Originally posted by alvermann First of all, please don't get me wrong since I've been shooting Pentax for over 15 years and nothing would alter my devotion... However, let me tell you that in more than one ocassion when talking with other film and digital shooters, I've had the impression that when they meet a new Pentax guy, they loose their tongue as if they were saying: And tell me, why are you a Pentax guy? a) Because you couldn't afford Nikon or... b) Because you wanted to be different, and not becoming another anonymous Canon guy?
Short answer is: I just love Pentax, but could you give me some tips to defend more properly my preference?
Well, I guess it's a silly point, but I just wanted to share it with the community.
This may not be a case of "defending" the use of Pentax at all. It could very well be that the other camera brand user may not at all be aware of just what the Pentax can deliver just as much as you may not be aware of the other brands.
The short answer is obviously a fine one and you don't need to elaborate more than that.
Nothing wrong about being different. Being different can mean you prefer the Pentax ergonomics, styling, weight or just the combination that makes it so. BTW, the original Asahi Pentax configuration was the prototype that all other brands evolved to. ->
Pentax Original
Not being able to afford a Nikon does not mean that being able to afford it would would deliver better results.
For instance I bought very cheap, a used Pentax M 50mm F4 macro lens and tested it as follows:
- In the test results below, I used a 4 wide by 4 high arrangement of ISO12233 res charts shown in the bottom left. I then cropped and provided 100% of the center portions using very low compression. All results are therefore multiplied by 4.
- Second image up is the crop from my 14.6MP K20D + manual focus Pentax M 50mm F4 macro lens + Pentax auto bellows from the full frame shot of 35mm Kodak Techpan shot at ISO 25 and processed in Technidol.
- Third image up is the crop from my 14.6MP K20D + manual focus Pentax M 50mm F4 macro lens shot of the 4 X 4 chart arrangement. It is pretty much the same as DPREVIEW K20D resolution results of about 2400LPH. Testing of all my Pentax lenses maxes out the K20D's sensor.
- Fourth image up is the Coolscan 9000 scan of the center portion of the shot made on 35mm Kodak Techpan shot at ISO 25 and processed in Technidol using the Pentax LX + the same Pentax M 50mm F4 macro lens. As you can see, it clearly resolves much more than the 14.6MP K20D sensor. However there are two different resolutions - Vertical of 4000LPH and Horizontal of 3200LPH. For comparison, a 24.6MP Sony A900 is rated at 3700LPH.
- The image on the right is a 4.5 optical magnification of the center portion of the full frame shot of 35mm Kodak Techpan shot at ISO 25 and processed in Technidol using my K20D and Pentax autobellows. This is 12.5 X 4 = 5000LPH. By comparison, the 36.3MP Nikon D800 tops the reschart at 3800LPH. The unfiltered D800E surpasses the 4000LPH chart used so we can't say where it reaches but certainly not close to 5000LPH.
Link to larger version ->
http://www.fototime.com/1F7747A69031070/orig.jpg
As you can see, long before Nikon conceived a 36MP DSLR Pentax was already already designing lenses to exceed them.
BTW, I am not saying this is as good as this lens can get. I bought it used and perhaps a factory fresh lens would deliver better . . .