On Sat, 26 Jun 2004 23:52:47 +1000, you wrote: >Well another of my friends who is a first time digicam and SLR purchaser has >just purchased the 300D, price was the persuader. He's happy and Pentax has >lost yet another potential source of income by coming late to the party with a >baby *ist D. >
A story come full circle but to Pentax disadvantage. Many of us bought into Pentax because of price. Now, many new camera buyers, sensitive to price as well as features, don't even have Pentax on their radar screen. But the Digital Rebel has such a low price that its price comparisons confound every competitor, not just Pentax. Price was the persuader when I bought into Pentax with a PZ1p, later two, then three of them. Nothing from Canon or Nikon compared to it, unless I was willing to spend almost double the price. Hyper Manual and in-camera flash compensation and 1/250 flash sync were the features that did it for me. It was great to have two cameras handling the same, with different lenses, hanging around my neck, and a third stationary on the tripod with the 600/4 so it was ready for action instantly. I guess I had some kind of 100-300-600 zoom by grabbing three different cameras. I don't fault Pentax too much for 'being late to the party' - they have been late to every film/digital party since Canon changed their mount. Heck, I'm just glad the *istD arrived as early as it did, and is a fine camera. I hope the Baby D is something my wife likes so I can have a second K-mount digital available. But I still miss the 1/250 sync and in-camera flash compensation of the PZ1p. Funny thought - since I bought my first full-featured AF camera on price, knowing little about manufacturers or photography, I might just as easily gotten stuck with Minolta... Now there's a manufacturer that's really, really late to the DSLR party. -- John Mustarde www.photolin.com
