Originally posted by sarge We are not that common now but back in the 70's and 80's Pentax had a solid market share.
The number one camera found in beginner photography classes was the K1000 with a 50mm f2 attached.
That is how I learned, my father got a Pentax as a birthday gift and never used it, he just was not into photography. He worked in the medical field so all his assistants gave a big gift to him. I believe it was probably around $200 at the time. It sat in a box for maybe 5 years, maybe less, and my friend and I took a photography class in high school and I used the Pentax. I stuck with it and used the camera all through college, teacher said "great cameras, I love Pentax, solid workhorse." I dropped that camera down rock crevices, while hiking, picked it up and moved on. I had a Nikon digital when I started out and then realized Pentax made digital cameras, so I upgraded. Went back to Pentax and will probably stay.