Why did you pick Pentax?

[Bighug]

Thanks Navcom. I used your advice to find the settings to use some of (maybe all) my old lenses. I just took a pic with the normal lens from my old Riccoh camera with Pentax mounts, and will probably have no trouble using all the others. This is my second day on this site, and it has paid off already!

[navcom]

That sounds great! Enjoy your K20D. It's a great camera! And all those seasoned lenses make it even better!

[Trigger]

My dad bought a ME super brand new and that started me off/on then became interested again with the K10D and recently got the K20D.So now I use the 10D as basically used with manual glass and the 20D use with AF some with HSM drive


happy happy

cheers

[arkticfox]

Hi there,

I'm new to dps and enjoying the various lessons and comments seems like a solid and helpful community.

I have just bought the new K7 and having heaps of fun with it, it was the end of a night shift and was feeling a little frontal when I bought it! I had spent months looking for a new camera, and an entry into the dSLR market, my old Fuji Finpix f30 was giving up the ghost and we were on our way to Egypt. I was originally intending to get the k20 but i heard that there was a new camera coming out from pentax. I thought I'd wait with the rational that the new camera would drive the price of the k20 down and I could get one cheap. Instead I ended up buying the K7! In the end I didn't get the K7 till after we had gone to Egypt, which was probably a blessing as I wouldn't have had time to get the hang of it.

I guess there were a couple of things that attracted me to Pentax.

Firstly the inbuilt image stabilization and compatibility with old lenses. My mum has an old pentax with a sweet macro lens and ring flash she no longer uses, so I automatically had two old lenses at my disposal which would have image stabilization. The price of the nikon and canon VR lenses are also kinda put me off as well. When I thought I could have it all the time built into the camera. I haven't seen anything to suggest that one image stabilization system (ie camera vs lens) is ant better then the other.

The weather proofing was also a consideration as it can get awful dusty here in oz.

I guess the final thing was that after going through hundreds of reviews, web sites and posts I couldn't find a bad word said about pentax. So I guess in the end I couldn't find a reason not to get it.

[Ffred]

When I moved to digital SLRs, my first pick was a Nikon D70 and I hated the interface which I thought was poorly thought out (the camera itself was fine).

So after a while I looked for something more convenient and settled on the K10 I still use. It was by far the best designed camera I'd ever seen with tons of very well thought out features that made it a very pleasurable camera to use.

I'll probably switch to the K7 in a year or so, keeping the K10 as a backup, but I'll definitely stick with Pentax, and hope they stay around for as long as possible.

Plus I don't like running with the sheep (so I do all my processing in Linux, just to annoy the Mac users).

[KRIS]

I was in to Serious Photography from 1995. First Camera was Yashica fully Manual. My close friends who made me get in to this seriously, one had a Pentax Z1 and the other a Nikon. I tried both and found Nikon heavy in wieght and also on my wallet. So the choice was Pentax Z-1P, which I have till date. I had built my accessories around the Z1-P and so when I got in to digital it was the iSTdl and then K10. I have seen that the Pentax camreas have given me value for money, and I also beleive that it is 90% the mind of the Photographer and 10% the Camera which is reflected on the images. Planning for a K20D next year.
Cheers,
Kris

[KwS]

Hi guys.

long time lurker, but had to leave my 2c in here

I got my pentax K200D a few months ago now. I started off looking at the other entry level models from other brands (D40, EOS1000D etc), not even knowing pentax made a DSLR (yup, im a camera newbie, throwing myself in the deep end). I work in an electronics store, but we only sell canon DSLRs.

I went shopping around other retailers, and i was imediately drawn to the K200D. Wondering what it was, and wanting more details i asked the salesperson, who immediately told me to not bother, and to go with a Nikon 'coz its better'. She couldnt give me a reason though. So feeling really confused, and a bit pissed off at the salespersons useless advice i went home and fired up dpreview and check out the review on the K200D. Weatherproof! backwards compatible! easy to use!

After seeing some of the sample pics from it, and seeing it got a highly recommended from dpreview, i decided to go back into the store with the horrible salesperson and have a closer look.

Finally getting to hold it, i fell in love with its build quality. The body was solid, no creaking etc, and it was very nice to hold. It felt, to me atleast, much better than both the EOS400D and the EOS1000D.

Right there and then, on the spot, i handed over the cash and walked away with the K200D body and a free Sigma 18-50.

Since then ive gotten hold of a SMC 100-300 lens and a 50mm f1.4 SMC-M.

I love my camera, and have no intention to get rid of it. The only downsides i have to it, are that its hard to get hold of accessories for it.

[army_of_one]

When I decided to buy a DSLR I found that I had no idea of what I was looking for. I thought of my dad's old Minoltas, but I couldn't find an entry level that matched my memories(probably because his Minoltas weren't entry level ). I finally settled on Pentax for several reasons:

-Reputation: rock solid for Pentax. And their pedigree is long.
-Backward lens compatibility: it's nice know that i can explore some classic lenses at a good price.
-Weather sealing: I haven't torture tested mine, but I've shot at -10F to 95F in rain and dust with no problems.
-Recommendation: Consumer Reports had rated the K200D highest in it's catagory at the time.
-Growth: I didn't want to out grow the camera too fast.
-Aesthetics: it just felt like a real object in my hands. Solid.

And as someone else pointed out, Pentax users on other forums seemed like quiet professionals when compared to the Canon/Nikon cat fighters.

All in all I am very pleased with Pentax. The newer stuff can be pricey, but that's okay. I probably wouldn't know what to do with it yet anyway.

[Gregpen]

To be totally honest, my new K7 is my first venture into the DSLR world and am I a happy boy... You bet I am. I chose Pentax simply for the fact that throughout all of my research I found a pattern and that was almost everyone that spoke about the 2 so called big players in the game seemed to think that to be any good you needed to use their products and that any books I'd read about photography always seems to use these 2 brands as their reference like there were no other brands out there... Everything I'd read about the K7 looked great, the forums posts I'd read about pentax users were certainly reassuring of a great product. So in the end why give my hard earned cash to corporations that just want to stand up in front of people and pound their chests.... Give me an underdog anyday.... A talented photographer will shine regardless of the brand of their camera.

[Martymarty]

I have two k1000 bodies that I've shot with for 20 years. They're indestructible. Plus several lenses.
So the quality of what they make, plus that I can use my manual lenses with my k100D, and that the anti-shake feature is in the body rather than the lens (so I'm not buying this feature over and over) made it practically a no-brainer.
I have to go full manual when using my old strobe and some lenses but so what? I'm usually not in auto anyway.
Like some on this post, I did wonder if all the Nikon and Cannon users knew something I didn't.
But nope, just like with the k1000, I'm delighted. Now, if I could just get my hands on an ultra-fast, 18-200 lens that I could afford...