Laying my cards on the table I've been a Pentax shooter for over 30 years but that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate that there are many other great cameras out there so this is most definitely not intended as a fanboy post pouring scorn on the other brands. A friend and fellow pro shoots with an EOS 5D Mk3 and another uses the Sony A7Rii. They're both great cameras, they certainly turn in good results so lets leave the silly points scoring outside the thread.
As a Pentax user for so long I've watched the brand go from a major force in photography in the ME Super era with the Pentax LX, 645, 6x7 and many pro's using their gear to a shadow of its former self. On the other hand I do feel that since the Ricoh acquisition of Pentax the product range has taken a giant leap forward and the range is now world class. Strategically they've made some really good moves. I genuinely believe that in body stabilisation as used by Pentax/Sonmy/Olympus is a better approach than stabilised lenses used by Nikon/Canon because with in lens stabilisation you're paying more for every lens you buy and suffering in terms of bulk and weight too. In addition with in body stabilisation it seems to me that you benefit from the fact that any lens you ever buy secondhand - even a 1955 pentax screw mount lens will benefit from stabilisation and be fully compatible with the latest Pentax cameras.
Lets looks at the current Pentax range:
The 645Z is clearly an exceptional camera for professional landscape and fashion/advertising photographers. At around £5-6k it consummately outperforms the Nikon and Canon top line pro cameras for image quality and it matches the Hasselblad and Phase 1 medium format rivals at 1/2 to 1/4 the price.
The K3 offers EOS 7D Mk2 levels of performance at roughly half the cost. In addition the weatherproofing and build seems to be less plasticky and better than rivals. Speaking personally I actually had my eye on the Nikon D7100 about 5 years ago (I'd always had a thing for Nikon) but when I went into the shop and held the Nikon D7100, the Canon EOS 50D and the pentax K5 the build quality of the Pentax was in another league altogether. My choice given they both used the same sensor was a no brainer... Basically a £600 Pentax is built like a £5000 Canon or Nikon and I find that an very compelling proposition.
The (about to launch) full frame Pentax K1 looks to offer an incredible bang for the buck at £1599. The Nikon D810 is some £800 more expensive, it has an earlier variant of the sensor, no in body stabilisation, no GPS, no astro tracking, no articulated screen, no in body illumination for night use and no sensor shift, although it has more focus points and I suspect better flash integration. The Canon EOS 5D Mk3 offers only 20 megapixels rather than 36, no in body stabilisation, no GPS, no astro tracking, no articulated screen, no in body illumination and no sensor shift. The Canon does offer more focus points and like Nikon better flash integration and higher sync speeds. The Canon is close to £1000 more for nearly half the sensor resolution and lets face it Canon have been lagging compared to the Sony sensors used by Sony, Nikon and Pentax for years in terms of dynamic range.
So it seems to me that Pentax are now offering some pretty compelling, indeed world beating cameras for a lower cost than the competition and combining it with better build quality. The lenses are generally cheaper and just as good or better too - the Pentax Limited 31mm, 43mm and 77mm are some of the greatest lenses ever made with Leica standards of build quality and stunning optics and handling. The 24-70mm F2.8 lens is a couple of hundred cheaper and outperforms the equivalent Nikon and Canon glass so I'm kind of wondering given all this what stops you coming back to Pentax??? If you're a sports or wildlife photographer then I totally get it - Pentax do not currently offer very fast telephoto glass as Canon and Nikon do, but aside from those special cases I think the lens range is now comprehensive enough to cater for fashion, wedding, landscape, family and architectural photography. The new K1 will be launching with a full frame lens range covering 15-200mm in 3 lenses at F2.8, then there's the limited lenses, the choice of several macro's at 35mm, 50mm and 100mm. On top of that for extended telephoto use there's the 200mm F2.8, 300mm F4, 150-450mm F4-5.6 and the 560mm F5.6. There simply aren't many gaps there for any normal serious amateur and pro use.
So if you were the CEO of Pentax what would it take to make you switch? What do you think they're doing well and what do they need to do better? Clearly if you have an extensive lens collection that weighs into the equation, but if you're a Canon/Nikon APS shooter you're bascially looking at binning your existing lenses anyway so are Pentax in the running for your money?
I hope fellow photographers will take this in the spirit it's intended. I'm curious to learn just how appealing a move to Pentax is to you?
Birdseed
