Pentax K20D cheaper, USA only?

Tell him I do weddings send him here,
http://s486.photobucket.com/albums/rr227/TTKPhotography_2009/TTK%20Photography%20Weddings%202008/

see what he thinks

He has seen it done it, it's the label thing, the kids today all want the latest "label" not if it is any good, the add men have done the "brain washing" bit.
It's like cars they would not buy a car with the wrong badge on the front, because of image.
Sad isn't it.

It sure is.

Still it leaves the best stuff for us

people purchase what they think is the BEST and not always the BEST for them. this because I remember going into a camera store to look at glass and everyone first camera they wanted to see was either the CANON or the NIKON but once upon it was NIKON and the sales lady at Henry's in Ancaster said have you though of the following as this makes you needs better which they said is not PROFESSIONAL and said you purchasing their top of the line so this and that is better and a few times even steered them towards PENTAX Point and Shots and DSLR.

but i still remember camera club members laughed in 1985 when I purchased my MINOLTA MAXXUM 7000 as it was auto-focus they said who wants and auto-focus and build in motor drive in a camera, today try finding a camera which does not feature these. but i still remember when showing it off to a friend he told me my next camera would not use film and looked at him quite strangely at the time. yet he was right when i went digital in 2006 with the *ist DL2 with 18-55 / 50-200 mm and other stuff.

But then look at it from his point of view.
What you say also holds up for 90% of the general public, if they need a wedding photographer they want one with a "proper" camera so its Nikon or Canon.
If he goes into a wedding with a Pentax he would more than likely get some strange looks from the guests who all think (wrongly) that Pentax is not good enough for the job.
When it came for them to recommend a photographer the bride tells her friend, the photos were great but he used one of those old Pentax cameras ... how many jobs is he likely to lose because of it?

Well I admit to buying Pentax originally because the ME Super was the "camera of the year", top selling SLR at the time, etc etc. I knew pretty much nothing else about cameras at the time, apart from a few reviews in the magazines, and bought it because it was "the camera" to have at the time.

Luckily for me, it started a 25 year love affair with Pentax equipment. Mind you, I skipped everything from the ME Super/MX/LX until the K10D.

I'm quite curious when it went wrong for Pentax?
Was it the autofucs thing, they were quite late with that I believe.

Well they got in quick but not with a good design (the 35-70mm on the ME-F). Not sure what happened after that. The P-series was a bit tacky, the SF and Z series were pug ugly, the MZ series seem back on track to me and get the best comments of the AF models.

I am sure some of our more knowledgeable Pentaxians will have a better answer.

K.

Thank you Kris, I've search a bit myself but haven't found much, only the good things so far.

WOW
this one looks far better then the white K-M, why didn't we get this one???

That, my friend, is a prototype made for Pentax's 50th Anniversary. It did not go into production though. What a pity. . .