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Well.. Pentax has some very good cheap primes. They are extremely sharp and leightweight. The lenses are really outstanding for its price. The only bad thing about the Pentax lenses is that it doesnt go longer than 300mm. Yes you can use the 300mm prime+kenko 1.4 teleconverter to keep SDM. Well there are longer lenses, but you have to order them at the Pentax factory. But on the other hand the longer Canon and Nikon lenses also start after €1100. Most amateurs I know with Canon and Nikon use Sigma for longer lenses, just like Pentax owners. In the <€1000 range there is only a little difference.

Being the dying brand is not true (thats a Nikon and Canon argument). Pentax makes profits again on the camera market. The K-r and K5 are very competitive. There is still a FF rumour that is becoming stronger. Pentax has ambitions to grow.
I think Olympus is giving up in the DSLR market.

Pentax should have a professional camera (not just medium format), faster flash sync., own teleconverter (1.4 was anounced 1,5 years ago) and bring out a modern FA* 80-200 F2.8 with SDM and a DA* 400mm F5.6. That makes them more competitive.

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| Pentax K5 | Pentax K10D | DA* 300 F4 | M 50mm F1.7 | Sigma AF 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 DC MACRO | AF 360 FGZ |

I believe that the K5 is the first Pentax to switch over to a Sony sensor.

Being a big fan of “choice” in any product field, I hope that these high marks aren’t too little too late for the brand.
They probably should have jumped on the 12.3 MP sensor bandwagon some years ago with the D300 & D90.

The K10d had a Sony sensor (2006). This camera got high marks and rewards etc. With the K20d they switched to Samsung. A very bad choice. The K7 also had a Samsung sensor. They made a very big mistake. If they didnt switch the K7 probably had the same sensor as the D300s and D90. The Pentax K-x already had a Sony sensor. Also got high scores. Now the K-r and K5 both have a Sony sensor. They made a good step. Now they should keep this direction.

Having more quality brands makes the market interesting. Since Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax and Olympus are competing in the DSLR market the technique developed rapidly. It also keeps the prices lower!

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| Pentax K5 | Pentax K10D | DA* 300 F4 | M 50mm F1.7 | Sigma AF 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 DC MACRO | AF 360 FGZ |

Pentax should 1st launch a 50mm F/1.8,a ~85mm F/1.8,a budget 55-200mm/70-300mm tele with the sharpness of its rivals & many more. Also,they should lower the prices for their lovely primes,if they expect people to need & buy them. (the Pentax pancakes are a somewhat lost cause,since Sony,Panasonic & Olympus have compact cameras with large sensors & lenses to match)

If Pentax would have remained a film brand,they would have been better appreciated today. Nothing would be sexier than a film brand amongst digital! (& with a rich experience like Pentax has)

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Gear: Nikon D80, 18-105mm, 35mm F/1.8, 85mm F/1.8, SB-600
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Agree with the 50mm f1.8.. The FA 50mm f1.4 (very high quality) has become a lot more expensive and hard to get. So it is not easy to find a reaonaly priced 50mm unless you buy second hand lenses. I have a very good 50mm f1.7.

The 55-300 and 50-200 budget lenses get good scores. They are good budget lenses.

The prices of most primes should drop. They should also be easier to get (more important)!

remaining a film brand only would be stupid. The market is small. Most people want a digital camera. A company needs to sell cameras and sympathy. Not just sympathy.

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| Pentax K5 | Pentax K10D | DA* 300 F4 | M 50mm F1.7 | Sigma AF 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 DC MACRO | AF 360 FGZ |

the 50-200 is one of the softest lenses I ever tested...good scores from who?

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Gear: Nikon D80, 18-105mm, 35mm F/1.8, 85mm F/1.8, SB-600
Visit my work here

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Certainly not from PhotoZone.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

I agree. In order to compete the K-5 needs to be priced at the D7000 (for $1200). In-body IS, body construction and weather-sealing should be the icing on the top that makes you want to buy it over the D7000.

