Finding other PENTAX users Out & About

Today was my Birthday ---- went to London with family -- I took my 1975 Asahi Pentax KX loaded with some Agfa Vista 200 I wanted to use up-- I looked at ALL the other 'camera users' -- well NOT ONE PENTAXuser in Westminster, London Eye, South Bank,Trafalgar Square, or on the packed trains did I see -- all had Canons, Nikons and Sony -- not ONE FILM camera -- mine was the only one I saw .. come on Ricoh do something to get the Pentax back in favour -- do some marketing for once !

---

been a member of Pentax Club since the Ron Spillman era! Got COMPUTERISED at last - DIGITISED? Taken the PLUNGE - BUT FILM STILL RULES !!!

Hope you've had a great day Pete. I came down to London in January and it was just the same, even in the majority of shops no Pentax fits available.

---

David

I agree. More, or rather, some actual marketing is required.

---

[i]Bodies: 1x K-5IIs, 2x K-5, Sony TX-5, Nokia 808
Lenses: Pentax DA 10-17mm ED(IF) Fish Eye, Pentax DA 14mm f/2.8, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8, Pentax-A 28mm f/2.8, Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.2, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-FA 50mm f/1.4, Pentax-A 50mm f/1.7, Pentax DA* 50-135mm f/2.8, Sigma 135-400mm APO DG, and more ..
Flash: AF-540FGZ, Vivitar 283

The answer is simple! Canon and Nikon users just don't have the exclusivity of us Pentax photographers.

I've yet to meet another Pentax user in the flesh. We are rarer than hens teeth or rocking horse poo.
And the local LCE no longer stocks anything branded Pentax or Ricoh.
I was reading a magazine in the local WHSmiths and they referred to the K3 as a great camera by a vintage camera brand. Made it sound like the K3 had been out of production 10 years and Pentax was something from the past.
It does make me wonder how long Ricoh/Pentax can last. There was a pie chart in another magazine showing camera sales. Canon had the biggest slice of the cake, Nikon were only slightly behind. Sony, despite being third, had a puny share of the market. Then came Fuji, followed by Olympus and Panasonic. Finally, with a slice so small you needed a magnifying glass to see it, was Pentax. What was interesting was Nikon were only 5% behind Canon but all the other manufacturers combined fitted into that 5%, which meant Canon sold more than everyone else combined.

I seem to come across Pentax users fairly often... there were a couple of Pentax users up on Mount Teide when I visited Tenerife last year. The other week I was walking down the street and nearly bumped into a K5 on a tripod, being used apparently by a professional photographer taking shots of a business premises.

---

[link=https://500px.com/will_brealey/[/link]

I was on the South Bank yesterday, so Peter, it's either a trip to Specsavers for you or perhaps my camera was in my backpack as we passed. What's more, I even had a guy come up to me and say 'I've got one of those' and start chatting about Pentax. Now, if you had a Canon or Nikon and someone did that, you might be right to be a bit suspicious. Pentax is such a select club

---

Regards, Christopher

ChristopherWheelerPhotography

Oddly, whenever I'm out and about in a group of photographers I seem to be surrounded by Pentax Users....

When we went to Skippool Creek, or, more accurately, when we went to view the flooded road to Skippool Creek, I only saw one other photographer. He was using a Pentax DSLR as well. Oh and there was Sue as well, so there were three of us, all using Pentax.

It must depend where you go.

---

Best regards, John

Whenever I see another Pentax user I greet them. Hasn't happened often though. I didn't see any other Pentaxes in Paris, they were probably all in Skippool Creek.

---

You can see some of my photos here if you are so inclined

Maybe its just Hampshire that's devoid of Pentax folk.

The only time I've spotted a fellow Pentax user in the wild (as opposed to on a PU awayday!) I was so shocked I forgot to say hello. Felt bad/stupid ever since.

So if someone on here was in Glenashdale, Arran on 30th May 2011, with what must have been a brand new K5, apologies and a belated 'hello'

---

Tim

Some of my vaguely better stuff

I see more Leica owners than Pentax ones! Other than my daughter, the only ones I know are on here.

---

Ken
“We must avoid however, snapping away, shooting quickly and without thought, overloading ourselves with unnecessary images that clutter our memory and diminish the clarity of the whole.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson -

I see a few Pentax users about, and they appear with some sort of frequency on workshops, but generally it's predominantly Canon and Nikon for SLRs, and Panasonic, Canon or Sony for compacts/bridge cameras. A small proportion use CSCs, mainly Sony or Panasonic, had my first Canon 'M' the other week, despite Canon claiming it's the highest selling CSC in the UK. Not many Olys turn up either.

I still vividly remember the day when I had 4 Pentax users (including myself), 3 Sony, and just one each of Canon and Nikon.

Dan

---

K-3, a macro lens and a DA*300mm...

I had a short holiday in New York at the end of last year and I was astonished at how many CSC owners I saw. A different market perhaps?

I was waiting outside a shop for my wife and daughter and heard a sickening crunch and turned around to see someone pick a Nikon DSLR off the pavement, he then handed it back to his friend, the owner.

---

Ken
“We must avoid however, snapping away, shooting quickly and without thought, overloading ourselves with unnecessary images that clutter our memory and diminish the clarity of the whole.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson -

Peter will remember that Pentax and Ronald Spillman (a press photographer with a column in AP) toured the UK with events for Pentax users. I attended one in a Glasgow hotel and they a had a slide competition with pretty good prizes.

---

Ken
“We must avoid however, snapping away, shooting quickly and without thought, overloading ourselves with unnecessary images that clutter our memory and diminish the clarity of the whole.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson -