Just noticed

My K10 is Moose Proof
I think cameras are in the same league as motorcars, printers, computers, mobile phones etc. The designs are a compromise. Very few set out to be 'The Best in the World', Rather best in Class. They aim for a particular market, considerations of cost,functionality, performance, visual appeal, emerging technology, USP's, colours etc. Personally, when I buy these products, I am faced with enormous choice and try to find the Model/Make that will 'do' what I want it to do and most importantly I can afford. Having said that I have a weakness for Swedish Motorcars and Pentax cameras because I perceive them to have a good build quality.

In terms of prestige, the Pentax is a product very well made but costed to be affordable in a wide market. In many cases, these sort of products can actually have features or qualities that the more expensive ones neglect or don't do well.

So, for example, the Contarex and Voigtlander SLRs of yesteryear were arguably better made than any of the Japanese products, but in terms of design they were heavy, clunky and out of step with the world. And unaffordable.

The Spotmatic worked slicker, had great lenses and was made well enough to sweep the board clean. It was also smaller, lighter and affordable. Still not cheap though!

I was looking at SLR lenses in the 1980s and when the Pentax ones were as smooth as silk, the Contax ones were very stiff to operate and were not finished as well, regardless of whether or not they were better lenses optically.

But Skoda? No, not even close.

It will be dificult for Pentax but I do hope they try. Of course, with the ammount of advertising budgets ,the Big 2 could , if they wanted to , quite easily "see off" Pentax but that would be a shame.

I tend to spend a long time perusing the market for whatever item it is, be it big boys toys, trainers , you name it and whenever possible look to a lesser know brand if it provides better value.
I keep looking at the Big 2 but am drawn back to the K7 and the encouraging reviews of late just enforce my decision to opt for the Pentax.
Of course the "bewildered herd" will opt for whichever camera Comet, Dixons ,Currys push in front of their noses.

Its forums like these that can help a newcomer to get a more reliable view before making a choice.

Howard

Think we are all rising to the bait again - let’s face it if one of us were to be insulting about one of the other Cameras and kit we would be told that was un-necessary and that is right. Generalization is never right, all manufactures will produce the good the bad and the ugly, IMO Pentax have a good record of producing quality goods at a un-inflated prices – high prices do not mean high quality, it often means high advertising costs and gifts to retailers.

So why are people who have nothing good to say about our chosen system bothering to post on this forum it can only be to wind us up so lets ignore the ignorable shall we.

For me the 'Prestige' thing is totally irrelevant. I prefer to have the labels on the inside of my clothes and not splashed across the front. Badge engineering is a marketing device. Built down to a price, built up to a standard. What PC World want to 'sell' me is not always what I am seeking to 'Buy' but I really appreciate the wide choice. Competition, innovation, price wars. Bring it on

Go up to someone with a nice big Adidas logo on their T shirt and say
" Beckham gets paid £7M for advertising thier stuff, how much are they paying you ?"

Maybe don't. Camera's are generally worn round the neck not elswhere?

Regards

Thanks for the great advice Tried it. He grunted twice and bopped me on the nose
I now have blood on my LCD screen

I found this discussion very amusing and have to say that I agree that Pentax is a ‘better’ product than Canon and Nikon in some ways just as Canon and Nikon are ‘better’ products in their own way. I the far past I used both Pentax and Canon and enjoyed both, but I did find the Pentax Spotamatic II and the Pentax ME was nicer to handle for my hands than the Canon and that the Pentaxs both had better viewfinders, lenses well lets just say all were fantastic in the resolution and quality, even many independent manufactures were super optics. I include Nikon here as I have handled and used then a bit, all were friends’ cameras while some were cameras that I demonstrated for a camera shop. Another thing is that as far as lenses go many bought blanks from each other while Pentax, Canon, Olympus?, and Minolta made their own glass others purchased the raw blanks from other sources as did the Top 5, Minolta, Canon, Nikon, Pentax and Olympus. Many parts and lenses were also outsourced by all these manufactures as well as others, Yashica, Konica etc. Ther was also interchange of technologies, way back in the 1970’s and up to and still today.
No wonder that there as many similar and well just plain the same features within the modern day SLR. The same goes for cars, many manufactures using the same engine in their models, Toyota Yaris, Chev Spark, etc,for an example, capacity varies but it is the same engine assembly from the same manufacture.
This practice is very common in industry and can be found all over, in fact there was only really two factories in Japan, I think that is still true today, that made lens glass and lenses for all the major camera houses.

Are you sure, John?

Both are brands made under aegis of a major multi-national company.

And while not the top seller, Skoda cars are regularly judged among the finest in Europe by motoring cognoscenti. I'd think Pentax would be happy to have such a repuation for reliabilty, design and performance.

Was watching the Beatles documentaries earlier in the week ( my era I'm afraid :0) and if I am not mistaken The Beatles and a vast majority of the press seeemed to be sporting what looked like Ashai Pentax cameras around their necks ?

Howard

Skoda fanboy...

I agree with you... prestiege cars don't make any sense to me... performance cars? you'd have to spend hundreds of thousands to get a car that matches my $3000.00 japanese litrebike....

figures I'd own Pentax...

Hi Elva and welcome to the forum.

Elva said:
I found this discussion very amusing and have to say that I agree that Pentax is a ‘better’ product than Canon and Nikon in some ways just as Canon and Nikon are ‘better’ products in their own way.

I have to agree with you, a balanced view! Sometimes these discussions about Brands get a trifle vexed, but not as vexed as matey in the Adidas T shirt, not all advice on here is good. Still got my nose in a sling

Maybe we should all join the fray and wear our Pentax T shirts ?

Howard