Doom and Gloom

Hi all,
The funny thing is, that every camera maker makes good equipment these days. No one of them can afford not to. So the question is: What system fills the need of the photographer best, and at what cost All the big boys make very good glass, and taken in account that Sony makes a lot of sensors for different brands makes you wonder what all the fuss is about. The great thing about Pentax is that they still let you use old mf lenses on their new Dslr's. Even Nikon who was famous for their Backwards Compatibility has left that road behind them. Off course we can moan about the fact that Pentax is very slow in the department of long somewhat affordable tele primes. On the other hand you could say, they know their market and users. Fact is that long fast primes are dominated by Nikon and Canon. And even they ask a fortune for them. Lets be honest here. If Pentax made all of those wanna haves. Would we buy them, so that it would be profitable for them to keep on producing them? I think, the majority of the forum members here would not. Yes, they would dream of it, drool over them , but kids growing up,study costs, mortgage and food on the table will have to be of more importance.
So why did i switch over to Pentax.
Reason 1: Value for Money
Reason 2: The opportunity to use these wonderful old lenses on their newest
Dslrs.
Reason 3: The quality of this forum and friendly people who make this place
work for me.
This is IMHO the only forum who doesn't flame you if you ask questions regarding Sigma, Tokina or Tamron. Try that on the other side. If you can live to tell
Are my pictures better, now i use Pentax instead of my old Nikon. I don't think so Yet.........
Is my pleasure of photography as a hobby much greater from the day i registered on this forum? Absolutely
And that's what counts for me.

Just my 2 cents. ( or something more , but hey, Pentax is worth it )

Best regards,
Martin

I used to moan about windows 95, then about win98, followed about windows milleneum, now I just moan about winXP and my recent adventures with vista.......but I keep on using it, keeping Bill Gates in luxury cos' I know its the best thing for my needs and it suits me fine.

I even moan about my Pentax when i'm trying to focus on something difficult and the lens hunts like nobodys business, but then I consider all the good things and count my blessings, like today visiting the Conway Scenic Railroad in New Hampshire when everyone was putting their DSLRs away when it started to rain, not me I just carried on snapping then made a big show of wiping the lens dry and leaving the K10D camera body wet, why? cos I could

Even pessimists own Pentax cameras and they have the right to join forums like the rest of us.

PS; if you need any money ALWAYS borrow from a pessimist......they dont expect it back

so 'spider....did you ever hear the one about the guy who walked around with a pair of vice-grips, clamped onto (something) down his pants?
when asked why he was doing that, he replied:
"because it feels soooo good when I stop...."


os x rules!

I just keep using the LX or another film body! If it goes goes wrong, I can still get it repaired easily.

Kim

This is a thread - which through up some memories....

This summer - I decided to jump to DSLR - and looked through the Internet for review - also at depressingreview

My sister's boyfriend used a N**** d80, and after some initial reading I decided to jump for this as well

I went to the local camerastore to try it out. I was very excited.

Something funny happened in the store. I came home with the Pentax K10D

Initial I thought - damm that guy was a good at sales.....Why did I end up with this camera - a camera I didn't think of before I went out to buy one.

First 2 weeks I was afraid I did the wrong purchase....and started to look for reviews on the K10D. Some of the reviews wasn't that good.....but my curiosity helped me move on.

All the time I compared the camera with D80 - We tried to take same pictures - and I was pleased. Very pleased.

After another search on the Internet I found this forum - And that really sparkled!! I was happy to see an entire website and forum only for Pentax .

Now - a few months later - Im extremely pleased I picked the K10D. I have talked with the shop where I bought the camera several times. They are very happy about the Pentax K10D, and they love the build quality - mainly because the Canikon keeps crashing

Well - thats just my story.

Now I just have to control the LBA!!!!

WOW an assistant who knows what there talking about. Maybe a famous UK chain could ask him/her over to train their staff

You are funny... They don't spend money on training. It is like PC world, their employees need not know anything about what they sell. They simply need to regurgitate what is printed on the display, not explain anything and push the box into your hands.

They actually frown on anyone who knows what they are looking for and would never dream of employing them as they'd have to pay more than minimum wage!

I don't think Pentax users have any need to be defensive. There are some things which Pentax does better than anyone else. In my subjective opinion, Pentax colour is the best, and backwards compatibility with lenses too. I would have to say from my experience (20D) Canon autofocus and high ISO is generally better. This Fuji S5 thing supposedly has the best dynamic range. Canon and Nikon have full frame, so might be more suitable for those who like wide angles better. Olympus and Pentax are generally smaller than the others. Pentax and Canon and Nikon have weathersealed bodies. These are all just different flavours.

What I think is incredible is how many of the boxes the K10D ticks at such a low price, even if it's not for me.

Yes they do.


Not true. All right as a joke, but it wouldn't make much sense as a business model.

That's assuming I am correct in who you are talking about...

It is an exaggeration, but having spoken to people working for PC world they know less than my mother about computers.

Jessops in Leeds are actually not bad if all you want is a P&S. Only one person in store knew about extension tubes and understood SLRs.

Why is it not? Enquiring minds wish to know.

G

I don't really know, George. I've taken 1600 shots on my K10D in 3 months versus 1600 shots on my RD1S in 18 months. I have literally hundreds of great shots from the RD1S and only a handful from the K10D. My ME Super and MX get used tons too, and I get loads of good shots from those.

I love the lenses and the Pentax colour, but at the end of the day I'm not getting the shots. I'm not blaming the equipment, but I think sometimes equipment is like a glove... either it's a good fit for you or it isn't.

I started with a Canon DSLR. Canon for me was all about sharp sharp sharp. As I've matured and learned to develop BW film, I've become more interested in tonality than sharpness. Hence the interest in the K10D.

I'm just rambling now. My only concrete criticism of the K10D was the autofocus, but once I went manual focus only that problem disappeared.

Who knows? I'll probably still hang around here a little. I'm still a Pentax user, just film bodies only

Interesting. Did you ever have a *istD? I've owned a number of Pentax bodies, starting with a Spotmatic SPII in 1973. My favourite was the Super A, which I owned concurrently with a Z1-P.

The latter was vastly more capable, but I never grew especially fond of it. I feel rather the same way about my *ist D and my K10D. The latter is better in every way, judged by specifications, but it's big. The *ist D is a jewel by comparison.

The comparison isn't precise, because the quality of the photographs on the film bodies was identical (if using the same lens), whereas the K10D will always beat the *ist D in normal conditions. So I tend to use the K10D, except when travelling light.

But I respect it rather than love it, and I can see how some people might find that their attititude to the camera has an adverse effect on their picture-taking.

G

The great thing about photography is the way science and art get jumbled up together, and I think that goes for cameras too. My all time favourite camera is the Olympus 35SP. It's relatively modest and can be had reasonably cheaply, but it's given me the most "keepers" of any camera. It's the right camera for me.

I never tried a *IstD, no. I've been looking around since selling up most of the Pentax stuff, and it's interesting how homogenous the market is. Only Pentax and Fuji really stick out for me. I am trialling a Canon 40D as of today, and we'll see whether I enjoy it as much as the 20D I had before.

When people have asked me for advice on which make of camera to buy, I've always said look at Pentax, Nikon and Canon; buy the obe that looks and feels best to you because then you will make better pictures.