonder at our strange obsession with the numbers 31, 43 and 77.

[normhead]

There is no zealot like a recent convert. This applies regardless of which philosophy they have just converted to. Some want to tell you about Jesus, others about Canikon. On the other hand, we sit here in our quiet little corner, snapping happily away while others wonder at our strange obsession with the numbers 31, 43 and 77.

Hey, I represent that statement.

[pathdoc]

I see her point. It's better IQ than a point and shoot, which was her frame of reference, and she loved the pictures she got with it. So, who's to argue?

Indeed. I was immensely pleased to have a lens like that too, once. I used to sing its praises from the rooftops, and for the DSLR newbie migrating from P&S zooms I still do. There are things even an *ist-DL will do with a superzoom that no P&S camera can match. The most important of those is the ability to detach it and use something else when you eventually work out which segment(s) of the entire range you use most and desire a fast prime for.

The best thing that can be said for the use of a digital camera as a revved-up P&S is that it's honest; there is no tomfoolery going on at the "long" end to make the buyer think they're getting a "real" 1200mm zoom when in fact all they're getting is one hell of an in-camera crop. There is no such thing as a free lunch. You want 1200mm, you bring a fat bank balance and a damn good tripod... or a powered exoskeleton, when such a thing eventually becomes available to the masses.

[tvdtvdtvd]

" I never have to change lenses."

This mentality always perplexes me. Why would anyone choose a DSLR if it's their intent and desire to not change
lenses? Surely there are equally capable cameras that can produce equally excellent pictures without the inherent
drawbacks of a DSLR. There are certainly millions of camera owners like her, who have bought into the myth-conception
that a SLR is the best type of camera and any SLR is better than any non-SLR. And yet they all use their SLR like
a point & shoot. (*)

(*) Yes, a few may fiddle with a setting or three, but most never take the camera out of P mode or touch the AF/MF
button.

[interested_observer]

Two stories come to mind....

• Gee it was about 8 years ago. Over at the Scottsdale AirPark, they were having their airshow with a lot of the older planes which had flown in. One was a B17. I was inside with my K100 and 10-17, and their was a father with his two sons. I just held my K100 at waist level and shot away. The dad was over there in the corner trying to frame a shot with this monstrous C/N - large lens and flash. He looked at me and said - but you aren't even looking through the viewfinder??? I replied - its a fisheye. I just hold it level and get everything. Outside the plane, he asked me if I would take a family picture of them - handing me his camera. It was hugh, heavy, and unwieldy. Then he asked me if I would not mind emailing him some of the images inside with his kids.....

• I was over in Hawaii after an all expense paid "luxury" cruise (it was on a Navy ship for 2 weeks from San Diego). I picked up a car and was driving around the island, and had stopped at a little park. There was a guy out there shooting birds. His dog was out "bird dogging", getting the birds up so that he could shoot them. I walked around, and he looked at me, smiled and said - my other camera is a Pentax. I only use this for BIF. We talked for a bit. In the back of his SUV was his Pentax case - camera and lenses. He was an architect. It was a great chat!!!! - if he is here on the forum.

[Tony Belding]

Driving through Algonquin park to go shopping in Huntsville, I often spend more time deciding what lenses to take for one trip than she'll spend in her whole life. There is a certain reward to simplicity.

But if you have a Q, you can take ALL the lenses!

[pathdoc]

There are certainly millions of camera owners like her, who have bought into the myth-conception that a SLR is the best type of camera and any SLR is better than any non-SLR. And yet they all use their SLR like a point & shoot.

IMHO it's the image quality of the lenses they're after. That, and the knowledge that if they ever get together enough courage to go to that mysterious section of the camera store where all the rectangular boxes sit on the shelves, they can have something new to put on the camera in place of what they currently have. True, they may then just play the game of Bigger is Better and go on P&S-ing with their new acquisition for the rest of eternity, but the ability to do something more is THERE, even if some of them never make use of it.

One day some of them will stumble across a "how to take better pictures" book which will talk to them about shutter speeds, f-stops, ISO and suchlike, and the tools to do something with all those settings will be right at their fingertips instead of being clumsily buried in the dark recesses of a touch-screen or push-button menu. And that's when they will start the journey to becoming what some might regard as true photographers as opposed to indiscriminate point-and-clickers.