Pentax or Canon

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Jonnyge

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Jonny
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I havent introduced myself on here yet but i have a little problem and would like to get it sorted soon

I have got a fujifilm finepix camera atm but thinking of getting myself a dslr but i don’t really know which one to get.

I have been told by a friend of mine that i should get a canon, probably a 550d. But i went into a camera shop and the people in there said that pentax would do the same if not better for less money, as well as the lenses being more cost effective.

I am only really interested in taking long exposure shots atm but may decide to play around later on.

Any help would be much appreciated


Cheers Jonny
 
Whatever camera you purchase for your budget will yield similar results. I always suggest that someone buying their first DSLR think of the purchase as buying into a system of cameras, lenses and accessories.

It may be true that Pentax will give you an inital more bang for your buck but if you find you get more into photography I would expect that you will find you will want/need to move away from Pentax to either Nikon / Canon as the range of options are much wider for Nikon / Canon.

Another thing to think about is the availability lenses and accessories that don't need you to pay for new. I am not aware of anywhere that hires Pentax lenses or accessories but I can think of many that I can hire a huge range of Nikon and Canon exotics. I would suggest you also compare the number of outlets and the range available when buying second hand between Pentax and Nikon / Canon.

The final thing to think about is if you have friends that have DSLRs what do they have, most people I know would lend me a camera or lens if I needed it (fortunately for me most use Nikon).

Remember there is also Sony and Olympus (but also think about the Borrow / Hire / Second Hand options with these too)
 
Agree with what has been said.

Couple of points which depending on what is important to you may be significant are,

Pentax cameras have the image stabalisation in the body so any lens is effectively an image stabalised lens, and

most if not all K mount lenses ever made will fit Pentax DSLRs. You are likely to lose some or all of the auto functions but this may not be important and some good old lenses can be picked up cheaply.

Dave
 
Thanks for your responses, i was kinda hoping for you to say one way or another.
But i suppose it will make me think about which camera is best for me.
 
Believe me after two years of owning a DSLR it has made me realise that any of them are capable, to be honest I would swing more towards the pentax because there are a few nice gems in the Pentax line up and there entry level K-r and K-x DSLRs act like mid range cameras they are just superbly built. Try both and see which you love and don't let brand make the decision :)
 
I'm guessing the pentax in question is a K-x? Great value camera, one of the best entry level cameras available.

Likes others have said, there isn't really any way to say 'this one is better', pretty much any DSLR you can buy will deliver great images in the right hands.

Canon and nikon have a wider lens range, but pentax cover most of the lenses you are ever likely to want (third party manufacturers also make some K-mount lenses as well), so this shouldn't worry you too much, unless you happen to be one of the people who wants one of the lenses pentax don't make. There is less of a used market for current pentax lenses, but it's a more backwards compatible mount, so you can pick up cheap old (but often still very good optically) manual focus lenses to experiment with, and with in body stabilisation, you get it on any lens, no matter how old.
It's funny, canon mount can actually be adapted by cheap adapters (~£20 for one with an AF confirm chip (tells the camera a lens is there, so it will activate the AF points so they light up when they detect you've manually focussed correctly)). I have used an old pentax 50mm f/1.7 on my 40D. But you don't get IS like you do on a pentax body, and the adapters can be a bit of a faff if you buy a bad one.


The 550D is also an excellent camera, and a price drop is imminent with the release of the 600D (which is an incremental upgrade, it's basically a 550D with a swivel screen and upgraded software).
It's worth considering nikon and sony as well. The D3100 is supposed to be brilliant, and there are many satisfied sony users one here (sony also has the advantage of in body IS and old minolta lenses fit it's mount).

I might not have helped much there if you wanted to narrow down the choice, but it's worth considering everything that's available.

I doubt you'd be disappointed with any DSLR you can buy at the moment though ;)
 
squishy said:
I'm guessing the pentax in question is a K-x? Great value camera, one of the best entry level cameras available.

Likes others have said, there isn't really any way to say 'this one is better', pretty much any DSLR you can buy will deliver great images in the right hands.

Canon and nikon have a wider lens range, but pentax cover most of the lenses you are ever likely to want (third party manufacturers also make some K-mount lenses as well), so this shouldn't worry you too much, unless you happen to be one of the people who wants one of the lenses pentax don't make. There is less of a used market for current pentax lenses, but it's a more backwards compatible mount, so you can pick up cheap old (but often still very good optically) manual focus lenses to experiment with, and with in body stabilisation, you get it on any lens, no matter how old.
It's funny, canon mount can actually be adapted by cheap adapters (~£20 for one with an AF confirm chip (tells the camera a lens is there, so it will activate the AF points so they light up when they detect you've manually focussed correctly)). I have used an old pentax 50mm f/1.7 on my 40D. But you don't get IS like you do on a pentax body, and the adapters can be a bit of a faff if you buy a bad one.


