ANGRY User!!!!

Hi all

I just got one of my monthly favourite Photo mag Digital PhotographySLR

Spit shame on them AHHHHH!!!!!

Inside there is a Landscape volume 1 supplement published by Halo publishings the same as the magazine itself. It has some wonderful landscape images inside but the images shown from the camera brands break down as follows.

Canon EOs 5D X 9
Canon Eos 20D x 5
Canon 350D x 4
Canon Eos 1D MII x 2
Nikon D70 x 3
Sigma SD10 x 1
Sony Alpha x 1

No images at all from Pentax. I am sick of this deafing out of the olympus/pentax brands etc.. WHY !!!!

It really is not far on Pentax users or are we all caught up in our own little bubble by thinking amongst ourselves that our images are good while the rest of the world see them as rubbish or not worthy of any type of acknowledgment in order to publish at any cost.

I recently posted some sunrise shots on this forum as you are probably aware which I think most agreed we decent images. I posted the same ones on ephotozine and a few people said Quote " These are the best images I have seen so far from a Pentax user and the K10D"

Before you shout NO !! Im not blowing my own trumpet infact I rather found the comments racist toward Pentax. Yes it was a nice comment but one which I felt was bang out of order. Although decent they do not in my opinion deserve that sort of credit as Im sure there are hugely better ones on ephotozine. But this goes to show in general the shallow view people have of Pentax or the photographers using this Brand. Will it ever be turned around or are we the Skoda of the camera world. OOps Skoda is now a VW and decent car

I would love to post some quality images to a magazine and tell them they were took with a Canon Might get them published then !!!

I know many reading this are thinking heard it all before but it really gets my back up. What is it about Pentax that makes the brand so outcast ????

PS the 5D images were stunning I have to admit but a full frame £2000 camera so they should be, however the sony alpha and SD10 were very poor in my opinion in terms of resolution and quality in comparison.

I am going to write to Halo for what its worth. If anyone wants to add there penies worth I will gladly add to my email. Some of you folks don't get so het up as me and probably dont worry or even care but for those that do send me your thoughts.

Im off to calm down now

Pete

Steady on, Pete, think of the blood pressure!

I believe that there are 3 factors in play here

1. In my opinion there is in photography a certain snobbery when it comes down to what is classed as professional equipment (read into that equipment capable of producing high quality images), that manifests itself as a strong bias for anything Nikon. I remember back in the mid 80's when I bought my Super A, the disdaining looks I received. Comments such as " thats not a proper camera, it does not work without batteries, what happens when they run out". That came from a guy who regularly carried round 3 Nikons (2 for backup) Well my Super A has been faultless for over 20 years and 1000's of shots.

2. $$$$ spent by Canon on advertising and wooing magazine publishers. Look to the world of golf equipment, Look how much Nike have spent and continue to spend for endorsement by Tiger Woods.

3. The late arrival of a Pentax DSLR or even a digital compact.

The deck is stacked against Pentax and will probably stay that way.

For my part I really don't care what some faceless no name journo says. I would not buy a camera based upon one review anymore than I would a toothbrush from someone selling at the door.
No I content myself in the reasons why I bought into the Pentax brand in the first place, handling, features and glass - "VALUE" something that some other manufacturers could not equal at any price

Cheers John

Come on Guys 56 views to date and only 3 responses Were is the Passion ???

Apparently Sigma operate what they call the 9/10 policy for lenses. What that means is that 9 out of 10 lenses produced by Sigma are made with Canon and Nikon mounts on them. The other ten percent are made with Pentax, Sony/KM, Olympus and Sigma mounts. I found this out when I was trying to buy a 180mm macro lens. Luckily I had enquired through a main stockist and the lens is due to arrive next week.

The point of this is that though it is annoying that we have to hunt around for lenses and accessories we have to accept that the manufacturers are driven by market forces. When I bought my Me Super in 1982 I basically had a choice between the Canon AE1, Olympus OM10 or the Me Super. ( If I had had twice the money I could have bought a Nikon (FE2 I think) I chose the Me Super and have never regretted the decision. At that time Canon, Olympus and Pentax were about equal in the consumer/ enthusiast market or at least that was the impression that I got from the media at the time. I don't think the users of any brand felt that they were being discriminated against, unless it was everyone against the Nikon and Leica users.

