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Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 02-22-2022, 12:01 PM  
Are we really THAT rare?
Posted By steamloco76
Replies: 7,240
Views: 985,563
I was at a local US Army Corps of Engineers dam on Monday to try and photograph some of the bald eagles nesting in the area. All the other folks trying to photograph the eagles were using Canon DSLRs except for a guy with a Sony mirrorless. One Canon guy asked what I was using. After my reply “Pentax KP, 300mm f4 and 1.4X extender”. he said “Digital” me “Yes”. him “I didn’t think Pentax made digital cameras. I like My Canon 6Ds”.. End of conversation.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 11-22-2021, 04:59 AM  
Are we really THAT rare?
Posted By steamloco76
Replies: 7,240
Views: 985,563
I posted quite a number of images made with a Pentax DSLR body and two lenses which I said was going to be for sale soon.
Several friends on facebook messaged me asking about the camera equipment, all were immediately uninterested when I mentioned it was Pentax. Okay? You complimented the photos I posted made with the gear, but think it is beneath you to own Pentax…. Ugh.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 02-08-2020, 05:40 AM  
Are we really THAT rare?
Posted By steamloco76
Replies: 7,240
Views: 985,563
I belong to two Pennsylvania nature photography groups on FB. People seem amazed when I post photos made with Pentax gear. The birding group is dominated by two groups, those using high end superzoom EV cameras and those using high end, full frame Canon EOS with super expensive Canon L glass. Not many Nikon shooters in the birding group either.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 01-06-2020, 05:58 AM  
Are we really THAT rare?
Posted By steamloco76
Replies: 7,240
Views: 985,563
I’m not a follower of the ‘In Crowd’ and never have been. My cameras are Pentax, my computers are Apple and my phones are Samsung Galaxies. Every other photographer I know, and I know dozens including at least ten working professionals, uses the iPhone along with their Canon or Nikon DSLRs. Sorry, my Galaxy S7 edge has a really great camera and has survived drops, being stepped on several times and flying off a car roof and landing on the street. Try that with any iPhone, even with the best case ever and see what happens.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 12-30-2019, 06:00 AM  
Are we really THAT rare?
Posted By steamloco76
Replies: 7,240
Views: 985,563
I post on several railroad related pages and a Pennsylvania nature photography page. I have yet to have any rail fan say they use Pentax when I post what gear was used to take a picture. Over the years I’ve seen some Pentax film cameras trackside, but never a DSLR. Now, there are a few fellow Pentaxians on the PA nature page.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 06-09-2019, 04:53 AM  
Are we really THAT rare?
Posted By steamloco76
Replies: 7,240
Views: 985,563
I subscribe to both TRAINS and RAILFAN & RAILROAD magazines. High quality railroad subject photography is featured content in both magazines, though Trains is aimed toward railroad professionals and managers these days.
R&R has a monthly photo tips column. A couple of months ago, the editor went into detail explaining why photographers should stick with top of the line Nikon or Canon lenses and mid to to line DSLR bodies.

Mr. Editor had started his photographic pursuits with a Pentax, it’s cheap 50mm lens and third party zoom lenses. He said the Pentax never worked right and he’d never met anyone who had a Pentax that didn’t have problems. Never got a truly sharp or well exposed photo with that Pentax. Next, the third party lenses were all summarily dismissed as inferior junk. “Stigma, and the like” may seem attractive based on price, but I trusted once in a lifetime photos to one and they were all unsharp.

Now, only about 65,000 rail enthusiasts subscribe to R&R , but they were told Pentax and all third party lenses are unable to produce high quality photos. In the following weeks, several more contributors to the photography column also made disparaging comments about Pentax and even Pentax brand lenses. I guess they don’t want to see the large collection oof fine, sharp, well exposed and composed images I’ve taken with my junk Pentaxes and inferior lenses.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 05-26-2019, 12:53 PM  
Are we really THAT rare?
Posted By steamloco76
Replies: 7,240
Views: 985,563
My high school days were well before DSLR time, 1982-85. I learned SLR photography, b&w film developing and printing from my dad, and reading books. My first SLR exposures were recorded on Tri-X in his Spotmatic. I wanted a Pentax KM, however Sears didn’t sell them, so he got me the KSX kit for Christmas 1982. After I graduated, my first camera Purchase was the wonderful Pentax MX and I’ve been a full blooded Pentax guy ever since.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 05-26-2019, 09:06 AM  
Are we really THAT rare?
Posted By steamloco76
Replies: 7,240
Views: 985,563
My high school had a K-1000 for the school newspaper photographer. My sophomore year, I had that job and used the K-1000 once, which was enough for me to lug my Sears KSX ( Ricoh KR-10) back and forth daily the rest of the school year.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 05-26-2019, 06:33 AM  
Are we really THAT rare?
Posted By steamloco76
Replies: 7,240
Views: 985,563
Back in the 1980s, it seemed that everyone had a Pentax K-1000, which in retrospect, is probably the reason we Pentaxians are rare here in the twenty first century. The venerable K-1000 was a good teaching tool. Period. The camera was clunky, had a so-so meter, less than stellar focusing screen and no upgrade ability. Many parents of today’s photographers under the age of 50 were probably K-1000 owners. They never upgraded to a better, newer Pentax, instead jumping to the Canon or Nikon brands. They taught their children to use a Canon or Nikon. Stories of the “terrible of Pentax” are told to their children. Plus, most major retailers quit stocking Pentax equipment.