The 550D is also an excellent camera, and a price drop is imminent with the release of the 600D (which is an incremental upgrade, it's basically a 550D with a swivel screen and upgraded software).
It's worth considering nikon and sony as well. The D3100 is supposed to be brilliant, and there are many satisfied sony users one here (sony also has the advantage of in body IS and old minolta lenses fit it's mount).

I might not have helped much there if you wanted to narrow down the choice, but it's worth considering everything that's available.

I doubt you'd be disappointed with any DSLR you can buy at the moment though ;)
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I agree with the above :) Sony and Pentax have alot in common when you look into it, They are both the underdogs in the industry yet have excellent cameras and lenses. Pentax can use lenses from decades back and Sony can do similar with Minolta lenses.
 
SimonTALM said:
I am not aware of anywhere that hires Pentax lenses or accessories but I can think of many that I can hire a huge range of Nikon and Canon exotics.
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SRSmicrosystems.

To be honest I wouldn't say Pentax lenses are more cost effective any longer, a couple of years ago I would have agreed but since Hoya bought them out the prices have shot up.

The good times have long gone .. lucky for me I got the range I wanted before prices went bonkers.
 
Mike.P said:
SRSmicrosystems.

To be honest I wouldn't say Pentax lenses are more cost effective any longer, a couple of years ago I would have agreed but since Hoya bought them out the prices have shot up.

The good times have long gone .. lucky for me I got the range I wanted before prices went bonkers.
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Similar thing with Minolta optics, back when Sony only just took hold of Minolta the 50mm f1.7 lenses were selling for around £40-50 and now they are going for twice that much. The same goes with Pentax as well like you state due to Sony and Pentax gaining more of the market share these lenses are in demand.
 
Apologies to jump on this thread,

I had almost set my heart on a Canon, either a 1000d New, or 400d 2nd hand, but now reading Squishy's post I am yet again stuck in a world of confusion!

I will keep on reading, but thank you for all the information!
 
I really haven't helped much have I :bonk: :lol:


Now would be a good time to get a 1000D new, the price should be getting very low with the release of the new 1100D.
Worth looking around to see if you can get one with an 18-55mm IS, instead of the 18-55mm II (the IS version has better optics).
 
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I started off my DSLR journey about 3 years ago with a Pentax K10D (well it was a Samsung GX10 really but they're one and the same). I loved that camera and it was really easy to use. I picked up some cheap 2nd hand lenses on ebay and was really happy.

But after a little while I started looking at other lenses and accessories, only to find they didn't always do a Pentax fitting, but mostly Canon/Nikon. I also started to notice that very few shops near me stocked anything for Pentax, so most stuff I bought was online and it started to annoy me that I couldn't look at the items first or try them out.

In the end I sold my Pentax stuff and switched to Canon and haven't looked back, not too often anyway.
 
Ive liked the looks of the last couple of Pentax Dslrs especially the new K5. The thing that stops me from jumping ship is the availability of long lenses even used ones don't come up very often.
 
Jonnyge said:
Thanks for your responses, i was kinda hoping for you to say one way or another.
But i suppose it will make me think about which camera is best for me.
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Okay Jonny Canon :thumbs:


Seriously, have a look and a play with different makes and see which you like the feel of, which makes controls feel the nicest to hand and most intuative to use.

I'm a Canon bod, my FIL is a Sony / Minolta user now for DSLR, he used to be a Pentax user for Film SLR's years ago.

Good luck with your search :thumbs:


Oh and welcome to having no spare money, it gets an expensive hobby :lol:
 
Jonnyge said:
Thanks for your responses, i was kinda hoping for you to say one way or another.
But i suppose it will make me think about which camera is best for me.
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Pentax! I've had Sony (a200), Canon (40D), Nikon (D40 and D90) and I'm more happy then I've ever been with my Pentax Kx and M 50mm f/1.7
 
Both good brands with great entry level models.

You need to see what you like taking photos of (I.e for wildlife photography Canon has more lens options) if you want to buy new or second hand lenses (Canon has more choice), if you want in camera stabilisation (Pentax a clear winner), compatibility of older lenses (Pentax does a little better with old manual focus choices) and so on.
 
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