Why did you choose Pentax?

Just wondered what made the people here choose Pentax?

From recent threads it can't be the great customer service or the vast range of modern lenses
Could it be you had a Pentax SLR and wanted to use the lenses or didn't want to be caught up in the Nikon and Canon virtual monopoly

For me it was something very trivial, did a search for DSLR's that used AA batteries and it was just Pentax that showed up
Read a few reviews, seemed good and been very happy with my K100D, but must admit to buying a K200D just this week.

Just interested in the reason for your choice, but thoroughly enjoying it here so looks like i'm hooked

Cheers
Rich

Price, I was looking for value for money that would allow me to try out my new hobby. Don't regret my choice as I have learnt so much using my K100d - am looking at a K20d now, but might wait to see if a new Pentax SLR brings the price down - what do you think, should I wait?

For me it was the solid heavy feel of the K20d that did it for me. I had intended to buy an Olympus as I have an OM1 and it has always proved Oggyproof, but when I picked up the K20d I was hooked.

My first proper camera was a Praktica MTL3. (I still have it). Being an SLR, with the feature of accepting other lenses, I bought a Vivitar 135mm for £10, which was horrible! Then came a couple of much nicer lenses... Takumars. The time came when I wanted a better camera. I knew by then that my screw mount lenses could be fitted to Pentax bayonet cameras, with an adapter, so I got the first of what would be many Pentaxes. Digital SLRs duly arrived and it was a no brainer as to which brand to go for. What else would I get, having all those lovely K and M42 lenses? - So, I chose pentax because of Praktica!

Value for money and the fact I still remembered when Pentax were as big as Canon and bigger than Nikon.

At the time I had narrowed it down to the Nikon D80 or the Pentax K10D.
Both are good cameras in my eyes but price, lens choice, weather sealing, SR inside and to ability to use older lenses and the build quality won me over.

I came from a Nikon D80 setup to a K10D then onto the GX20 - switched from Nikon due to the Nikon getting every so slightly wet in a brief shower which stopped half the buttons on the back from working!!

After looking at the Canon 400D that felt like a kids plastic toy that would squirt water out the front rather than take images, I settled on the K10D - I got the GX20 as I got a really good deal on it at the time.

My very first DSLR was an Olympus e500 which produced fantastic images, but gave me tunnel vision! lol!

My first Pentax was a P30 film camera as a birthday present. This was chosen virtually at random as I knew little about SLRs at the time. It was just the one the person at Dixons suggested.

When it came to digital, I gave more weight with my considerations to Pentax because I already had three lenses, but I was quite prepared to jump ship if I thought a different make was better overall. But the reviews of the *ist DS convinced me that I wanted the good viewfinder and general good value-for-money of the Pentax anyway. I got a second-hand one.

Ironically, I sold all but the cheapest (50mm f1.7) of my original lenses anyway. Even more ironically, I regretted selling the A 70-210mm f4 and bought another one.

Try this thread asking the same question
https://www.pentaxuser.com/forum/topic/Why-did-you-buy-a-Pantax-2667/p-0

I've had roughly the same experience with the K100D Super and I don't regret my choice either. I think I am going to wait to upgrade, I prefer to purchase other lenses for the time being.

My K20D is my first Pentax. I also own an Oly E-510 with Oly Pro grade lenses. I'm gradually moving over to Pentax for the following reasons:-
1) Weather and dust sealing / robustness.
2) Build quality.
3) Image quality.
4) Customisability (is there such a word?)
5) Camera feel and operation.
6) I prefer not to follow the crowd
Oly also ticks most of these boxes (for me) but they do not have a weather sealed body that I like (from a handling point of view).
So Pentax it is

The last SLR I bought was a Nikon FE2 in the 1980s, a very fine camera of the time. Incredibly well built. Since that one I'd had Nikon bridge cameras and compacts.

My k-m is my first DSLR. I was attracted by value for money and because Pentax wasn't of the really big, established players. I think one has more fun slightly out of the mainstream. The k-m felt very good and solid to hold and wasn't so plasticky as some other cameras I tried.

Since then I've discovered the Pentax series of Limited prime lenses. No other manufacturer does anything quite like these and at this kind of price, so for me they are the main point of having a Pentax. I can say that because I take photographs purely for enjoyment. There is everything to be said for zooms, of course. I have nothing against them and I expect I will get and use a good one eventually, but in the meantime I hope to have a darn good time with 2-3 of the DA Limited lenses. They are the "USP" of Pentax to me, though in-body stablization is a very good thing to have, too.

I really like the "Pentax colours" of the lenses I have. Pictures do seem slightly underexposed, but that is easy to fix when processing. Perhaps the metering does this deliberately, in order to avoid blowing the highlights. I don't know, but it works for me.

I chose Pentax because in 1978 the ME was the camera of the moment - along with its compact 40mm lens it was far away the lightest and most compact SLR package availlable.
From memory it cost £180.

When digital started to arrive Pentax were a bit slow off of the mark so I had a brief encounter with a 0.3 Megapixel Minolta compact digital [1997] (as soon as I took my first picture I was sold on digital and knew I would never use film again) and a 6 Megapixel Fuji bridge digital [2001].

I would have loved an *IST D when they came out but thought them overpriced but When the cost of DSLRs became a bit more realistic I bought an *IST DS in 2005.

Pentax DS won out over other makes/models of SLR because of the compatibility with my 'old' lenses. Having said that the quality of the 'kit' zooms (18-55 & 50-200) soon ment most of my old stuff stayed at home.

Today with the super DA* lenses the only old kit which regularly sees the light of day is my Pentax 28mm shift and the Tamron 500 mirror.

Pentax's great strength is in its lenses and its those which both attracted me to and keeps me loyal to the Pentax brand

It's quirky, like me.

Getting into Pentax was through my Dad buying a Spotmatic around 1964 or so. He very quickly changed to Nikon, feeling it looked more professional. I thought the Nikons very unwieldy and clunky by comparision, so when I finally could afford an SLR it was the Pentax SP1000 that I went for. Eventually this was upgraded to the bayonet ME Super and MX cameras, and then lens buying began...

As a "sidebar" I tried cameras and lenses by most makers, including Topcon, Olympus, Nikon, Canon, Fuji, Rollei, Zenit, Kiev, Konica and many more. Of all these I liked the elegant design of the Pentax best.

I went off their designs a bit with the SF and Z series (too bulky and clunky) although I am currently revisiting these. But then the MZ5 and MZ3 designs prompted me to upgrade again to AF as these once more hit the spot and regained that Pentax elegance.

The *istDS continued this design ethos into the digital era, and then of course to the K10D and K20D which is where we are now.

If you can use a K20D you can use a Spotmatic. The design has both updated and remained true to its roots, a rare thing indeed.