It stands to reason now that with Pentax having about a 10% share of the market for Dslr's, that this would be represented in the photos used in magazines. I think it could have something to do with the way that the cameras are advertised also. If the public are bombarded with advertisements saying that Canon are the best it is not surprising that they will fall for it in their multitudes. As for Nikon they have always (well since the 1950's) been seen as a quality brand, if they weren't Japanese they would be German judging by the public perception of them.

I think that where Pentax slipped up was firstly when they took so long to release a Dslr and secondly when they chose to stick with lower specification cameras after they released the *ist D so that the successor to that has taken 4 years to materialise. I can understand and respect their reasons for doing this but it is hardly surprising that if they don't move with the market they will get left behind. I think that they are redressing the balance now with the release of the k10d but if they don't advance from there they will get left behind again.

As far as getting published. I don't think it really matters what brand of camera you use, the magazines will publish photographs that suit their purpose if they are good enough. I have, so far owned three Dslr's (Pentax, Fuji and Samsung) and I have had photos printed in magazines from all of them in the last few months. As for professional use look at Benjikan. He is a photographer who uses tools that he expects to do the job consistently, like any other craftsman. He isn't concerned with badges and I doubt if he has lost any work since he switched because clients will know what they will get with him regardless of the brand of camera that he uses.

Just some thoughts

Carl

Reason defeats passion.

Taken overall, the number of pictures published over a year probably reflects the ratio of cameras used of each brand by serious photographers.

If you want to see more Pentax pictures published, there are only three ways to do it:

Submit.
Submit.
Submit.

G

If you want a laugh have a look here at the top cameras and manufacturers used on flickr.

http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/topcameras.php

Highest position for a Pentax camera is the k100d at 53. The k10d is at 62

For manufacturers Pentax is 9th between Casio and Nokia.

What does this mean? Nothing
What does it prove? Nothing

Carl

Carl.

It DOES prove something:

Somewhere out there, a village is missing its idiot.

With so many people living their lives through celebrities and reality TV its not really surprising to see Pentax way down the chart. Now if the CSI's or heaven help us a Big Brother contestent was seen using a Pentax then I would be betting on a Top Ten place at least.

In the end you have to ask yourself, do I keep this secluded beach to myself, content with my discovery or do I go back to the hotel, tell everyone about it, bask in the momentary popularity and face the prospect of fighting my way through orange and blacks towels on my next visit.

Popularity increases demand and hence prices. The K10D has by and large received good press. There is a feeling that it is underpriced my bet is that the next model will be much closer to equivalent Canikons in price.

Maybe, just maybe, it's because Pentax users don't have anything to prove - they're making great images that they love, and/or they're selling them well.

So why enter an image when you're having so much fun

The others are just "wannabes"
Matt

(Tongue in cheek of course!)

When I was thinking about a DSLR I looked at the Nikon and canon but opted for the Pentax... partly because of brand loyalty, partly because it felt really nice when I picked it up and I understood it immediately. Also I could use all my manual Pentax glass. But also I don't like being one of the masses so I'm always drawn to the minority brands....
I like being more of an individual... it feels like it was my choice not the majorities.

Lee

Pete, i'm sure I've said ths before, Its all down to numbers.

I bet if someone put together a list of percentages of camera marques owned, and compared it with a similar list of images published in photo mags I have no doubt that they would not be so far off. Then if you included other factors such as what type of photographer buys one brand over another (or that Canon users are far more likely to want "approval" of their work )

I myself HAVE seen a number of images in mags taken on Pentax gear, including later model cameras such as the MZ series even the occasional istD, and if you consider the number of istD models sold compared with say the 300D then using my initial theory shows Pentax are way ahead.

Give it time and i'm sure you'll start to see stuff from the K10D and its siblings, espcially if you persevere in contributing

Couldn't put that better myself, I agree completely. Except I never used Pentax in the past, I had Canon. However the Pentax DSLR are super in handling and controls. My K10d is a really nice piece of kit and takes excellent images.

I submitted a Pentax K10D shot of one of my 'All About Dogs' pics to 'Snappers' Diary' at Amateur Photographer Magazine taken with my 1970's 135mm SMC F2.5 Takumar and it is in there THIS WEEK with caption details .