Ken Rockwell takes notice...

Photo pundit and tech blog keeper Ken Rockwell has famously been a Nikon enthusiast but has recently ratted to Canon by being seduced by the 5D...

However, this interesting little observation appeared in his finalised round up of the 'PMA' show;

Competitive Philosophy

Pentax' ads were cute, but very sad. Pentax has been one of the driving forces in Japanese photo gear for many decades. Want to know what light meter Ansel Adams used? He used the Pentax spotmeters.

It's sad that Pentax has to grovel to Canon and Nikon like this. Neither Canon nor Nikon ever made anything used by serious photographers, like Ansel's light meters or the extraordinary Pentax 67 medium-format SLR system which still creates images far better technically than anything from Nikon or Canon. Canon and Nikon have only made piddly 35mm cameras or digital SLRs used by amateurs and newsguys, not large format gear for serious artists (Nikon does make view camera lenses.)

Pentax shouldn't have to supplicate itself to Canon and Nikon.

DSLR Bodies

The K10D is $999 with lens ($899 body only) and is 10 MP with real IS-VR in the body. It works with just about every Pentax lens ever made, however since SLRs are all about the lens line to me, I prefer Nikon and Canon since I actually buy and use a lot of weird lenses that don't happen in Pentax or Sony. Most people buying these cameras couldn't care less about availability of $10,000 400mm f/2.8 AF lenses.

A pilot friend pointed out that with Pentax he could use fast manual-focus primes with body-stabilization for aerial shots in dim light, which is something that can't be done with Canon or Nikon. Canon and Nikon's faster IS or VR lenses are f/2.8 tele zooms, and with Pentax you could pop on a 50mm f/1.4. Interesting.

I want to try the K10D; everyone who has one loves it.


Actually, I'm not too sure about the accuracy of some of his 'historic' details,...Ansel Adams was a commited user of the British made SEI spot photometer long before the pentax, or any other, spot meters were even thought of.....

Hi,

Rockwell is one of the webs biggest idiots. He just shoots his mouth off to raise attention to his site. Many of his so-called reviews are mired with schoolboy errors and nonsense and it is very clear he does little or no research. He also contradicts himself all over the place. You show one example..he says no 'serious' photographer ever used any Nikon product, then has to back pedal when he sudddenly realises they have made superb large format lenses for years...classic Rockwell...PLONKER.

cheers Steve.