Why did you choose Pentax?

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Not sure this qualifies as a great pic, but it's the shot that won me a K1000 (plus a couple of lenses) in the tale related a few posts earlier. This was taken with Spotmatic and Takumar 250mm prime, from quite a long way back in the crowd at Paddock Hill Bend, Brands Hatch. It was a support race at the 1978 British GP, so the circuit was absolutely packed. Getting shots was a matter of pot luck, trying to find a gap between other spectators' heads.

The chap who won the BMW 316 submitted a capture from Lodge Corner, Oulton Park, which was also my regular haunt. I took this shortly after disembarking from an overnight coach trip between Cheshire and Kent...

It's a good shot - and I can see why Pentax liked it!

Great shot! I can even see it as a portrait to be honest

When I was at school, I used a hand-me-down Kodak Retinette. Another boy in my class received a Pentax for Christmas. In today's money it would have cost over £3,000, which seems a lot for a Christmas present for a 15 year-old.

But the camera was a joy to behold, and to hold. My father had a Miranda D at the time - a ground-breaker in its day - but the Pentax just seemed much nicer, and I became determined to have one.

It was eight years before I could afford my own Pentax, and I have never considered any other make of 35mm or digital SLR.

Interestingly, both cameras were Spotmatics, though different variants. The range lasted from 1964 until 1975, which would be unheard of today.

G

I used to have a Ricoh XR-X and had 4 lenses with it which fitted the K-r and when I handled the rest the Pentax felt by far the best, now i've got it i'm over the moon with it.

Why Pentax? Quite simple, it was the cheapest serious dSLR (K10D) at the time and packed with features that were unique in its class. I was coming from film Nikon F90x and initially I was looking at Canon, but browsing through reviews I noted some high regards for Pentax K10D and it won my heart. I still like the camera although I sold it long time ago. But honestly it was price/performance which got me into Pentax.

The K5 was my first DSLR. I spent about two months reading reviews, comparing every element of the specification with its rivals, making spreadsheets etc. The K5 was coming out on top and then I held one and fell in love with it.

The dixons/curry's pc world ebay seller screwed up their prices for a few hours and I got me a K7 and the 2 kit lenses for about £230 from there. A friend at work had the K20 and loved it so I didnt think twice. After having a Praktica SLR way back I'd alway hankered after a decent DLSR but couldnt justify the expense. I may have got a bargin to start off with but photography has cost me a pretty penny since then. Never liked running with the pack so am very happy Pentax found me.

Pentax should, nay, NEEDS to use your quote in their promotional material. Seriously.

because Pentax made slr cameras that is what i knew. had made slr cameras since i could remember even though i had never had a serious photographic thought in my head but the name was there, so a K7 was purchased as my first dslr after playing with a couple of point and shoot and a fuji bridge.
Sony make hi-fi,tv, Canon make printers, Nikon lenses so in my mind Pentax, because of the name, made CAMERAS. where else would i go with that mind set, and not regreted it, frustrated sometimes but in the end that,s usually my fault

There is a bit of theme there, I felt that way as have others who have contributed to this thread.

The K10 was my first camera, mainly because the local camera shop had it at a good price and when I compared the reviews, online prices thats what I bought. The shop no longer stocks Pentax, hence probably why it was a good price as he was clearing his stock.

I must confess that knowing what sort of pictures I like taking 3 years on I would probably not make that decision now, however a modest collection of glass keeps me loyal !

Regards

George

My story is fairly simple.  I've been thinking about a DSLR for as long as I could remember.  I borrowed an E-510 Olympus which took my Avatar picture for about a month and was amazed at the quality of the shots I got with it on auto settings. 
 
Unfortunately 2 years later I couldn't find that model, and all of the other Olympus camera's in that specification were pretty expensive.  I then went through the process of looking at camera's, finding prices and generally seeing what was available.  Looking through similar forums for Canon and Nikon I found most of them discounted Pentax, Olympus, and Sony as inferior brands.  At first this didn't help, but I knew the quality of Olympus and started to discount their opinions as being biased.
 
I saw Jessops had an offer on the twin lens K-X and the K-R kits.  Looking over both of them it appeared the only difference was the battery type which is why I chose the K-R.  I went to PC world as it was closer and they price matched plus 10% (I couldn't be bothered to go all the way to Jessops). Even then they dried to sell the other two brands over the Pentax.
 
So now I'm getting my head around a DSLR and trying to learn how to take proper shots with it.
 
If community is anything to go by I'm glad I made the choice I did.  I have yet to see any post saying Pentax is superior to any others or that any other brand is sub standard.

about 9/10 years ago i went on to ebay to look for a film camera because i have always been interested in photography and wanted to get a camera to see what it was like....

saw a pentax ME super for sale and did some internet research to see what people said about the camera and all the things a read were really positive so i thought that i would just go for it...

I think cost me about £20-£25 for the camera with a smc pentax A 50mm f/1.7 lens, some filters, manual, shutter release cable, a camera bag and i'm sure a few other things that i can't remember right now...

It was the best thing i ever did, it's such a great camera and simple to use for someone who had no experience with camera at the time

i've always found pentax cameras easier to use, even now with my pentax K-x compared to some on the canons that i use in college seems more user friendly

How many reasons do you want?

1. MX
2. LX
3. K20D
4. A* lenses (and A lenses)
5. FA* lenses (and FA lenses)
etc