Nikon OR Pentax

Arkady said:
Which is fine...for you (and many others, no doubt)...not exactly a 'crock' though, is it...?
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So let's see .. the quote to which I answered was:

If you get the Pentax, and are serious about photography, then sooner or later you'll realise you should have bought the Nikon.


So you are saying that to be serious about photography you have to use a Nikon?
 
How does the weather sealing "wipe the floor" with the Nikon? Has your D300 failed on you while it's been raining?
 
Mike.P said:
So let's see .. the quote to which I answered was:

If you get the Pentax, and are serious about photography, then sooner or later you'll realise you should have bought the Nikon.


So you are saying that to be serious about photography you have to use a Nikon?
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It was a tongue-in-cheek remark, I suspect, but one which has an element of truth to it.
Rightly or wrongly, justified or not, committed photographers tend to opt for Canon or Nikon...that's not my opinion, but a fact borne out by sales figures...

The majority of serious photographers will, given the choice between Pentax or Nikon, choose Nikon because of the large system offered by that manufacturer.
If a person buys into Pentax, they will, if they continue to grow photographically-speaking, eventually hit a wall beyond which the Pentax system cannot offer as many possibilities as the Nikon system.
 
Arkady said:
It was a tongue-in-cheek remark, I suspect, but one which has an element of truth to it.
Rightly or wrongly, justified or not, committed photographers tend to opt for Canon or Nikon...that's not my opinion, but a fact borne out by sales figures...

The majority of serious photographers will, given the choice between Pentax or Nikon, choose Nikon because of the large system offered by that manufacturer.
If a person buys into Pentax, they will, if they continue to grow photographically-speaking, eventually hit a wall beyond which the Pentax system cannot offer as many possibilities as the Nikon system.
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the fact that nikon and canon do full frame has a big fact to do with it to.
 
So, the D300 weather sealing hasn't failed you, but because you THINK Nikon won't back it up, the Pentax is better?

Nikon consider their D300 & D300s to be pro bodies, but regardless, if the weather sealing fails on a weather sealed body (regardless of manufacturer or body) it would be covered under the warranty (assuming it's within the duration of your warranty).
 
Arkady said:
If a person buys into Pentax, they will, if they continue to grow photographically-speaking, eventually hit a wall beyond which the Pentax system cannot offer as many possibilities as the Nikon system.
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And if a Nikon user hits the wall they may just get a Pentax 645D :lol:
 
Kaouthia said:
So, the D300 weather sealing hasn't failed you, but because you THINK Nikon won't back it up, the Pentax is better?

Nikon consider their D300 & D300s to be pro bodies, but regardless, if the weather sealing fails on a weather sealed body (regardless of manufacturer or body) it would be covered under the warranty (assuming it's within the duration of your warranty).
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well you maybe right john, i hope i never have to find out,
(is my d300 much better than my k7 simple answer no)
at the end of the day the camera is a tool its the user that is the main thing
so regardless if its pentax, sony, olympus, canon, nikon.
 
scottthehat said:
at the end of the day the camera is a tool its the user that is the main thing
so regardless if its pentax, sony, olympus, canon, nikon.
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Indeed, but, once your abilities exceed the camera's limitations, you have to consider the future. Once you're locked in to a particular system, it can be tough to switch.

Unless, like yourself, you choose both. :)
 
Don't all cameras have limitations? Don't most of us have limited financial resources?

Plenty of peeps use old/crappy cameras to try and inject some "art" into their work.
 
Arkady said:
Rightly or wrongly, justified or not, committed photographers tend to opt for Canon or Nikon...that's not my opinion, but a fact borne out by sales figures...
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At no point have I disagreed with that fact, Nikon and Canon put all of their manufacturing and marketing into digital while Pentax basically wrote it off as the next big fad .. and got left well behind.

Arkady said:
The majority of serious photographers will, given the choice between Pentax or Nikon, choose Nikon because of the large system offered by that manufacturer.
If a person buys into Pentax, they will, if they continue to grow photographically-speaking, eventually hit a wall beyond which the Pentax system cannot offer as many possibilities as the Nikon system.
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Again I agree that the majority of photographers will choose one of the big two but that does not mean that because I happen to use a different brand (note I don't say lesser) I am not serious about my hobby. As someone who has no wish to go professional (photographically or otherwise) I cannot see that swapping over to Canon or Nikon is going to improve my picture taking unless I am willing to spend the price of a large car on something like a D3s and a selection of lenses .. and even then I dunno if they would make that much difference because it is a hobby and not something I earn money from.

To my way of thinking probably 80%? of camera users choose Nikon or Canon but how many are actually going to use the full system that those brands allow? .. yes the semi-pro/pro photographers will get the backup they need but your average Joe in the street is mostly using a Canon or Nikon because he saw some bloke on the telly with a big white lens using one or his mate round the corner told him it was better than the rest.
 
scottthehat said:
sorry john but what do you mean by (once your abilities exceed the camera's limitations)
crop sensor to full frame.
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I didn't mention anything about crop sensor vs. full frame. The K7 and D300s are both crop sensors (the K7's sensor is actually a hair smaller than the D300s).

