[ghelary]

I went today accross the website of magzine "Image & Nature" (as the name suggest it is specialized in widlife photography, it is written in French)

They are running a poll on brand used by their visitors : (link)

Quelle est la marque de votre appareil photo ?
Canon (2380) 29.9 %
Fuji (376) 4.7 %
Leica (16) 0.2 %
Nikon (1029) 12.9 %
Olympus (850) 10.7 %
Pentax (1969) 24.8 %
Panasonic (266) 3.3 %
Sony (665) 8.4 %
Sigma (19) 0.2 %
Samsung (379) 4.8 %

As you can see, Pentax is just behind Canon (and even closer when adding up Samsung), and has nearly double share as compared to Nikon. Of course there are lots of bias, but the number of voters is very significant.

To me, it confirms also that Pentax/Hoya have made a right choice as an outdoor brand.

[kevinschoenmakers]

That's great to see!

[deadwolfbones]

Pentax also overperforms by quite a bit in France relative to the rest of the world outside Japan, iirc.

[stanleyk]

Pentax also overperforms by quite a bit in France relative to the rest of the world outside Japan, iirc.

All that confirms is that my trips to France have left me with the correct impression. The French are not only great hosts but quite intelligent.

[schmik]

This post cracks me up... <sarcasm>wow! the french are doing their own thing and ignoring the 'western' trends. What a surprise!</sarcasm>

Ah, the Frenchies, you gotta love em!

mike

[lesmore49]

I went today accross the website of magzine "Image & Nature" (as the name suggest it is specialized in widlife photography, it is written in French)

They are running a poll on brand used by their visitors : (link)

Quelle est la marque de votre appareil photo ?
Canon (2380) 29.9 %
Fuji (376) 4.7 %
Leica (16) 0.2 %
Nikon (1029) 12.9 %
Olympus (850) 10.7 %
Pentax (1969) 24.8 %
Panasonic (266) 3.3 %
Sony (665) 8.4 %
Sigma (19) 0.2 %
Samsung (379) 4.8 %

As you can see, Pentax is just behind Canon (and even closer when adding up Samsung), and has nearly double share as compared to Nikon. Of course there are lots of bias, but the number of voters is very significant.

To me, it confirms also that Pentax/Hoya have made a right choice as an outdoor brand.

I'm assuming that poll indicates camera brand use in France ? As others have said Pentax seems to do very well in France.

I wonder why the French buy and use so many Pentax cameras ? Is the French distributor more active or ?

If the French distributor is the key to Pentax sales success in France...maybe it would behoove Pentax or Hoya, to have the French run conferences for other countries' Pentax distributors.

Having said that I think the Canadian Pentax distributor must be doing something right as we have a number of camera dealers who carry a good supply of Pentax product and seem to promote Pentax reasonably well.

[stormcloud]

for wildlife photography pentax makes sence - good weather sealing

[Clarkey]

At a reasonable price.

[snofox]

I'm assuming that poll indicates camera brand use in France ? As others have said Pentax seems to do very well in France.

I wonder why the French buy and use so many Pentax cameras ? Is the French distributor more active or ?

If the French distributor is the key to Pentax sales success in France...maybe it would behoove Pentax or Hoya, to have the French run conferences for other countries' Pentax distributors.

Having said that I think the Canadian Pentax distributor must be doing something right as we have a number of camera dealers who carry a good supply of Pentax product and seem to promote Pentax reasonably well.

My local camera shop tells me that Pentax is really big in Europe. I thought he was referring to Germany and Eastern Europe.

This town (Fredericton, New Brunswick) has a population of about 50,000 or so, counting cats and dogs, but our local shop has in stock, K20D, Kx and K7s, a selection of Pentax lenses including DA*s and Sigmas with Pentax mounts (in addition to all the other brands of cameras and lenses). He gets regular visits from a Pentax rep. Pentax Canada must be doing something right.

I hate going into that store.

[Jazzyboy]

Personally, it's when I started to read this forum that I discovered that Pentax was so small in the rest of the world... Before that I've always thought that Pentax was a giant and serious competitor to Canon and Nikon.
Here in France, many people enter in the DSLR world with a Pentax because of the affordablilty of the prices (or at least as it used to be a few months ago) and because it has remained a reputed brand. And also the lenses are available almost everywhere.
IMO, the main problem is the upgrade path... Nothing above the K7 à la D300s or 7D, not to mention the 5DMKII or the D700 (... Sony is not a problem yet). This question tends to be more serious with a k-x captor superior the k7's. As the 645D is certainly not a solution to this situation, I really hope they intend to give us a high grade professional camera.... yes, a fullframe. Here, like evrerywhere else, the pentaxists (pentaxians...) that want a real upgrade are begining to get a bit fed up with the waiting. Time won't make the D700 price increase and I think they loose a lot of clients that would be willing to stay and maintain Pentax at least as the solid number 3 manufaccturer that they are here in France.

(Sorry for my English ... enven if it's not so bad for a french....)

