Why do some people have multiple system gear?

"Pentax branded Tokina glass. Also you have to wonder why the price of the K10 is so low?"

 

That sounds very similar to a line another prolific poster uses...I wonder if you two are not the same...

 

Pentax and Tokina glass are far different.

 

I'll only post one example, and then I'll wait for your response. If you make one, I'll post a second and so on. By the time we are done you can let us know how foolish that comment was.

 

1) Pentax uses SDM motors in the 50-135 and 16-50. Tokina does not. Please let me know how this is a rebrand?

 

I don't wonder at all why the price of the K10D is so low, please explain to me though after answering #1.

" So February 2008 is year FOUR since Pentax production stalled for their move to Viet-Nam and their long drawn out dance with Hoya has since been the norm. Isn't 3-31-08 the 3rd date to seal this merge/takeover, whatever. Will this merge occur 3-31-08 and thus suddenly pentax will be able to offer a "SYSTEM" or just more promises?"

 

And for four years, like you, I've been unable to use my camera, or make any meaningful images. So have the rest of Pentax users. What should we do? You've obvisouly got the desire to fight the good fight but no plan.

 

Here is my plan:

 

The first thing is we must break the mind control beams Ned Bunnell uses to control us. Then we must increase the value of the US dollar. If we can do that, his power over MAP pricing will be nearly useless. Right now with the radio waves and mind control beams he's just too powerful to battle. I have a plan for insulating ourselves but I cannont share it here, people are watching.

 

Then, my diabalacle plan comes to a head (picture me laughing with my sinister Dr Evil laugh), we boycot Pentax once and for all. We don't buy used, new, 3rd party, anything in k mount or M42. We pretend the company never existed. We do this for at least 4 years (just like they've done to us). Anyone seen with a Pentax camera will immediately be tarred and feathered. Tried for treason and sent to the stockades where they will be giving a prison issue dollar store disposable camera to photograph with.

 

Lets try:

 

Q: Did you know Pentax was going out of business

A: Pent..what?

 

So simple, yet so very effective. Once we erase them from our memory we will be able to ignore all those rebranded lenses.

 

We make shirts that say "Who Screwed The K Lover" (obviously a play on the universal screw mount).

 

We picket the UN for the enforcement of the roadmap. Then we send our best orator to the floor of the General Assembly to convince the world that the reason Pentax has failed to produce a "system" is that they are hiding Saddams WMD in that Vietnam factory.

 

We do the Million Pentaxian march on Washington. Our signs will read "Equal Rights For The K mount" "Bring the roadmap home" and "We support the Kmount but not the company" or "K Mounts Are Cameras Too" or "Be Green, Ban Paper Roadmaps" "Impeach Bunnell" (and other equally catchy phrases stolen from the anti war, abortion, climate change and other movements)

 

We can't be apethetic. If we ever hope to raise an SMC viewfinder, with an in stock 600mm f/4 to our eye again, WE THE PEOPLE must fight this injustice.

 

Give me lenses or give me photographic death!!!

Godfrey - thanks for the info on the QS feature. The DA 40 is incredibly small. We'll see what happens with that.

 

Justin - very funny.

 

Lindy, why are you bothering with a system that isn't working for you? Save yourself some trouble and jump ship. I like the pentax gear, and it has afforded me the ability to get good equipment for a substantially less $$$. Plus, their bodies are what my mind and hands feel most comfortable with. But, pentax is a small company and if it's not producing what you want, go to another company or wait it out. Why did you bother buying into pentax if you desperately needed long, fast glass anyway? Traditionally, it's been the most expensive system for that gear for a long time - even when lenses were readily available.

 

What is keeping you from switching? (I really want to know)

Nathan, I am staying with K Mount because my wife loves her Samsung GX-1S. So you could say I am married to Pentax.

 

On the surface 2008 should be a great year for pentax. Being bought out by a glass manufacturing company whose other companies make camera lenses for Nikon & Canon ,that pentax codesigned, makes me think at somepoint it will benefit pentax k mount owners. One day maybe in 2008 prime focal length telephoto lenses promised a couple months ago will emerge from the Hoya-Pentax HD with prices. Depending on price and reviews I'll be able to buy in deeper or have a final reason to convince my wife otherwise.

 

I am equally curious if Samsung will continue to issue new K Mount products. I've seen nothing encouraging from them since Hoya won Pentax affections all those months ago yet their publically announced wedding dates get pushed back time and again. There was a point when Samsung was to be the buyer of Pentax Corp or better yet lets say Samsung was supposed to be their groom. Its too bad really, Samsung is Huge like Sony and Samsung would have certainly propelled pentax brand further than Hoya has today. So now 3-31-08 is the wedding date, and we're all invited.

 

In the meantime shoot whatcha got and happy holidays.

