[SpecialK]

30 years ago I bought my second SLR - a Canon EF - that was sitting right next to a Pentax. Both were $300 with a 50mm 1.8. I don't recall what the deciding factor was.

About 28 years, three bodies and 5 lenses later (not counting Bronica), it was sitting in a closet because I was sort of burnt out on lugging it around. Then I had a bit of extra $$$ for toys, I decided to "try" digital photography in the form of a Canon A95. I liked it well enough to buy an A620 after the A95 was stolen in a burglary.

However, the focal length of the A620 was a bit limiting (35-140 equiv) especially wide angle, and conversion lenses are somewhat disappointing.

So, I was reading the reviews on DSLRs on another forum, and talked myself into getting one.

I started shopping with the Canon XTi ( a bit small) and the Nikon D80 (a bit large). Both a bit pricey if you figure in three lenses. Though I did not have a specific budget I quickly decided I was not going to invest in Canon or Nikon lenses at about $1000 a pop.

With that brand restriction removed, it became much easier to shop.

The K100D had excellent reviews, good features and a "reasonable" hobbyist price.

I saw the Pentax 10-17mm fisheye which brought back fond memories of my Canon 15mm 2.8. So, I bought just the body and the fisheye at the same time, and shopped that same weekend for the 2 Sigmas. The Pentax 50-200 came late, as now I'm trying to get better IQ than the 70-300 produces at the longer end (and the 50-200 is better). I have an "ugly" SMC-P 300mm f4 manual-focus arriving tomorrow for the heck of it. I think with everything, I'm still under $2K, which is about where I draw the line - for now.

Sorry for my long story (also in another thread somewhere), but you asked :-)

[Panache]

After upgrading from a Fuji S5200 I wanted a dSLR.
I chose Pentax K100D because of these top 3 reasons:

1. It wasn't a Nikon or Canon. I didn't want to be like the majority. I'm a rebel!!!
2. AA batteries.
3. SR

I LOVE everything about it!

[Donald]

We've sort of been a Pentax family. I inherited a spotmatic (stolen), then MESuper (still have).

Reading reviews turned me towards a Canon or Nikon. Family history and the AA battery issue turned me towards Pentax. There are so many places I've traveled where the option of plugging something in (i.e. a charger) just doesn't exist.

Reviewing photo site images turned me off Canon completely, god they produce horrid images. Of the images I liked and had similarity to what I shot on film, all were from Pentax or Olympus shooters. Everything about the 4/3 system just reads right for the future of handheld digital imaging. Holding and viewing through an Olympus though was like using a ~50 year old camera, as opposed to holding the ds2 I bought: it felt right in every way.

[LeoTaylor]

Add me to the list of people who checked OTHER because there isn't an option for those who bought a Pentax DSLR because they had a bunch of K mount lenses. My only other SLR or Pentax is a K-1000, I've had a variety of P&S cameras so Brand Loyalty was not my reason. Between my wife and I we have over a dozen manual K lenses so we were not about to buy a Nikon or Canon and start from scratch. I have no regrets in buying an ist-D for her and eventually a K100D for me.

[omega_66_x]

The pentax K10D was my first leap into the DSLR bracket. At my time of research I had no brand loyalty to sway my decision. I spent 2-3 months researching and reading reviews (in the pentax case it was more like wants and wishes due to the camera not being released at that point). I had my choices narrowed down to the D80 or the K10D. I had to wait until late December before my local camera store had a K10D in stock for me to compare. When I finally had the opportunity to compare the D80 and the K10D side by side on the counter, my first reaction was “WOW this thing is a beast”. Just the simple fact of me holding the Pentax sold me. The feel and build quality of the Pentax was far superior to that of the D80. I felt that the Pentax was comparable to the D200 (believe me, I had my eyes on the D200 but the price was my breaking point on that one). There are other factors such as lenses, price and specs that influenced me, but the feel of the Pentax made the final decision for me.

[celetron]

1. Size
2. Weight
3. Lens Compatibility
4. Ease of use
5. Low complexity with just a few buttons
6. Pentaprism
7. Bright/big viewfinder
8. Mirror lock up
9. Spot metering
10. Very good noise control
11. Brand name
12. Excellent optics that cover my photography needs

Well I am talking about Ds here. There are some features you can't find on K10D. I'll wait for the next DS size-simplicity body with SR, SDM, 10MP/1.3 crop factor sensor...

[cwaters]

I had some lenses and cameras I wasn't likely toget rid of... why not buy a decent DSLR that can use these same lenses?

CW

[walter]

I was set on getting a Canon 400D and already had a couple of EF lenses and a flash when the Pentax was announced. I didn't own a DSLR, but I would use the lenses and flash with cameras from work (Canon 1DsMkII and 5D). I agonized over the decision for a while, but finally decided on the K10D for the following reasons.

high quality compact prime lenses
in-body image stabilization
weather sealing and build quality
viewfinder and controls

I bought the camera as soon as it came out (I needed it for an upcoming vacation) and I've been very happy with both the camera and lenses (21/40/50/77/50-200)

[matsoberg]

Have been with Pentax SLRs for many years but I really do not see myself as a loyal follower as I also enjoy Contax/Zeiss.

