I suppose it's my turn. This post will accomplish two things. One is to state how I started in photography and the other would be to answer another post of how and why I came upon the Pentax brand. Here goes:
Back in the 80's the photography bug bit me. Being naive about photography I simply marched into a store and purchased the first camera I saw - a Minolta (can't remember if it was the x370 or x700) - and proceeded to burn film like crazy. After a few weeks I received as a gift a Nikon A4004s from my then girlfriend - now my wife. The Minolta was returned for a refund. It was a big mistake now that I realized it. The Nikon functioned pretty much like a point and shoot camera and not a compositional tool. I used it alright but just for snapshots at weddings, parties, etc. I never really got into photography the way I wanted to. Then last year while viewing the photos taken from our recently concluded trip it hit me big time - I have to learn the art of photography. Shortly after that I enrolled in a photography class. But I didn't want to use the Nikon since it is mainly auto focus and I wanted to learn the hows and whys of photography from a manual camera. So I went the ebay way and bid for and won an auction for a Canon A-1. I didn't know about the Pentax line then. My wife must be my lucky charm because soon after acquiring the A-1 she walks up to my cubicle (we work together) and hands me not only one but two pristine condition K1000s complete with 50mm/f2 lenses and one 24mm/f2 Vivitar lens. Their department was switching to digital. That is how I came upon the Pentax brand. Being curious about this brand of camera I typed in "Pentax" in Google and lo and behold I came upon all these neat information about the Pentax line. In short since August of last year I have acquired an ME Super, sold it, and re-acquired another. I have also added to my collection an MX and a Spotmatic, a handful of lenses, filters, teleconverters, and in a few days a couple of form fit cases courtesy of a fellow PDMLer. The K1000s are long since gone but I'm pretty sure they are being put to good use. My decision to use Pentax was partly influenced by comments I read from a product review website, comments from the PDML and it's members and largely in part to the quality of photos I get from the Pentax cameras I have been using. I'm still learning the art of photography. For me (and I guess for a lot of folks) it is a constant learning process done by trial and error method. I try something and the negative or print will give me the answer. It's fun and it's an escape from the pressures of family, work, etc. I will never put down my Pentax. Well maybe I will but only after someone prys it off my dead hands. The Nikon and the Canon are still with me and they get used once in a while but my Pentax cameras are my constant companions and will always be my go to equipment. The simplicity of these cameras and the quality of images I get are second to none. I hope you enjoyed reading my rather long post. Thank you and have a nice day. Francis M. Alviar Irvine, CA __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! News - Today's headlines http://news.yahoo.com