I can verify Pentax K-1000 horror stories being passed down. A friend reached out to me. She wanted me to find her a good, used DSLR outfit to photograph her brood of grandchildren. I have a basically new Pentax K-r, lenses and a flash I’d bought for my wife. I upgraded my Pentax and my wife liked my K-30 better than the K-r, so I offered the K-r kit to my friend CHEAP. Well, you’d have thought I offered to sell her lakefront property in Death Valley desert! “Pentax!! No, my parents had one of those junk things when I was a kid. Every photo they took was blurry!” I tried to explain, and also reminded her that all the photos of mine which she loves so much came from Pentax cameras. No sale. So I found her a Canon Rebel T3i with two kit lenses in like new condition. I tested it for her, worked great but just did not have the great Pentax ergonomics and color reproduction. And my K-r and kit lenses are still on the shelf....
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 04-13-2019, 01:17 PM  
Are we really THAT rare?
Posted By steamloco76
Replies: 7,240
Views: 985,563
Back in the early 1980’s my dad was still using his 1966 Pentax Spotmatic, Takumar 50mm F 1.4 and two Focal (K-Mart) lenses, a 35mm F3.5 and 135mm F3.5. He was an assistant editor for our counties 22,000 circulation daily newspaper and often photographed local news and human interest stories.

I was with him one day as he was photographing a parade. The local studio photographer who used nothing but Hasselblad equipment, even for news and street photography, came over, pointed to my dad’s beat up Spotmatic and said “You still hanging onto that Pentax junk, huh!?” My dad said,” yep and still taking better pictures than you do with your expensive brick.”
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 03-26-2019, 07:40 AM  
Are we really THAT rare?
Posted By steamloco76
Replies: 7,240
Views: 985,563
From 1993 through 2005 I worked as a photojournalist for a weekly newspaper in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA. The first 35mm camera I used as a teenager was my dad’s Pentax Spotmatic.My dad bought me a Sears KSX (Ricoh KR-10) for Christmas in 1982. It used Pentax K mount lenses. When I bought my first SLR it was a Pentax MX, followed by an ME Super in high school. When the photojournalist job came along, I ditched the ME Super for a Super Program with a motor. I the bought a 5 FPS motor for the MX to shoot high school sports.

As my coverage area and rolls of film per week grew, the addition of a second used Super Program and another MX helped spread the load and allow me to shoot color reversal and two speeds of B&W on assignments. All, and I do mean all, the other photographers I ever met on my job used Nikons exclusively. No Canon, no Minolta all Nikon. Many of the photographers made smart remarks about my Pentax cameras. Well, I got great results carrying lighter cameras with better ergonomics which cost me less money!

Later my Pentax arsenal became three PZ-1p bodies and a motor drive equipped LX. Those PZ-1ps were fantastic and I quit using the LX. On the Football sidelines I was always surrounded by guys using Nikon F-3 or FM-2 cameras. They couldn’t believe I was out there with my Tokina ATX-SD 300MM F2.8 and a PZ-1p. Hey, I got great photos with my “weirdo” gear only being outclassed by big newspaper photogs using super expensive Nikon 300 and 400mm F2.8 glass supplied by their employer.

I finally had to go digital in 2004 when my newspaper moved and shut down its darkroom. The *1st D became my daily workhorse. By this time some of the pros were switching to Canon, though Nikon still ruled. My Pentax was up to the task everywhere except night football under the terrible lights at local stadiums. There, the top of the line Nikons had a real edge.

To this day, I have yet to run into a professional using a Pentax but I have bumped into numerous ametures over the years using Pentax gear.
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