So frustrating being a Pentax owner...

[night86mare]

Pentax does have some significant short comings
- no full frame model (645D is way out of reach for most people)
- lack of cheap options like the 50mm 1.8, 85mm 1.8 (partially addressed by the 35mm 2.4)
- limited range of lenses (no modern tilt-shift option, no modern lens longer than 300mm)
- poor third party support/supply (very difficult to get third party lenses in k-mount here, impossible to rent camera or body)
- terribly flash system (hopefully addressed soon)

actually, i don't view the no FF model as a shortcoming.

i think it's great, it means that pentax can actually bother on something that's easier to produce, instead of forcing digital into a film format and incurring horrible costs when doing so. and true enough, in the long run, pentax R&D has caught up and gone past the other companies who are trying to juggle everything else. :bsmilie:

 

[Yamakasi]

usually i will try to wait for FW once-a-while sale to buy my lens :bsmilie:

 

[rocaway]

usually i will try to wait for FW once-a-while sale to buy my lens :bsmilie:

You and everyone else

 

[airconvent]

actually, i don't view the no FF model as a shortcoming.

i think it's great, it means that pentax can actually bother on something that's easier to produce, instead of forcing digital into a film format and incurring horrible costs when doing so. and true enough, in the long run, pentax R&D has caught up and gone past the other companies who are trying to juggle everything else. :bsmilie:

Agreed. I don't know what is this obsession with full frame camera which most here do not need at all unless you are into professional photography. It makes the camera expensive and bulky. And all those nice shots you have and countless others in the galleries here are taken with aps-c. In fact, a colleague of mine has a Sony FF camera but I can't really tell the difference with his images. The bokeh may be easier but that's if you shoot portraits exclusively. I personally think that Pentax should continue to leverage on the success of their aps-c offerings to conserve resources.

 

[OPERA58]

Well, being a Pentaxian is unique, we are not like the crowd. It's cool, but you should foresee that we won't be able to get some stuff as easily as other brand users. If we can't live w/ that, better change cameras. All cameras on the market are more than enough to most users, we choose Pentax because it's unique, it's cool, and it's interesting.

And I really don't suggest you to buy a lens like 18-250 unless you plan to use it for travel. There are better and cheaper alternatives out there. BTW, the Pentax 18-135 is a very good lens, small and compact, very fast AF and decent IQ. Wait for my review and you'd be wanting one yourself

I agree with Fengwei, being a pentax it unique. i'am not as those with more $$$ to spend
and rather love to use old lens no doubt slow but it fill my needs. I not only using pentax mf lens, also others like nikon and minolta mod. to pentax...they are great lens.

 

[alanpotpot]

Agreed. I don't know what is this obsession with full frame camera which most here do not need at all unless you are into professional photography. It makes the camera expensive and bulky. And all those nice shots you have and countless others in the galleries here are taken with aps-c. In fact, a colleague of mine has a Sony FF camera but I can't really tell the difference with his images. The bokeh may be easier but that's if you shoot portraits exclusively. I personally think that Pentax should continue to leverage on the success of their aps-c offerings to conserve resources.

How about using your 43mm as normal and 31mm as a wide angle?

But I don't mind if Pentax does not have FF. Like what you said Pentax needs to conserve resources. If the market is there they will build it anyway.

Now they have a cheap 35, maybe we can have a cheap portrait lens?

 

[rocaway]

if the da35 sells well worldwide (which i think is very likely), then it just might convince pentax to up production of these cheaper lenses. i'm sure it will make good business sense to release new da versions of some of the good legacy lenses, no need to develop optical formulas from scratch. da 50 1.7 anyone?

 

[CorneliusK]

Agreed. I don't know what is this obsession with full frame camera which most here do not need at all unless you are into professional photography. It makes the camera expensive and bulky. And all those nice shots you have and countless others in the galleries here are taken with aps-c. In fact, a colleague of mine has a Sony FF camera but I can't really tell the difference with his images. The bokeh may be easier but that's if you shoot portraits exclusively. I personally think that Pentax should continue to leverage on the success of their aps-c offerings to conserve resources.

I agree with night86mare's and airconvent's points, Pentax has done well by choosing not to go with full frame. Its just that recently I have been shooting a great deal of portraiture, and the appeal of full frame for this specific type of photography is hard for me to ignore...

Then I look at the price for a FF camera, as well as other galleries of fabulous portrait shots taken by APS-C cameras, and realise that there is still a lot of room for me to improve. Getting a FF just for the sake of DOF at my current skill level would be hardly be a wise investment.

Thus, Pentax lineup still currently best suits my photographic needs / skill level / budget.

 

[yappiez]

Ok...

Anyone wants to share some tested and proven sites for online purchase for lens?

Now having gain more understanding on this subject on this thread, i guess this is the route to go.....

help help..

