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08-23-2016, 02:38 PM - 5 Likes   #16
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QuoteOriginally posted by k70k1000 Quote
I went to a photography class at a local camera store. This store happens to be a Pentax Dealer. The instructor said I was the only person to ever take that class with a Pentax. Are Pentax users that rare?
Pentax cameras are made for photographers. Other cameras are made for other people.

08-23-2016, 02:46 PM - 1 Like   #17
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I went to a museum Night at the photo school in 2009 with my K20D. They never had a Pentax in their hands. Where friendly to me and very interested in what "it" could do. So I was able to do the whole range of demonstration from portrait, to photoshop, printing and evaluating images. So the camera was great and the 40 mm pancake on it also. This hasn't changed over time, except that Pentax is even more rare then back in 2009.
08-23-2016, 03:41 PM - 1 Like   #18
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One time I was on the side of a road and a man stopped his car to ask me what I had seen so far that day (birds/wildlife by a lake). I told him about most of what I had seen and he noticed I had a Pentax. He seemed to like I had a Pentax and told me he had a K-3. He looked/sounded quite happy with it.
08-23-2016, 03:50 PM - 5 Likes   #19
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...no, not common at all...rare as hens teeth to be exact.

We are so rare that the city government has declared my house and yard a cultural preserve due to the fact that there is not one, but four Pentax SLRs inside. I am hoping they don't find out about the lenses or they may not let me leave to find food.


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08-23-2016, 04:33 PM - 2 Likes   #20
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QuoteOriginally posted by jatrax Quote
They have had a rough few years (decades?), but since Ricoh bought them things have steadily improved. They were on top very early but failed (as the top dog sometimes does) to adapt to new technology. They missed the boat on auto-focus, in lens motors, and digital, and full frame DSLRs. But all is good, they are rebounding and turn out some very nice gear and excellent prices. As you say, best bang for the buck. Just don't expect to walk into a local box store and pick one up.
In some cases they have been very early adopters of new technology - multi-coating (SMC), AF (ME-F) and digital (MZ-D) are examples. Some like SMC were huge revenue generators. Sometimes (AF, Digital) they tried to make a product before the tech was mature.

In other cases they held on to their leading tech too long - Screwmount, large bayonet mount bodies, maybe K-mount itself, screw drive AF motors - and were supplanted by a new idea.

At the end of the day they didn't have a large corporate parent to finance high volume marketing, and that nearly did them in. Thankfully Pentax has remained an interesting, creative alternative to CaNikon.

My grandmother called Pentax a thinking man's camera.

Last edited by monochrome; 08-26-2016 at 04:20 AM.
08-23-2016, 04:47 PM   #21
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What I like about Pentax is that it really looks like it is styled/made to perform as a camera. I am happy to have it.
08-23-2016, 05:10 PM   #22
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I took a weekly photo class here in Ottawa a couple of years ago. For one of the Sunday outings, I arrived with a S-M-C Takumar 85/1.8 mounted on my K-5. It certainly prompted questions and interest in the Pentax line. I think some of the students were a wee bit envious (although it wasn't my intention to show off!).

- Craig

08-23-2016, 05:31 PM   #23
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I was talking with a guy a few weeks ago about cameras.. in his late 20s/early 30s I'd presume.. he said he shoots with Canon and an assortment of L glass.

I said I use Pentax when he asked.. and somewhere along the convo I mentioned I was once shocked by a flash I opened.. he was dumbfounded. Kept asking if they still make Camera Flashes.. even said 'Flashgun'.. and back and back again to ask me who makes my camera Flashes (Pentax).

Long story short, he thought I somehow meant flash with the cubes or the old once-use bulbs -- I think the guy was under the impression I was a oldddd timey film shooter. Which makes me wonder, since I made no mention of film just 'Pentax', if he even realizes Pentax is alive and makes digital camera bodies.


Then that got me to thinking about how many photographers don't even realize Pentax still exists and is producing modern (digital) cameras..

