My whole SLR/DSLR story (partly copied and slightly updated from what I wrote in older threads):
My entry to Pentax was in 1981, and it was a used ME Super.
Till then, for 8 years I had used an East German Exa500 + Exakta Varex (VX1000) with just a Domiplan 2.8/50, and West German (Isco) 35 and 135mm primes. During the last part I had added a Soligor zoom (can't remember the range, it reached to tele, offered very average IQ, but an excellent close focus capability). And I had a 2x TC, tripod, and a macro tubes set. When I expected to need poster sized prints, I borrowed my fathers 4x4 camera.
Exa 500 - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia Exakta VX 1000 and VX 500 - Camera-wiki.org - The free camera encyclopedia
In summer 1981, I made a combined 3 weeks studies/camping trip with my then girlfriend, her brother, and a friend to northern and southern Italy. It was mid summer, and no way to correctly estimate exposure with the extreme light and slides film. At home in Germany, with years of experience, I always carried a light meter with me, but very seldom needed to use it. But after this journey I decided I would NEED a SLR with light measuring through the lens.
In the first half of the 1970s, I had been a frequent customer of a small photo shop, where I delivered my color negative films for development, and who handled my needs of ordering special equipment and/or spares. And, for a long time, the "star" of their show case had been a Asahi Pentax Spotmatic (the body which killed German camera manufacturers, not Canikon!). The raving revues had always impressed me, but as a student it was completely out of reach for me. Just the Spotty body was nearly twice as much as my 2 Exakta bodies with 3 primes (price dumpig, as East Germany desperatly needed West German Marks for imports).
I decided to save for a new system. I did never think of starting with any of the many manufacturers other than one of the then "Big 5" (Canon, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Pentax). Of these, for some reason I ruled out Canon completly - I don't know anymore why, I probably did not like the brand for reasons not related to photography.
Selecting Pentax was probably helped by the fact, that the girlfriend of a friend of mine was a professional photographer, used only LX bodies, and was more than satisfield with the SMC 1.4/50 (and I was stunned by the pictures she had taken, specially industrial/architecture ones from a work in Saudi Arabia). But the main reason for choosing Pentax was the fact, that I knew I would not be able to switch to a complete new system in one step, for lack of money. And there was the BIG advantage of Pentax: because of the widely used K mount, building up a new system could be made step by step. This was not possible with the others of the "Big 5".
So I sold my complete Exakta system to another student, and with that money I bought (special offer) a Photo Porst SLR with a 2.0/50mm lens. I forgot the exact type, but the body had a K mount, and - feature wise - was identical to the Pentax ME, at less than half the price.
I was not very satisfied with the lens - it was slightly faster than the Domiplan, but not too much better concerning IQ. When I saw an "unbundled" new SMC Pentax.M 2.0/50mm for DM 99, I immediatly bought it (big improvement!), and soon after I found a used ME Super. Selling the Porst+lens payed for it.
During the next 2 years, I bought (and sold again, most of them) a lot of lenses, new ones (Tokina only) and used ones (all brands). And then I found a nearly unused Super A with the A 1.4/50mm for half the price of a new one (which would have been roughly DM 1300 at that time, today more than a K-1).
I was late in to digital - I had decided I would do that step only when it would offer comparable resolution (to what color slide film could do in the 1970s), at a comparable price. Soon after the start of the DSLR era, German magazines had calculated, that theoretical at least a 12 MP sensor would be needed. And then there came the point when film became just too expensive for every day use, and so I did not wait any longer and bought a new K200D body. I am still very satisfied with that camera, and with RAW and today's NR software even ISO800 shots are often manageable without visible degradation. But just now I am considering a K-5 or K-5II, mainly for LV, composition (replacement for shift lenses), and cropping.
And last week I found a K-5 for € 208 (shipped) with less than 11000 actuations, and barely visible signs of use. Two days of testing has not shown any problems. Updating to the newest firmware successfully done, so I am owner of a *istDS, a K200D, and the K-5. Now I should stop LBA (how?) and start getting rid of my quite big collection of mostly very average lenses. But this I keep telling to myself since years.
