Brand Switching

In the "What has happened" thread, link there is a discussion about allowing discussion of other brands, for comparison purposes, by people who run two systems or have switched from Pentax to A.N.Other.

Set me thinking, how many members have switched back after going to another brand?

Jules did, but he's hung up his gear I think now?

Can't think of many others.

David

My limited experience of people who have changed systems 'seems' to be that they bend over backwards to justify it

It's a shame as some really good togs seem to feel the need to justify their decision when really there is no need to

I am a Pentax man previously Olympus but IMHO if it takes pictures use it and don't get hung up about it - rant over

Gary Stafford appears to be an exception - he wants back in to Pentax but waits for the ff model - good on him for saying it the way he feels it and chances the wrath of interfering types

I've experienced this too Stuey, but as you point out there are exceptions. AndrewA doesn't do this, he just gets on with his photography. I'm doing my best to get his attention so he contributes to the thread!

Regards
David

I think we should get on with our photography as well.

In my film days I decided to move to Canon, I'd decided that my Z-1 simply wasn't good enough, and jumped in for an EOS 5, 28-135 IS USM & vertical grip. On paper it promised the world, 5 AF points (eye-controlled), 5fps, super fast/silent AF. I even managed to get an old (pre-Ebay) Tamron ADII EOS adapter (Hen's teeth in those days).

I forget the price I paid in the mid-90's (not really but I don't want to think about it), it was a huge (and very expensive) mistake. I never got used to the 'ergonomics', the lens broke, then the camera so I chucked it in a cupboard and probably still have it somewhere.

I went medium format after that (Mamiya 645, Bronica SQ) until getting a K-5 a couple of years ago and more recently some P6x7 gear. I never sold the Z-1, F50/1.7, FA28-80/3.5-4.7 and various other lenses which allowed me to have a head start when I bought my K-5.

I don't think running two systems works, you always feel you have the wrong system or the wrong lenses, better to sell everything and start afresh - after thinking very very carefully. After shooting Pentax, everything else feels clunky to me - my P67 feels more alive and responsive than the EOS 5 ever did.

I moved from Nikon to Pentax.

Because it felt it was designed for my hands

Apart from my very first SLR, a Ricoh KR-5, which I can now mention because Ricoh own Pentax, I have been a Pentax User since 1986. Albeit with a long hiatus in the 90s and early 2000s.

I've wondered about switching brands a couple of brands and if I did it would probably be Nikon, but frankly I can't find any solid reason to do so. I'm certainly not a Pentqx fanboy, that would be unhealthy, but I there's nothing I can think of with equivelent models from other brands that better anything from pentax.

Of course other brands offer Full Frame, which I'd like, but I'm hinging out for Pentax releasing one, as I'm confident they will .

I've tried friends canons, nikons and sonys and to be honest they all felt like bricks compared to all the pentaxes I've used (k5, kx, k7, k10D).
I was hoping for speedier AF by really the only difference was they were silent compared to pentax, maybe the 3-4,000 pound models have faster AF but that's not my budget.
If pentax could get their AF tracking improved I'd be a very happy bunny

I've never felt the need to justify switching systems.

Saw a comment on Youtube he moved to a Fuji x-t1, so you can make your own assumptions regards he leaving...

...and there in lay the modern day syndrome some folk just move between gadgets, victims of the marketing bandwagon, spending 99.9% of the time reading lens and camera reviews rather than actually going out and taking photos. Some sort of schizophrenic grass is greener syndrome.

Changing systems is not going to make up for actually going out into the Lakes at 5am, or setting up a tripod on a single flower and waiting an hour for a macro, or taking a suitcase worth of gear to set up a proper studio shot or etc etc etc etc...

Also, I'm running a Kannon six dee along side my Pentax gear, but its sounding like I'm not allowed to discuss this, however well the K5IIs might come out in my opinions?

I think it might be difficult to run two DSLR systems at the same time but MikeP makes a good case for it. However, a DSLR (APS-C of FF) isn't suitable for every kind of photography so I have always used a couple different systems, currently three on the go. Horses for courses.

I've never needed lightning fast AF or particularly long and fast lenses so Pentax ergonomics and picture quality do it for me. Neither does anything get printed bigger than 24x12 inches (wedding albums) and commercial work is almost always for the web so FF would hold no advantage whatsoever.

Going back to my original question. It does not look like many people return to Pentax once they have tried another brand

People use whatever they want, but Dodge69 hits the nail on the head in that being up at 5am is the key, not what equipment you own.

Sue's cousin John and myself made the dawn trip to the shores of Loch Awe, armed with camera gear and bacon butties and flasks of coffee. The getting up was quite tough, but the sitting on the shore watching the sunrise, with tasty sandwich and hot coffee, was as pleasant as shooting the images.

Obviously it was Pentax bacon and coffee....

I came to Pentax after Halina, Konica, Zenith, Rollei, Nikon, Mamiya and Fuji by the way, FWIW. Actually quite a few more now I really think about it as I did a project where I learned to use every camera type that ever existed. The objective was to be able to pick up any camera and suss it out fairly quickly, right from early wooden stand cameras onwards.

Because this is Pentax User I don't write here about all those things, but I do sometimes on my EPZ Blog.