Canon (and Nikon to some degree) did such an incredible job with marketing that it is similar to Coke vs Pepsi.. there is no (serious) third or fourth.. and, in some cases, people just use the term 'Coke' to mean 'Soda/Pop.' Serious brand dominance.
08-23-2016, 06:36 PM   #24
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QuoteOriginally posted by mee Quote
Long story short, he thought I somehow meant flash with the cubes or the old once-use bulbs.
Hmm...maybe somebody should bring them back, and sell them to hipsters to use with their Polaroid cameras.
08-23-2016, 06:53 PM   #25
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Do you guys ever get the "look" when you say that you're a Pentax user, or when you showed them your Pentax camera? Apart from the confusing looks, I mostly get the kinda "oh that's...a camera that I don't know, this guy must be serious"
08-23-2016, 06:55 PM   #26
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QuoteOriginally posted by RonHendriks1966 Quote
I This hasn't changed over time, except that Pentax is even more rare then back in 2009.
Any statistics to back that up? I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just asking if you have a credible source for that or if it's just more anti-Pentax rhetoric.
08-23-2016, 07:07 PM   #27
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QuoteOriginally posted by mythguy9 Quote
Do you guys ever get the "look" when you say that you're a Pentax user, or when you showed them your Pentax camera? Apart from the confusing looks, I mostly get the kinda "oh that's...a camera that I don't know, this guy must be serious"
Not often I have a blue K30 that is in my hands most of the time. I think the blue camera makes me seem less serious.
08-23-2016, 07:14 PM   #28
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QuoteOriginally posted by patrick9 Quote
Not often I have a blue K30 that is in my hands most of the time. I think the blue camera makes me seem less serious.
And, as I have said many times, that is exactly why I have a blue camera. In most circumstances I gain more being dismissed by likely subjects than I lose being dismissed by serious photographers.
08-23-2016, 07:38 PM - 1 Like   #29
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When I started off in Photography with Film Cameras in 1978, I had the choice of Pentax, Canon, Nikon, Minolta and Olympus, other than the Sears brand. Pentax was the best bang for the buck then and the camera store, Gart Brothers in Colorado actually recommended it. I got a Pentax ME with a 50 f 1.7. The photographs it took clearly stood out (compared to Canon then) for color and sharpness (lack of CA and accurate focus) due to the excellent SMC coatings, bright viewfinder and split prism screen. The camera was 100 reliable and I rarely got shots where the exposure was too far off. I was a newbie and there was no internet to learn. I got hooked and got an MX, LX and 7 more lenses in about 5 years.

Then my LX developed the sticky mirror syndrome and Pentax fixed it in their Denver repair center. But I lost my confidence in Pentax due to the messy repair where they scuffed up the body a little. The reliability left a black mark in book.

Come 1986, Pentax was dying and closing Pentax repair centers and Camera stores were not pushing Pentax as much, probably because of returns and complaints about lack of service and repairs. I've never looked at Sony because a lot of their stuff was toy like, and unreliable to some extent. It was like a smartphone with interchangeable lenses, and not meant for someone who enjoyed making the picture, rather than the camera do it all.

Canon by then had gotten into this major marketing and sales campaign about EOS around 1986. I liked the fact that there were no mechanical contacts between lens and Camera, and had a brand new mount with lenses as fast as the 50f1.0! I started using Canon and found them extremely reliable. I bought a plastic rebel that had the shutter quit on me and a small point and shoot, both of which I threw in the trash. I swore not to buy rebels or anything less than that. I did buy a Canon Pro1 befoe my first DSLR, that had to be serviced, and it was a real delight with the fast turnaround and reasonable cost. I also got a G12. All of these cameras, other than the ones I trashed work like the day I got them.


With Canon, I still missed the rendition of the old Pentax lenses, mainly for landscape, a lot more CA even with L lenses, although the overall skin tones and portrait/macro work was still very good. By this time digital SLR's were coming out and I wanted full frame. Canon was the first out with a affordable FF DSLR. Pentax was still trying to make up their minds and were using screw drive and miserable failure prone SDM drives and poor repair turnarounds. So I stayed away. I didn't much care for the Canon sensors with their banding issues either. I kept looking at the K5 and K5IIs but by this time, Pentax was a marginal brand with only some die hard Pentaxians involved. There was no coherent design language when it came to camera bodies or lenses either.

When the Full Frame K-1 came out, with an excellent sensor, and excellent zooms, I figured the time was right to come back to Pentax. The excellent price point compared to the competition, only the D810/Canon 5DSR (in my mind) sealed the deal for me. The 28-105 lens was an eyeopener, for ~500 its an excellent landscape and general purpose lens too, much better than the plastic lightweight kit lenses from the competitors. It compares to some lenses costing twice that with Canon and Nikon, so I have no buyers remorse.

What Pentax needs to do now is to lower their prices on flash, go wireless and let the camera be the controller. They could improve the AF some, though I have never found a situation where the AF on the K-1 let me down, and own a Canon 7dMkII, a beast of a camera for action.

Pentax always had excellent lenses, even compared to Nikon in the 70's and 80's at lower prices. If Pentax can really nail the lense situation with DC or ultrasonic motored excellent primes and F4 zooms in 12-18 months, get a pro-level service center owned by Ricoh ASAP, they could make a comeback into the mainstream.

Next, they need a 24-30 MP 8 frames/second full frame with decent video for the same price as the K-1. With improved AF with a wider spread of AF points.

Marketing was always Pentax's achilles heel and I don't see a marked improvement with Ricoh. I pray that I am wrong as I really hope Pentax comes back big time as I'm ready to buy some good Pentax primes. I don't mind if they stay away from the rebel/d3300 entry level cameras as they have the thin slice of market of die-hard enthusiasts and need to target the studio/wedding photographer professional crowd. I think they have the Landscape photographers well covered with the K-1 and 645's. More excellent lenses will always drive body sales and not the other way around. They need to stop making any new lenses with screw drive too, which I think they are already doing.

However, I'm now staying with both Canon and Pentax, Pentax for Landscape and more deliberate photography and Canon for everything else.
08-23-2016, 07:50 PM   #30
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I get the reaction that Pentax is some kind of boutique brand. I love Pentax and I like being different. Like so many have said, I feel as though Pentax users put seroius research in their camera choice. For the most part it seems Pentax users are very serious about their craft.
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