When I started, I wanted a camera that had a good OVF, a good control layout (I like fiddling, and tactile feel is important to me) and gave me good IQ. Image quality would be well served with anything this side of 2008 or whereabouts so no issue there, but the other requirements automatically slashed any Canikon camera below X0D/D7X00 level with their tiny pentamirrors and single dials.
As I wasn't comfortable spending a lot of money initially on the hobby, I researched older flagships. Pentax, maybe with a bit of subsconcious memory from my parents' Espio 115G (film point&shoot), made a lot of sense as soon as I read "Top class OVF", "IBIS" and "40 years of lenses".
Then again, I'm very technically-minded - I researched the stuff for a month, tried out a 5D, Nex6 and D5300 (the cameras of the people who got me into this money sink
) to get an idea of handling, read reviews, stalked Ebay. I knew that I wanted to get into the craft of making the images as much as I cared about the result, so I wasn't as focused on raw specs as I was on feel during use - maybe not a typical beginner.
And here we are.