 

Lindy

Lindy - if the wife likes it, then you are stuck. :-) That makes a lot of sense now that you say it. Anyway, I think we all can agree that Pentax/Hoya have the opportunity to make 2008 a spectacular year for the dslr market. I'm looking forward to seeing the 200 F2.8 released (although I probably won't buy until needed) as well as the 55 F1.4 and a few others. I hope Sigma and Tamron jump on the bandwagon as well and that this lens shortage can finally go away. I'm still looking at the DA limiteds though. :-)

"pentax is a small company"

 

Yes indeed. Trouble is they used to be a big company. There was a time when Pentax was the most popular brand with amatuers, and decades of bad management have meant they haven't grown, while others have.

 

The debate here seems to be between rusted on Pentax fans continually apologising for Pentax or pretending that everything is fine and those that Pentax has burned off over the years like me. The fact that Pentax has managed to burn off a lot of its former customers is to me ample proof that things are not ok with it, and you can make all the exuses you like, but the fact that fans have to go to ebay and third party manufacturers in the first place tells me volumes that Pentax has major problems.

As someone once said: "it's horses for courses."

"but the fact that fans have to go to ebay and third party manufacturers in the first place tells me volumes that Pentax has major problems."

 

I agree to an extent. Having to buy used is crazy. But, even if I were in the canon system, realistically I would shop around among the third parties as well. But you are right - the fact that you *have* to is a problem. Currently, I wouldn't recommend the system to anyone who needs longer/faster lenses. Hopefully that will change soon.

 

Anyway, a few years ago, this wasn't a problem at all. You could have very nice pentax and third party glass pretty quickly. It's because of their recent success that it's all evaporated and that they are struggling to meet new lens demand that is orders of magnitude greater than expected.

 

So, my view is yes, they currently have problems - big problems. But, at least these are good problems to have. Let's hope hoya keeps them on track this time around. :-)

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<img src="http://homepage.mac.com/ramarren/photo/PAW7/large/32a-dpr.jpg"><br>

Fast Train - Train In Passing 2007<br>

<i>©2007 by Godfrey DiGiorgi<br>

Pentax K10D + DA21mm f/3.2 Limited<br>

ISO 100 @ f/6.3 @ 1/25 sec, Av </i><br>

</center><br>

<i>"Pentax is a small company." <br></i>

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For whatever reason doesn't concern me. Whether they have "problems" doesn't concern

me either ... that's all their business. I have enough concerns with my own business. <br>

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I bought Pentax gear for the first time only a couple of years ago, shortly after the

introduction of the *ist DS body. It was because they had quality lenses in the focal

lengths I was interested in and the Pentax DSLR bodies were solid, serviceable, and

practical. Good core capabilities for a reasonable amount of money. I have owned only one

non-Pentax lens (the Zenitar 16 FE), everything else of Pentax I'm working with I bought

new and does exactly what I want it to do. If it didn't, I'd sell it and buy something else.

Like anyone thinking rationally about equipment to do photography ought. <br>

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I don't expect any one company to have it all or be the "be all - end all" for my equipment

needs. Which takes us back to the original question of this thread ... "Why do people have

multiple system gear?" <br>

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Because some folks need or want things that any one brand might not. End of story. I'd

rather get on with the photography than worry about whether a particular manufacturer

was making everything I personally wanted... <br>

<br>

Godfrey<br>

Alas, I'm sitting on my couch waiting for a video to render and decide to find what wisdom

I've missed out on in this thread. Wow, I've been out using my K10Ds instead of reading this?

I really missed out. This whole time I thought my camera bags were filled with

useful tools and now I find out that Pentax hasn't made anything useful since 1998...

 

Dang them for not making the 600mm f/4 lens that I can't afford anyway...

I bought into Pentax equipment when Pentax was still a big company, not that that really matters. I bought into Minolta when it was still "a" company, that didn't matter either. I bought into Pentax DSLRs because I had some lenses to get started with, the camera was inexpensive and Minolta was in turmoil. I have never considered Canon since the models that interested me were not affordable, Nikon was also a little expensive at that time (D70 era), and I considered Olympus but realized that lenses were much more limited (only new zooms and a macro at that time).

 

Will I stay entirely Pentax? Probably not but I cannot afford anything else right now. I am enjoying my Pentax equipment, I have sold all but one non-Pentax lens and there is still a Minolta Maxxum 5000 with a 50mm f1.7 and a 70-210mm f4 in a bag just in case I decide to follow SONY. A couple of friends have Olympus so it is still tempting, and I have always liked Nikon.

 

Economics keeps me married to Pentax, but it is wedded bliss, no impending divorce here.

 

Ira

I have been a Pentax guy since I started to do photography, but a few weeks ago I became

interested into setting up a photgraphic trap, to rtecord wild animals in ther woods. To my

amazement, I discovered that Pentax camera are not suitables because they (and their

flashguns) needs to imput to go from sleep to shot.

 

So I soon will buy some used Nikon camera, one or two Nikkor lenses and two or three Nikon

flashguns just for this purposde, while I will contnue to use Pentax for the rest of my wildlife

photography.

Guido: I haven't tried this but there is an option in the K10D Set-up menu where you can set Auto Power-Off = Off. Does this effectively prevent the camera from going to sleep so it's always ready to shoot? I don't know the full effect on battery life but I suppose you could add external batteries (such as the grip) for longer-lasting power.