Pentax has always marched to their own drum--all their lenses work on their cameras. They make good stuff, and their new offerings are pretty attractive.

That said, Canon has a lot more support and a much broader lens/body/flash system.

B84wm has more to say, I'm sure.

what do any of your friends have?

and what are your feelings on MF lenses?

of those 2, they are both great cameras, but because I know more people with canons I'd pick that over the pentax every time. That and you can rent canon glass. It's not the the pentax is bad, it's actually a great camera from what I've seen/read, it's just the road less traveled so you'll have less options down the road, and is that worth it to be different?

There's another brand called "Nikon" !

Originally Posted by jblaze5779

There's another brand called "Nikon" !

Generally I always will recommend the XTi, however as Ben said see what your friends are using, it makes things like lenses and accessories easy to trade/ swap for a day and is less harsh overall on the bank account.

oh hai! bbl, gotta meeting then i'll chime in

from looking at sigma's website they have quite a few pieces of "fast glass" [F2.8 at least] listed with pentax mounts, and they are working on quite a few nice sounding/looking pieces at the moment.

pentax's DA* series is looking promising, if expensive.

looks like pentax is trying to catch up to the "top 2"

I shoot the k10d and the DA* 16-50mm F/2.8. I love the combo. The K10 blows the Rebel out of the water and has one of the strongest feature sets of any camera in the pro-sumer range. The rebel is plastic, the k10d body is metal and waterproof (not submersible obviously, but suitable for snow and rain).
I am not saying Pentax is better than any other brand, but if you want more bang for your buck and a quality system, get the Pentax.
Certainly Canon has the best array of glass on the market.

in terms of bang for your buck in the sub-$800 dSLR range, pentax cannot be beat. go to dpreview.com and put the k10d (even the k100d/ds) up against the XT, XTi, d40, d40x, d50 and tell me who has the best/most features for the price.

that's honestly the reason i went with pentax, plus the K-mount lens thing of course.

One reason why I went Pentax is the feel of the camera. It felt perfect in my hands, the Rebels felt clumsy and very uncomfortable.

Make sure you physically handle the camera before you make a decision.

remember, any pentax lens will fit. ANY. Got an old screw mount lens at a flea market for a buck? a $5 adapter and it'll fit. check out ebay for older lenses. I picked up a 50mm f=1.4 for like $20+shipping. I'm hoping to win a 28mm f=2.8 today or tomorrow. there's plenty of fast glass out there.

also remember that pentax offers in-body IS. saves you a ton of money on lenses.

All good advantages of the Pentax. But until we see results from the new cameras, if high ISO/low noise performance are issue for you they aren't the best. Their lens system is also dated. They don't have the selection of updated/modern lenses which means they'll likely suffer more from flare than a more modern lens. That's one advantage of Nikon or Canon, while Canon blocks you from using any antique lenses without adapters, you won't be buying an EF lens more than about 20 years old which isn't a bad thing depending on how you look at it.

I really like the ergonomics of the Pentax cameras, they do smart things nobody else really thinks of, but if I were buying in to a whole system and really expecting to move up with it down the road I would not personally choose Pentax. The future for their system is too much of a question and I haven't the desire to buy in to a system that forces me to use antiquated lenses if I want lens variety (as much as those lenses can be fun and many do perform well).

Originally Posted by Wyn

One reason why I went Pentax is the feel of the camera. It felt perfect in my hands, the Rebels felt clumsy and very uncomfortable.

Make sure you physically handle the camera before you make a decision.

yeah that too, i was REALLY unhappy with the way the d40 and XTi felt in my hand. the k100d is really sturdy and well made, plus since it takes AA batteries it feels like a tank in your hand which i like.

weight/metal>cheapy plastic

Originally Posted by case sensitive

remember, any pentax lens will fit. ANY. Got an old screw mount lens at a flea market for a buck? a $5 adapter and it'll fit. check out ebay for older lenses. I picked up a 50mm f=1.4 for like $20+shipping. I'm hoping to win a 28mm f=2.8 today or tomorrow. there's plenty of fast glass out there.

also remember that pentax offers in-body IS. saves you a ton of money on lenses.

yeah, the only thing that sucks is those lenses it the past 12 months have skyrocketed in price. it's ridiculous now to buy a asahi (original pentax) 50mm f1.4 k-mount, i just watched one sell on ebay on saturday for $112!!

so if you are looking for the elusive 50mm f1.4 go for the m42 screwmount, they're way cheaper.

Originally Posted by b84wm

weight/metal>cheapy plastic

generally I agree. Funny thing is if they used the right plastics it'd be better than a metal camera any day.

i really want a SMCP-FA (AF) 50mm f1.4 but would settle for a SMC (MF) 50mm f1.4

dude! omfg!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Pentax-SMC-1-1-2...QQcmdZViewItem

i didn't even know they made a 50mm f1.2!

That's cheap for a 1.2 btw...

and doesn't pentax make the "pancake" 40mm?

Originally Posted by jacobsen1

That's cheap for a 1.2 btw...

and doesn't pentax make the "pancake" 40mm?

yeah, they have a few actually.

the DA 40mm f2.8



the DA 21mm f3.2



the 70mm f2.4 with the weird screw-on metal hood



and the original pancake, the uber-elusive SMC 40mm f2.8

you may want to wait for the k20d or the k200d which are both coming out in the next few months!

word. fair enough.

keep an eye out for rebates too, ever 2 or 3 months pentax has a program going on, with the k10d it's generally around a $100 MIR when you buy the body with kit lens.