Rare Sighting......

Saw that rarest of rare sightings in Pompeii on Sunday - another person using a Pentax. I've had my K-r for almost a year now and have travelled to almost a dozen countries since then and this is the first time I've seen anyone with anything other than Nikon/Canon etc.

This was a Japanese gentleman with a K-r too. He didn't have any English and my Japanese is just about up to saying hello/goodbye and asking the name of their dog so we largely just smiled, pointed at the cameras and said Pentax a few times.

Pentac cameras are obviously like buses because the next day we were coming back from Capri on the ferry and I ended up stood next to a lady who also had a K-r. Luckily she was English so we could have a decent chat. She hadn't seen anyone else with a Pentax before either and rigorously checked everyone's camera straps for anything that wasn't Canon/Nikon. She was initially thrown by mine because I have one of the ones bought through this website with Ephotozine on it.

She had a go with my Sigma 10-20mm and decided she needed to get one!

When I had my K10D I met a person with a K100D in the Grand Canyon but she didn't want to talk.

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Pentax K1-ii and MZ6
Pentax Lenses 28-80 F, 300 DA*, 80-200 F, 35 F2.4 AL, M50 F1.7, 28-105 DFA, 20 F4 SMC
ONE UNITED Member

I thought it was obligatory for two people with Pentax cameras to talk. Like a secret handshake with the Masons or something. It's a sign that you have found someone with intelligence and good taste

Like motorcyclists and Land Rover owner wave to each other.

Last year on my Hurtigruten trip there were two other Pentaxes, though one only stayed onboard for a couple of days. The one was an American with a K-5 which he'd bought for the trip, never having had an SLR of any sort before. I spent a few hours helping him out with it, the other, only on for a few days was a Norwegian K-r.
This year there was another one - a German had a K-r. Sadly he didn't speak English and my German is equally non existent.

Is that why they're always falling off

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My Names Alan, and I'm a lensaholic.
My PPG link
My Flckr link

Actually we get knocked off by landrover drivers waving at each other... and I have a titanium plate and seven screws in my knee to prove it!

Oh well, at least my K10D was undamaged.

K.

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Kris Lockyear
It is an illusion that photos are made with the camera… they are made with the eye, heart and head. Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lots of film bodies, a couple of digital ones, too many lenses (mainly older glass) and a Horseman LE 5x4.
My website

No thats avoiding landrovers.
Two titanium plates and lots of screws in my thight.
Cheers
Dave

Also, when I visited the Empire State Building in New York, going through the overkill security I had to put the camera on to a plastic bin to pass through the xray machine. The security lady said "Nice camera". Pentaxians are everywhere

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Pentax K1-ii and MZ6
Pentax Lenses 28-80 F, 300 DA*, 80-200 F, 35 F2.4 AL, M50 F1.7, 28-105 DFA, 20 F4 SMC
ONE UNITED Member

Just finished a two week cruise up the Norwegian coast. The cruise liner had two thousand passengers. At every stop were other cruise liners visiting the towns. I never saw another pentax camera the whole trip.
The 'professional photographer' on the cruise ship took one look at my k5 and commented that Pentax make good film cameras. I felt someone real special to be sporting a Pentax camera.

Photographing a recent roller derby event there were 3 Pentax photographers there. Myself, another K-5 user and IIRC a K20D user.

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My Flickr • Pentax K-5 • K-5 II • Sigma 8-16mm F/4.5-5.6 DC HSM • Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD ASL • SMC Pentax-DA* 50-135mm F/2.8 ED [IF] SDM • SMC Pentax-DA 55-300mm F/4-5.8 ED • SMC Pentax-DA 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] WR • Vivitar 100mm F/3.5 Macro AF • Metz Mecablitz 58 AF-2

Maybe she just had a good taste. At a barbecue recently for a friends birthday a girl I hadn't met before with a Canon (450D I think) asked for a shot of my K-5. Not sure what impressed her so much as she only took a couple of shots with it but she looked a tad jealous and commented "Wow, you can tell this is a really quality camera."

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My Flickr • Pentax K-5 • K-5 II • Sigma 8-16mm F/4.5-5.6 DC HSM • Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD ASL • SMC Pentax-DA* 50-135mm F/2.8 ED [IF] SDM • SMC Pentax-DA 55-300mm F/4-5.8 ED • SMC Pentax-DA 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] WR • Vivitar 100mm F/3.5 Macro AF • Metz Mecablitz 58 AF-2

To be honest you are unlikely to own a Pentax unless you had put some intelligent thought into the purchase, given the overwhelming advertising from the other manufacturers, which makes it much more likely that you would want to chat with any other owners you meet and that they would want to reciprocate.

If it was the same for owners of other makes you wouldn't be able to move for the large groups stood around chatting, but spotting another Nikon/Canon user isn't exactly a challenge....

At a recent trip to Saltiare there was a large number of Pentax users walking around......Oh hold on, that was the group meet......

Seriously though, in Tallinn in May, there was a few Pentax users going around the city. I was pleasantly surprised.

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Some Cameras

I have never seen a Pentax DSLR (other than my own). I get the impression that Pentax really don't like to part with them. There are none in any of the three camera shops in Oxford, or any others I have visited. They aren't advertised, and when I bought mine I had to sign the official secrets act or risk a gagging order.

Actually that last bit is not strictly speaking truthful.

I, for one, research extensively before any expensive purchase. Very frustrating of course for salesmen who try to change my mind about what I'm buying. Sorry mate, your 5 mins sales pitch is never going to trump my several hours (at least, sometimes days) of research.

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My Flickr • Pentax K-5 • K-5 II • Sigma 8-16mm F/4.5-5.6 DC HSM • Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD ASL • SMC Pentax-DA* 50-135mm F/2.8 ED [IF] SDM • SMC Pentax-DA 55-300mm F/4-5.8 ED • SMC Pentax-DA 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 ED AL [IF] WR • Vivitar 100mm F/3.5 Macro AF • Metz Mecablitz 58 AF-2