why oh why pick pentax ?

I had (and still have an Olympus C750uz) - decided to go for an SLR - read the spec's, the pro reviews and user reviews - went to Jessops in Wrexham and held and Oly, a Canon, a Nikon and the K10D

I was very nearly sold on the K10 but the Canon 400d and Nikon D80 had a chance until I handled the K10D

Regrets = none

I do not think it would cost you much more than £200 to upgrade to a 2nd hand K-5....

Why did I go Pentax? Okay, here we go.
I had (still have) a Praktica SLR. I went to Peru and got great shots. However I found it a bind to MF, certainly when shooting the condors. When I got back home, I decided to invest in an AF SLR with metering etc. I went to City Camera in Croydon (before they were bought by Jessops) and got some good honest advice about a replacement camera that gave me the same control as my Praktica, but in an electronic body. The Camera? the Pentax MZ-5n!
The CaNikons at the time did not give me what I wanted.
A small lens collection came along, and then Digital. Initally I was not impressed, and stuck to film. However, Digital took hold (I got a Fuji S5000) and then I was impressed. So, due to my lens collection, which included a not cheap Tokina 20-35 F2.8, I decided to take the plunge and buy myself a DSLR. The result was the *istDS. I have not looked back.
Frustrated at times with lack of certain focal lengths, but now VERY happy with the current holy grail of Pentax DSLR's, the K-5! Oh I also have a rather nice range of lenses too. Roll on the Big lenses and FF from Pentax now.

PENTAX : The underpriced, overqualified underdog of the photography world.

Best-in-class low light performance. When I got my K-5, it and the Nikon D7000 were really the only players in the game but the D7000 was never really in it for reasons I will explain below... plus at the time Pentax lenses were a bit cheaper than their Nikon equivalents. Not so much now sadly. Anyway there's a lot more to it than that and I did many, many hours of research but these are a couple of the salient points.

Anyways, before the K-5 came out I was considering a K-7 because of the ergonomics, compactness and some of the features but the less than stellar low-light performance was putting me off. I just really liked it and was thinking along the lines that it would be the perfect DSLR for me if only the low-light performance was better. Then Pentax came along and did exactly the best thing I could have hoped for - released a camera with (almost) exactly the same body and all the features I liked from the K-7, but with best-in-class low-light performance I craved. From that point on all my pennies were saved towards the K-5.

No regrets either. If only it had better low-light autofocus it would be the perfect camera for me... oh, that would be the K-5ii then.

My mum always wanted a Pentax, but my dad couldn't afford one ( this was in the mid eighties).
He bought her a Pracktica instead which she never did get to grips with.
When I first wanted to try an SLR I borrowed hers, but I still rememberd the Pentax thing.
So, when I wanted to buy, I bought a second hand Pentax MESuper.
From there I wanted to go digital and just looked at s/h Pentax as I already had a couple of lenses. As someone else has mentioned, when I bought into the brand I hadn't realised that it had falled from grace.

Having used a friend's Nikon, though, I wouldn't change.

Ergonomics for my hands and features for the money.

NB keen Amateur

About ten years ago I was given a Pentax Espio 928 by my brother. I really liked the compact Pentax, and managed to take some pretty good photos with it. After that I had a Ca..n Powershot A60 (2MP point and shoot). In 2009 I decided it was time for a proper DSLR, and after reading many many tests I decided to go for the Pentax K20D. The K20D revitalized my interest in photography, and now I am the happy owner of quite a few analogue Pentax SLRs, a 67ii, and the K-5 (and some lenses...).

I have read somewhere that Pentax for longer periods focused on invention and had many great engineers, while others brands focused more on marketing. I also like the idea of not necessarily going for the most "popular" brands based on sales figures, but instead finding out what I like. I like Pentax

I've only owned a Pentax camera for just over a week - I bought the K-30. I had been looking for a reasonably priced, relatively light and small DSLR for a few weeks. About a month ago my kids had bought me tickets for a dinner at a local church designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. I decided at the last minute to leave my Olympus E-3 behind because I felt size and weight would be an issue whilst sitting down to dinner. I was really kicking myself when I arrived and saw the church interior illuminated by CRM designed light fittings and regretted not having a camera. I decided then to buy a lightweight DSLR and had initially thought of the Sony A37 however when I handled the K-30 it just felt like a smaller version of the E-3 - very good ergonomics and easy in my big hands. I was looking for in body stabilisation, sensor dust cleaning, and most importantly high iso capabilities. So far I'm impressed.

My dad has been using a Pentax ME super since I was a kid. It hasn't been used quite awhile and a start using it to learn photography. I got attached, got a K-x and MZ-10 for myself

When a student, I spent much of my first term grant on a Pentax MX and happily used it for the rest of my days shooting with film. Although I tried out digital point and shoot cameras and video, I held back buying a digital SLR until I could afford a really good one, and one also capable of taking decent movies as well as quality photographs. Then the (re)search began.

DPreview’s assessment of the K-5 (83% Gold Award) caught my attention. I liked the compact design, robust construction, weather sealing, legacy lens compatibility, excellent image quality, movie resolution, ISO range, and significantly, that it was a Pentax. Never was one to follow the crowd.

When it arrived, I just held it, and that extraordinary sense of contentment which I had last experienced when I got the MX thirty five years earlier, came back to me. It’s the feeling you get when instinct guides you, you make a good decision, and know it.

For me, the Pentax K-5 does so much more than take good photos, it has reawakened a love of photography.

My first SLR was a Russian Zenit which had a good lens but I soon longed for a more sophisticated camera. At that time the pro photographers on the paper where I was a reporter were switching from Rollies to Pentax Spotmatics. So I had to have one.
In the early 1980s I had just joined a camera club in Durham and a member came along one night with his brand new Pentax MX. I was bowled over by this little gem of a camera. The Spotmatic was part exchanged for a new MX. This and the fact I had joined a camera club fired my enthusiasm for serious photography.
Later I had an ME Super and Z1 before moving into digital photgraphy in 2006 with an Ist DS. Then I had a pair of K10s and still have one of them although I now use a K5 and a sexy blue K30.
Why stick with Pentax? Because changing brands doesn't make anyone a better photographer. I have used a Nikon FM2 in film days but much preferred my ME Super which had similar specifications.
Pentax ergonmics are just superb and has had already been said Pentax quality is as good as more expensive offerings from Canon and Nikon.
David
PPG: http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

I had an Olympus E510 and wanted better low-light performance. Meanwhile my wife wanted a dslr and chose a white Km. It made sense to be using the same system so I bought a K7. It's low light performance was not fantastic, but I loved the ergonomics, so bought a K5 when they came out. I now have so many PK lenses, and like the K5 so much, that changing systems would be both expensive and pointless. I will probably get a K5 IIs soon.

My Fuji bridge camera died, so I decided to make the step up to DSLR.

Spent weeks (months and years according to Mrs A) researching and drew up a short list of Canon 550, Nikon 5100 and Pentax Kr.

Popped into Jessops, held the Canon, felt like a toy. The Nikon felt better, but still not right; so went home and ordered a Kr.

As soon as I opened the box and held her, I knew Pentax was for me, the Kr felt every inch a camera.

Since then, I have had a K200d, K7 and K5....now, what is next...

I picked Pentax because German Cameras are the Best!

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