RE: On Cheerleading

[Cameron Hood]

    I  must confess, I have been guilty of just what the mighty 
Dougster is saying. I am so pissed off at Pentax for all of the reasons 
I have been bitching about over the last several years (no DSLR, no 
'Limited' camera, no IS, no USM, no aperture wheel or grip-strap on the 
otherwise gorgeous MZ-S, perhaps the prettiest camera ever produced, no 
80-200 f4, etc.). But judging from recent postings, I (we) are not 
alone. Nikon users are whining about them being behind technologically, 
as well. And it is not entirely true that some of this hi-tech stuff 
would not make you a better photographer; image stabilization would 
help everyone almost immediately, if it could be done with minimal 
optical aberrations.

    So I bitch and whine for a while, and vent my frustrations on this 
list, and then I do a shoot for the plastic surgeon with the 
magnificent 24mm f=2, and all is well again. Or, more recently, I did a 
shoot for Cap's Bikes, primarily with the 85mm f=1.4, and oh, man, I 
just can't believe that lens. I cannot believe anyone could make a 
finer lens, period. It is so beautiful, I couldn't bear to part with it 
for some horrible Canon zoom with IS, but with severe distortion at 
both ends. The 85 and the 24 are the reasons I still sing Pentax's 
praises in public, but whine about them here.

    If they can make things of such exceptional beauty and quality, why 
can't they release the damn 'flagship', or update the MZ-S with an 
aperture wheel? And a full-frame MZ-D. Remember when we thought they 
were going to produce that beauty?

    After getting my shots back from the Cap's shoot, I must say I 
still believe in Pentax. I hope my PZ-1 lasts forever. BTW, I also got 
some magnificent shots with the FA* 28-70 f=2.8, a highly underrated 
optic, and I used the Powerzoom feature for mountain bike action shots 
with a local semi-pro mountain biker going at 40 MPH through the trails 
out at UBC. I will miss powerzoom when it is finally gone from my 
system; it is too bad it never caught on. It really is great for image 
size tracking.

Cameron