But all cameras have limitations, otherwise Nikon wouldn't currently be making 4 different crop sensor bodies and 3 different full frame bodies. We'd all be using the same camera.
 
Kaouthia said:
I didn't mention anything about crop sensor vs. full frame. The K7 and D300s are both crop sensors (the K7's sensor is actually a hair smaller than the D300s).

But all cameras have limitations, otherwise Nikon wouldn't currently be making 4 different crop sensor bodies and 3 different full frame bodies. We'd all be using the same camera.
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yes 2mm on both sides john and ok but the cameras all have different specs and some have better iso and some have more fps some are better weather sealed and some have the combination of all, so it comes down to what you need it for and how much money you have.
 
I am making one big assumption here that the OP will be looking to buy more lenses and upgrade at some point so if the deal hasn't already been done I'd suggest the OP considers this decision as a choice between systems. I mean by this that the OP will be choosing between a system of cameras, lenses and accessories like flashes, remote releases etc and on that basis it's worth looking at the wider system now even if you are only looking at the first investment in the system.

The general questions I'd ask myself in making the choice are:

1) How available are new original maker system accessories (Nikon or Pentax batteries, lenses, grips, flashes etc)
2) How available are new third party system accessories (batteries, lenses, grips, flashes etc), these are generally cheaper ways to get more kit
3) How available are second hand accessories (both original maker and third party)
4) Can I hire accessories for a one off events
5) What do my other people I know have and do they have things I can borrow (on TP meets I've been on there is a general lending culture going on, so you can get to try a huge range of kit if other people have the same the system as you)
6) Is there a future for the system I'm choosing? Hard to assess but in general I mean what is the risk of the original makers stopping making SLRs which will make the availability of kit drop or are they making a big investment and the availability of kit is currently rising?

Looking at all of these I would put Nikon on top of Pentax but of the two models you've listed I'd put the Pentax slightly ahead of the Nikon. You have to look at whether you want long term benefit of a wider system and cheaper total cost of ownership (Nikon) vs a short term better first camera (Pentax).
 
How does the AA filter compare with the Pentax vs Nikon. I found the Nikon to be to thick and therefore can get much better images out of a Panasonic GH1.
 
well i have had my beutifull pentax for over a month now and has made me a very happy person :D

However, have not worked out how to make the old lenses work, i screw them on but when ever i try to take a picture on the manual settings It comes up with F- - - flashing at me all the time, what do i do?
 
I think really when buying a first dslr you need to envisage yourself a few years down the line, most optimistically, ie you love photography and have a reasonable budget to be able to spend on other purchases. Then work out what equipment is currently and likely to be available and if you can live with the quality, cost and availability of whichever system you may choose. My friend bought a sony a200 and few lenses and now is considering swapping to canon because of the hardship he's finding getting a lens to shoot birds in flight.
 
Farmer said:
well i have had my beutifull pentax for over a month now and has made me a very happy person :D

However, have not worked out how to make the old lenses work, i screw them on but when ever i try to take a picture on the manual settings It comes up with F- - - flashing at me all the time, what do i do?
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if the lens has an apature ring you need to go in to the menu and activate this, its normally last in the c menus, using apature ring.
 
Farmer said:
well i have had my beutifull pentax for over a month now and has made me a very happy person :D

However, have not worked out how to make the old lenses work, i screw them on but when ever i try to take a picture on the manual settings It comes up with F- - - flashing at me all the time, what do i do?
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.....take it back and get a Nikon! :lol:
 
I have read the manual through and i still haven put my finger on this problem yet....

when filming or just simply taking a picture the light will go dark, then bright so some times my photo's will come out like its night and some times they will come out like im pointing my camera at the sun?
I have mainly been taking photo's with the SV setting.
 
Farmer said:
I have read the manual through and i still haven put my finger on this problem yet....

when filming or just simply taking a picture the light will go dark, then bright so some times my photo's will come out like its night and some times they will come out like im pointing my camera at the sun?
I have mainly been taking photo's with the SV setting.
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I don't have a K-X but isn't SV the 'Night Snap' mode? You would only use that at night, obviously.

Try it on Program Mode (P) if you're a novice or try Av (Aperture Priority) where you set the aperture (F-stop) using the wheel and the camera will set the shutter speed for you.

Re using an older lens, see this Pentax link here

hope that helps.
 
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SV is the shutter time priority setting.

Can I ask why you're using this setting? Without seeing example photos it will be hard to say exactly why you are experiencing such changes in exposure - are you using weighted metering or spot metering? The latter can easily result in the behaviour you describe. Alternatively, you could be setting the shutter speed at too short a value, meaning that the kit lens can't let enough light in during the time the shutter is open. Let us know and we'll see if we can help you more!
 
Cuchulainn said:
SV is the shutter time priority setting.

Can I ask why you're using this setting? Without seeing example photos it will be hard to say exactly why you are experiencing such changes in exposure - are you using weighted metering or spot metering? The latter can easily result in the behaviour you describe. Alternatively, you could be setting the shutter speed at too short a value, meaning that the kit lens can't let enough light in during the time the shutter is open. Let us know and we'll see if we can help you more!
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sv is sensitivity priority (iso)
tv is shutter priority, and as suggested use p mode or av or tv(most use p or av) o just go full manual.
 
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