Originally posted by LittleSwans Yes, it's true that not all Pentax lenses are better than 3rd party lenses. However, the reason for my post is that in my circle of photographer friends, I hear so many woeful tales of not being able to afford Canon L series lenses or the Nikkor lenses because they cost a fortune. So they have to settle for the Tamron or Sigma equivalent. The Nikon 24-70mm (not exactly sure of the focal length but I think it is this) is more than AUD2500! The Canon 85mm f1.2 is almost AUD3000! Apparently there will be a price increase very soon and it will be over AUD3000!
What you describe is version of a deplorable sales technique called Bait-and-Switch.
Convince the unsuspecting consumer that Nikon and Canon are the best. It plays on the human trait that we feel better about ourselves when we associate with the "winning" team.
And you do want to buy the best, don't you Sir/Madam? Well then you
need to buy this brand because all the pro's use it. Oh, after you've bought the camera you realized you can't afford the pro-spec lenses? That's OK because we have these other very affordable lenses right over here, they're not VR but let me convince you that you don't really
need that feature, it's only for pro's...
Yuck.
I bought Pentax because it offers the best value, defined by me as the best price to performance ratio. Your mileage will differ as everyone's utility curve is different.