[ghelary]

I'm assuming that poll indicates camera brand use in France ? As others have said Pentax seems to do very well in France.

I wonder why the French buy and use so many Pentax cameras ? Is the French distributor more active or ?

If the French distributor is the key to Pentax sales success in France...maybe it would behoove Pentax or Hoya, to have the French run conferences for other countries' Pentax distributors.

Having said that I think the Canadian Pentax distributor must be doing something right as we have a number of camera dealers who carry a good supply of Pentax product and seem to promote Pentax reasonably well.

This is a poll on the front page of a wildlife photography magazine, so I think this more representative of wildlife photography amateurs who have also Internet connection...

Personally, it's when I started to read this forum that I discovered that Pentax was so small in the rest of the world... Before that I've always thought that Pentax was a giant and serious competitor to Canon and Nikon.
Here in France, many people enter in the DSLR world with a Pentax because of the affordablilty of the prices (or at least as it used to be a few months ago) and because it has remained a reputed brand. And also the lenses are available almost everywhere.
IMO, the main problem is the upgrade path... Nothing above the K7 à la D300s or 7D, not to mention the 5DMKII or the D700 (... Sony is not a problem yet). This question tends to be more serious with a k-x captor superior the k7's. As the 645D is certainly not a solution to this situation, I really hope they intend to give us a high grade professional camera.... yes, a fullframe. Here, like evrerywhere else, the pentaxists (pentaxians...) that want a real upgrade are begining to get a bit fed up with the waiting. Time won't make the D700 price increase and I think they loose a lot of clients that would be willing to stay and maintain Pentax at least as the solid number 3 manufaccturer that they are here in France.

(Sorry for my English ... enven if it's not so bad for a french....)

The upgrade path issue is IMHO a false problem, when moving from APSC to FF you would have to change nearly all your glass. 35 film glass is generally showing poor performance on Digital FF with poor corners and heavy vigneting. As a consequence FF and APSC have to be considered 2 separate systems that can share glass with extended compatibilty and no adapter.

BTW: As I was looking at some Canikon Forums, I saw that a lot of FF users were considering picking up or even buying a K7 and some pancakes as a secondary lightweight system. Taking a good picture is often about having a camera with you at the time you see the picture.

Current Pentax APSC lineup is arguably the most complete and with the best lenses of the market.

[lithos]

All that confirms is that my trips to France have left me with the correct impression. The French are not only great hosts but quite intelligent.

They invented the whole thing, after all...

[pcarfan]

If the 35mm film lenses are not working well in FF, could that mean that the three FA limiteds may not be so amazing with any FF camera pentax may consider. If not for the FA limiteds and their primes (listed below), I have no reason to stay with Pentax. Other than the compact size and SR. Sony has SR and very nice FF Zeiss lenses, and with any FF camera, size is going to be a problem anyways....just thinking out loud, I so very much hope the FA limiteds will still be greta on a FF camera.

P.S: Nice poll, so glad to see Pentax doing so well.........

[ghelary]

If the 35mm film lenses are not working well in FF, could that mean that the three FA limiteds may not be so amazing with any FF camera pentax may consider. If not for the FA limiteds and their primes (listed below), I have no reason to stay with Pentax. Other than the compact size and SR. Sony has SR and very nice FF Zeiss lenses, and with any FF camera, size is going to be a problem anyways....just thinking out loud, I so very much hope the FA limiteds will still be greta on a FF camera.

P.S: Nice poll, so glad to see Pentax doing so well.........

43 and 77 shall be ok, I'm more concerned about 31.

43 is normal lens and normal lens have shown to be great on FF,
77 is a portrait lens so a little vigneting and lower border qualtiy shouldn't be worrying.
31 is wide angle (almost perfectly in between the 2 classic 28 and 35), vigneting and corner performance is more of an issue. However the Zeiss 28 is great on FF and it was initially designed for film, so lets see what it will become.

About getting a FF, you shall ask yourself what you want to do as picture and tell if FF is right thing. FF + good glass makes a much bigger and bulky system than a K7 and DA*, a bit like a LX compared to a 645.

Guillaume

[Canada_Rockies]

I'm assuming that poll indicates camera brand use in France ? As others have said Pentax seems to do very well in France.

I wonder why the French buy and use so many Pentax cameras ? Is the French distributor more active or ?

If the French distributor is the key to Pentax sales success in France...maybe it would behoove Pentax or Hoya, to have the French run conferences for other countries' Pentax distributors.

Having said that I think the Canadian Pentax distributor must be doing something right as we have a number of camera dealers who carry a good supply of Pentax product and seem to promote Pentax reasonably well.

My favourite dealer right now is McBain Camera in Lethbridge Alberta. In their counter when I was in to pick up my repaired k10d and 50-135, there were K-7, K20, K-X, 12-24, 16-50, 50-135, 60-250!!!, *200 and *300 along with all three current flashes. Four feet of counter space, exactly the same as Nikon, Canon and Sigma (lenses only). They, at least, support the brand.