the thing that made me buy my first Pentax, a new MX, in 1979 was that it was small, very well made, at least as good as its rivals from Olympus and Nikon, and much cheaper. Those are the distinguishing factors for me. I don't think it's been true of Pentax for a very long time, although it may be becoming more so with the release of the K10D, which seems to be from the old mould.
The lenses from the pre-plastic era (ie the metal A lenses and earlier) seem to me to have a more consistent look & feel than most of the more modern lenses too. I find the current line up of lenses very confusing. -- Bob > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of Mark Cassino > Sent: 22 December 2006 01:07 > To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List > Subject: What Makes a Pentax a Pentax? > > With the Hoya acquisition of Pentax, I'm pondering a fundamental > question - what could Hoya do to make me feel that my future > Pentax (or > Ho-Tax) is a true Pentax camera, and what could they do to > make me feel > the opposite? > > Obviously, there's the lens compatibility issue. Pentax has really > distinguished itself by retaining backwards compatibility > with virtually > all K mount lens, even if you lose a few features when using > them. (And > even if they produce really bad chromatic aberrations on a > digital body.) > > Otherwise - what makes Pentax - Pentax? Is it SMC? The > devotion to ~40mm > pancake lenses? 'Unusual' sharpening of JPG's in the DSLR? > The strange > ergonomics of the Mz-S? > > I like Pentax. I've been about as loyal to them as I've ever > been to any > brand, simply because I could count on them to do what was right in > their eyes and damn the pressure for conformity. For that, I > respected > them. They were the Gary Cooper of the camera world - low key, > conservative, but doing what they chose to do, thank you. > > It's a question I ask myself - what makes Pentax unique? And can Hoya > capture that? > > - MCC > > -- > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > Mark Cassino Photography > Kalamazoo > www.markcassino.com > - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