- in-body IS - think about it this way: Pentax has few lenses that are worth buying; a lot of primes don't really need IS,in-body or otherwise; more & more third party lenses are releashed with built-in IS,so the Pentax advantage becomes less interesting;
- body construction - maybe a bit better than the D7000
- weather-sealing - D7000 has weather sealing as well,there's no official proof than one is better than the other

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Gear: Nikon D80, 18-105mm, 35mm F/1.8, 85mm F/1.8, SB-600
Visit my work here

Fast primes are the reason for wanting in body IS. You don't get fast optically stabilised primes. It is a moderate Canikon weakness to me.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

The K-5 is an excellent camera. In the UK, it's competitive price wise with the D7000 and the D60, and the demand is fairly high. I had to shop around to find a retailer who had one in stock as the usual places had sold out - This is surprising for a Pentax camera If anything, it shows that the Canon 60D is over priced as it's a plastic body with crippled features, and the only thing going for it is the swivel LCD.

As far as weather seals go, I'd trust Pentax weather sealing over what Nikon touts. Do a search for weather sealing of both cameras, and you'll find videos of people doing stupid things with the K-5/K-7 with the camera being pummelled by waves, having water doused on it, etc. You don't get similar videos with the D7000. To me that says something: Pentax users have a few screws loose in their heads and that their equipments weather seals are real.

The K-5 is a competitive camera, and it looks like Pentax have a winner on their hands.

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PhilipGoh.com

Probably just the owners It is a good lens in good lightning. With bad lightning it is indeed very bad. But that's with all kitlenses.

In body-IS is nice, but I never use it. For teleshots I use a monopod. Pentax says you should turn it off on a tripod and monopod. With fast primes it is also not needed, because I have fast shutter speeds and short focal length.

I like both Pentax and Nikon. Both have a lot of similarities in controls. Nikon has better ergonomics and faster AF, while Pentax has very good weather seals for a prosumer model.

I still have the K10d and I am thinking of buying the D7000 or K5. I bought some second hand lenses. So I wont lose that much money on lenses when I switch.

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| Pentax K5 | Pentax K10D | DA* 300 F4 | M 50mm F1.7 | Sigma AF 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 DC MACRO | AF 360 FGZ |

Both the D7000 and K5 came out enough later than the 60D for prices not to be comparable yet, in the UK at least. The 60D has already gone past the "just out" price rape to what is probably a more stable street level. The other two are new enough for dealers to ask pretty much what they want.

And damn you people with light! I've been in too many places where ISO3200+f/1.4 still means motion blurry shots without body stabilisation.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

I won't talk about the ergonomics as that's mostly down to personal taste. However, check out this scan from a magazine. http://uppix.net/1/d/2/413578746e3af6f7 ... 5615fc.jpg

My French is a little rusty, but it's of 2 tests. The first is of a child running at 5 km/h (probably average?) and the lens zoomed to 80mm. The 2nd test is of a car travelling at 50 km/h approaching the photographer.

From that, we see that the K-5 has really improved on the K-7 when it comes to AF-C tracking. Looking at the charts, the K-5 appears to be competitive with Canon and Nikon offerings. They're still able to focus on the running child at <0.5m and they track the car until it's about 10m away. I think the photographer died after the K-5 car test as the last shot was from less than 5m away and I don't think cars can stop that quickly from 50 km/h

That's enough forum trolling from me for one night.

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PhilipGoh.com

I tried Nikon & Canon before buying into Pentax and very happy with my choice. I've tried some of the competition and just thought they felt cheap in my hands compared to the Pentax camera's I have owned (K100d, K20d, K-7 & now the K-5 & K-r and still have my K100d) The only reason I didn't keep them all is I want to stay married. I just bought the new DA 18-135 DC WR lens and it's a fantastic walk-around lens. I live at the beach and with the salt air the K-5 and 18-135 are just the ticket since both can stand up to any weather you can throw at them.
Pentax still has some of the best price per quality of any len made today, the only reason prices have gone up is the economy. The dollar is almost 14% less than it was 6 months ago to the Yen.
So if you subtract that 14% from the price of new Pentax camera's and lenses you will see they are still the best price per quality lenses in the USA.
The Pancake lenses Pentax makes are equal to none IMHO. Ask any Pentax owner

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K-5 + BG4 & K-R red , Pentax DA 18-135 DC WR,& D-FA 100 f2.8 WR, & DA 18-250, Sigma 10-20 f4, , Vivitar 120-600 f5.6/8, Metz 58 flash,,,Plus Accs.