I have some nice SMC primes as well as C/Y Zeiss glass. So, I almost went for a Canon 30D (please don´t shoot me) to be able to use all my glass on a Digital SLR body with adapters.

Well, for some reason I ended up talking camera gear with a fly fishing friend of mine who works a a photographer for Gothenburg´s largest newspaper and "drives" all the Canon gear you could think of, and guess what he said when I told him I was in the market for a good DSLR ;

"Have you checked out the new Pentax K10D?"

Well, I hadn´t then, but I did....

// Mats

[CFWhitman]

Well, I had developed an interest in photography as a teenager, but had no funds to pursue it, so my best camera for quite some time was a 35mm Fuji point and shoot. I didn't really use it a lot because there wasn't much to it. You couldn't make any decisions about settings but what film you decided to put into it. There was no focus of any kind, it was locked at infinity. Just a very basic camera.

A couple of years back it occurred to me that I now had the resources to pursue my interest in photography. I was reminded that my mom had inherited from her mother her father's (who was a professional photographer) Exakta (which still works) along with a 58mm f/2.0 CZ Jena lens (apparently his other lenses had been sold due to a shortage of funds near the time of his death many years earlier).

Although trying this camera out a little (manual everything of course) stirred my interest I could not, of course, confiscate my mom's camera, so I started looking into digital cameras. I thought a digital camera would be more practical for me considering I always have a capable computer in my possession since I am a computer technician. It did not take me long to decide that I wanted a DSLR and not a point and shoot. After doing some research on the Internet, I had trouble finding a practical camera in my price range other than the Canon Rebel XT (350D), so that is what I bought at the time.

After acquiring just a couple of lenses, I started to question whether I wanted to invest a lot of money in glass for the Canon system without further evaluation. I started looking around again and evaluating alternatives to see where I could get the best bang for my buck. I came to the conclusion that the Canon cameras, though nice in many ways, were too focused on the high end and pushing you to buy more expensive equipment to get what you wanted.

Nikon seemed to be more about the photographer's concerns when it came to ergonomics, but price of the lenses was still an issue.

It came down to looking at the place where you usually get the best value, the brands that are a little less pervasive, but high quality. I looked at Olympus and Pentax. Olympus was appealing in a way because 4/3 was an open standard, and a computer tech background makes me appreciate that (I tend to run Linux primarily because of its support for open standards). However, though Olympus had nice quality consumer grade lenses at good prices, their higher grade lenses were very expensive. The alternative lenses for 4/3 mount were upcoming Leicas, which you could also count on to be very expensive, and Sigmas, which were not enough of a choice, especially considering the lack of development for anything specifically accomodating the small sensor size of the 4/3 system. Also, the viewfinders in Olympus cameras were all tiny with no exceptions.

On the other hand the Pentax K mount, though not technically an open standard, had always been more friendly to third party lens developers than the Canon mount. Pentax cameras pretty much all had large viewfinders for their class. And I found the K100D to be very nicely priced. It would have been a good candidate for my first DSLR had it been available when I bought the Rebel XT. I also realized that old Pentax glass would mount very nicely on a new Pentax camera, and that appealed to me quite a bit.

I was getting set to get a K100D and start building my system around that for the moment when I saw that the K10D would be out soon. The K10D would be a very nice upgrade to my Rebel XT, so I waited for that model. I like my K10D very much, and I especially like that I don't have to break the bank to get some quality glass for my system. As long as Pentax leads the way on value for the money I will stick with them.

[troywhite]

I had an MZ50, so when I decided to get into digital territory the Pentax was high on the agenda. The fact that my lens for the MZ50 would fit helped me along.

Of course there was more to it than that and I did research and held a lot of the cameras available. The *istDS was a clear standout choice amongst the lot for me at that time (2004)

Why?
- The weight and feel in the hand. (All the others were heavy or clunky)
- The ability to use older lens (even just the one "kit" Sigma I already had )
- The ability to use of AA batteries (even though I always use CR-V3)
- A smidgeon of loyalty. The MZ-50 was good to me.

I was never a "serious" photographer but I would take lots of photos. In the last year I have become a "serious" photographer. My *istDS has hammered at least 15000 photos since I bought it and has never skipped a beat.

I am now infilicted with the dreaded "Lens Buying Addiction" (aaaargh) so there is no doubt I will remain loyal to Pentax. I'm really keen to buy a K100 or even a K10 body at some stage in the next year, but that will all hinge on what I do with lens purchases

[jthommo]

I just liked the feel of it in the shop

[Teko]

1. SR
2. Price & quality kit lens

I almost bought a XTi...

[TedP]

That's a no brainer. It's a Pentax.

TedP

[barks21]

I actually had no intention of buying a Pentax when I first started researching my choices. A friend of mine has a D50 and I was leaning toward the Nikon (D40, 50, or 80). I went to a local shop to check them out and low and behold I liked the Pentax better than all others. I started doing some research and and found I like many things about the Pentax in addition to the feel, some of the things I really liked:

1. Feel (as mentioned above)
2. SR in body
3. Many quality lens options at reasonable price
4. Viewfinder
5. Easy to navigate

And of course the price was not bad either. I could not be happier with my chioce, and my buddy with the D50 is now a bit jealous of me and my K100D .