NUMBER 7!

<p>I bought my first Pentax K10D (after using k1000s many years earlier) in early 2008. I have been keeping a running count of all the other Pentax DSLRs I have seen in use since it's a low number.<br>

Saw number 7 on a ferry ride yesterday, a guy with a light German accent. <br /><br />Even at events like the easter parade with thousands of people walking around with DSLRs, I never see any, and I told my girlfriend I'd give her five dollars if she found one. I still have the five dollars.</p>

<p>I am simultaneously thrilled and heavily disappointed in that this morning I missed getting a complete Pentax show stand, complete with 21 or so dummy Pentax dSLRs and dummy lenses from my beloved camera store, now in process of closing down.</p>

<p>As my wife used to say: "Where will you put it?" [i never asked but thought she had a definite place in mind for me to "put it".]</p>

<p>The display case was about 1.5 m high, rotating shelves, and dummy Pentaxes in every color of the rainbow.</p>

<p>Sob, cheers! I haven't felt like this since we missed out on getting the still-operable 9-ton armored cars that were being surplused out by the local SAC base when I was in high school. :|</p>

<p>That's hilarious, and I totally relate.</p>

<p>My first Pentax DSLR was an *ist DL in.... 2007? Right before I bought my *ist DL, I saw a husband and wife team shooting a pair of original *ist D's with full kits - battery grips, 70-200 2.8s etc. They were shooting in Kensington Market in Toronto.</p>

<p>Since then, I've seen a couple of K100D's (one at Medieval Times, one at the Canadian National Exhibition), a storm-trooper K-x on the street, and a Japanese girl in New York City with a K-01.<br>

<br />So that's six...</p>

Not that I keep an over all count, but I've seen a lot more than that. On my trip alone to Australia over the last 4

months saw at least 7, 2 Japanese shooters,1 French woman, 2 Australians, and 2 Americans. I usually introduce

myself over the camera (it's a great ice breaker). The French women and I kept bumping into each other in Tasmania

and to her she would say to her friends, "Hey, it's the Pentax guy again!"

<p>Same experience... I used to be in a couple of photo clubs, but I was the only one with a Pentax, while everyone else was carrying either a Nikon or Canon.<br>

My question is... Pentax was the first bayonet mount, the first TTL metering, the first (fill in blank), yet there is such a low opinion of them.<br>

Give me a Pentax, Nikon and Canon, exact same subject, lighting, shutter speed, etc. and it would hard, if not impossible, so see a difference. So why the bad rap?</p>

<p>It's marketing. Or lack of!<br>

We have nothing to be jealous, if you exclude the long end of lenses for sport and wildlife work according to some.<br>

I am perfectly happy with Pentax bodies and my glass!<br>

<br />By the way, I have met only a couple of people with Pentax cameras over the many years and they were not from the U.S..</p>

<p>Now this is a fun game! I live in a province that is 720,000 sq km and only has 500,000 people - so how many Pentax DSLR camera's have I seen here? Lets see…the father of one of my daughters friends has an istD…that's 1! My friend Rob has two K-20's…that's 3! The lady with the K-7 I sold my FA 50 to after getting the 40 pancake…that's 4! The lady I met at Henry's Camera who had two K-30's…that's 6! The university student I sold my K-100D Super to when I got the K-5II…that's 7! Do I count with my K-5 II to make it 8?</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Huh? Don, you must have gotten something wrong."My question is... Pentax was the first bayonet mount, the first TTL metering, the first (fill in blank)" - They surely didn't have the 1st Bayonet mount. - But probably the first integrated pentaprism and first instant return mirror back behind their m42 screw mount + yes of course the TTL metering in 1963.<br>

Some TV journalist used to borrow or rent my K20D & stuff when he did stills asignments on the side and got sufficiently convinced by Pentax IQ to own a k10D for a while - I think he is back to Nikon these days. and might count as the the one sighting I am recalling.<br>

Back in the late 80s it was thrilling to run into fellow LX owners. - I met 2, besides the guy who sold 4 of his. - The East German guy who swapped a bunch of CZJ primes against a SF7 + zoom was also impressive. <br>

I think Pentax glory &/ market share must have ended in the early 80s. back at school there were at least 3 teachers with ME MG & the like and 2 ME supers among my father's buddies. A friend's family had Spotmatics so I felt far from odd starting out 35mm with a Super A.</p>

<p>"They surely didn't have the 1st Bayonet mount."<br>

My mistake, I thought they did. I know screw mounts were the norm, but I was under the impression that Pentax developed the K-mount first, with Nikon, Canon, and (the Studabaker of the camera world), Minolta climbing aboard thereafter.</p>

<p>How many people have you seen walking around with a Leica M8, or a Mamiya 7, how about a Hasselblad, a Sigma SD1 with Foveon sensor, how about an Olympus E3. These are all great cameras, just not very popular with the public for one reason or another.</p>

<p>I'm very proud of my Pentax K-5 II. I like the way it looks and feels. Slap on one of the limited lenses on it and people think I'm carrying an exotic $2000+ camera. They might say "Oh it's just a Pentax" until they see the pictures this camera makes.</p>

<p>On the other hand, Pentax has a very low advertising budget always have. Notice all the advertisement that are placed in the back of Photo magazines by/for Canon and Nikon. Not only do retailers and third party manufacturers promote these 2 brands they seem to shun the rest this also goes for Olympus.</p>

<p>I don't really mind because this way they have to keep the prices down, once word gets out and Pentax gear becomes more popular, you can bet the prices are going to go up with it... </p>

<p>In the wild I have seen a comparable number of Olympus 4/3 SLR bodies to Pentax; that is to say, several a year but a small fraction vs Canon or Nikon, and somewhat fewer than Sony. Maybe in recent years I'm finally seeing more Pentax than Olympus E-series (and these aren't generally high-end like E-1, E-3, etc. more like E-410).</p>

<p>As far as popularity and prices, I think the price hikes over the past couple of years have already pushed Pentax much closer to competitors than they were when I first started accumulating Pentax gear in 2006.</p>

<p>I don't think the average photographer has an especially low opinion of Pentax gear, they are mostly so ignorant of it that they don't recognize it, or maybe even know it exists.</p>

<p>Harry, not talking about individual rare models, just the whole brand. I see a lot of Leicas, this IS NYC with lots of foreigners with money. I'm talking about ANY Pentax DSLRs. Ditto with Olympuses, see many more of them.<br /><br />By the way, it was one of the Star Wars storm trooper ones, K50 I think.<br /><br />Maybe they advertise more overseas?</p>

<p>JDM... if it wasn't for wives and mothers throwing stuff out, nothing old would be worth anything.<br>

And remember, Pentax SLRs were also one of the first waterproof cameras. Just watch Ringo in A Hard Day's Night accidentally drop his in the water and give it to the kids, and it still works.<br>

I saw a storm trooper the other day from the side and thought I found number 8, but it turned out to be a Nikon. <br /><br /><br /></p>