 

[Fireemblem]

B&H
Adorama

 

[Tachyon]

B&H
Adorama

For more expensive lenses I would only recommend these two.

However, for cheaper lenses or non-glass accessories, it pays to check out Amazon.com.

Coincidentally, I have the same issues when I got my K-7 a year ago! I was hunting around in Singapore for the Pentax 16-50mm and after calling the usual suspects for a few weeks ("Hello, do you have the Pentax 16-..." "No!") I succumbed to MSC's suggestion to go for the Tamron 17-50mm instead. Although I could find no fault with the 17-50, deep down I still miss owning the 16-50mm. Now that the price of 16-50mm has gone up, I have given up on owning one (I hate paying more for the same item).

As for switching brands, my advise is - determine what is your priority in a camera and follow it, and not follow the brand. The worst thing that can happen to you is to get stuck with a brand and watch all the other cameras from other manufacturers overtake yours while you struggle to get the picture you want which can be done more easily.

When someone asks me "What camera (brand) do you have?". I will stare at them blankly and ask: "For what purpose?"

Switching brands because of non-availability of lenses will short-change you in terms of utilizing your camera to its maximum potential.

One disadvantage which was not mentioned was that for Canon and Nikon cameras, since the base is larger, you have more reviews and hands-on information available in the web. Try finding a review for any Pentax lens and you will probably find only a handful of reviews. That makes choosing a lens for Pentax a much more challenging exercise than say the other mainstream brands.

I left K-7 for the 1D4 as the latter gave me what I wanted in terms of ISO sensitivity. But now that the K-5 appears to achieve the same performance with good DR and lighter weight (did I mention I like K-7 for the travel-friendly size and weight?), I am looking this way again.

Choose wisely, my friend.

 

[yappiez]

I certainly hope no one is being discouraged by this thread to become a Pentax owner.
Here's a link I found that you might want to read.

http://www.digitalrev.com/en/5-reasons-why-pentax-dslrs-are-not-that-rubbish-7090-article.html

The web is flooded with information and opinions and at end of the day, there is nothing like holding the camera in your hands and discovering what potential it can give rather than what it cannot do... (newbie opinion tho..)

PS. Got the lens I wanted from BnS. Definitely going to keep me busy for a while. Thank you all for helping me through the tough times. lolx..

 

[Lx3ChuA]

After reading this thread I can understand how the TS felt. I am a Fujifilm user myself but I still find tar the colors and the skin tone it produce all very nice. I was choosing for another camera to replace my S5 pro when it RIP.. I tin I will choose pentax.

To TS u may find it hard to buy any lens in any of the shop but tin of this way it will help u save lots of money.. Concencrate on wat u got... Sharpen ur skill... End of the day u will be better than those bbB..")

 

[Zeroplus1]

somehow i wished for cheaper alternatives to sigma's 17-70 f2.8-4 to be used as a travel lens.

 

[mikestation]

I bought Pentax coz... with less lenses to choose from I can concentrate on taking photos than succumbing to the LBA.

But didn't seem to work. Now I got 5 lenses and a flash already.

I got no grouses with lenses. But hope than Pentax flash system can get better (or is it me who don't know how to use that Metz-58 properly). :dunno:

 

[felixcat8888]

I bought Pentax coz... with less lenses to choose from I can concentrate on taking photos than succumbing to the LBA.

But didn't seem to work. Now I got 5 lenses and a flash already.

I got no grouses with lenses. But hope than Pentax flash system can get better (or is it me who don't know how to use that Metz-58 properly). :dunno:

Only 5? Should get more :devil:

 

[banana0ne]

I bought Pentax coz... with less lenses to choose from I can concentrate on taking photos than succumbing to the LBA.

But didn't seem to work. Now I got 5 lenses and a flash already.

I got no grouses with lenses. But hope than Pentax flash system can get better (or is it me who don't know how to use that Metz-58 properly). :dunno:

5 is few, better buy more... :lovegrin:

 

[poseur]

)
But didn't seem to work. Now I got 5 lenses and a flash already.

5? pentax kx was my first dslr, actually that time my budget was for D90. end up after much research decided to go pentax, so used the D90 budget an brought over 11 lenes and 1 flash within the next 2 month...ahahaha... i know someone, newbie like me now have 21 lenes now....;p;p;p

 

[airconvent]

Usually lucky number is 8. So 8 lenses would bring good luck.
That's why i have 8 lenses for my kx.

 

[JinG14]

5? pentax kx was my first dslr, actually that time my budget was for D90. end up after much research decided to go pentax, so used the D90 budget an brought over 11 lenes and 1 flash within the next 2 month...ahahaha... i know someone, newbie like me now have 21 lenes now....;p;p;p

21 lenses ? omg thats a lot