The Most Important Pentax Cameras Of All Time

Pentax week continues! In this video, Chris takes us for a ride on the wayback machine to look at the most important Pentax cameras in history. Have your own favorite Pentax model? Tell us in the comments.

Older TCSTV episodes can be found at:
-----------------------

[stuartcarden]

Though they may not have been great innovators lately, I love how they still seem to want to put their customers first. They build rugged, enthusiast level cameras at entry level prices, you can't ask for better value for money. I remember using my friend's Canon Rebel T5i for the first time and it felt like using a toy compared to my similarly priced Pentax. The viewfinder was like looking down a tunnel at an oncoming train and just felt like it was made on a serious budget without a full control layout. It was then I realised how lucky we Pentaxians really were.

[BobK]

I got my wife a Pentax K10D for Christmas in 2007. She still uses it. She thinks the 100mm f/2.8 Macro is amazing. I choose the K10D because of DPReview.

[LyndonPatrickSmith]

Thanks for showing some love to the Pentax LX, my personal fave. The metering is flawless on that camera, and manual focus is a joy with the huge diopter-equipped viewfinder. Last summer we went to Calgary & the mountains. The Fuji’s stayed at home & I packed the LX and 28, 50, & 135 primes. No regrets, great trip, great images.

[carolestolz]

My first ever camera was a Pentax MESuper back in 1980. I LOVED that camera. It went EVERYWHERE with me, with only a 50mm lens. I learned to move instead of zoom. If the shutter hadn’t seized up after 20 years I think I’d still be using it today.

[erinwiebe]

The first review I've ever encountered featuring a camera for the crippling insecure. I've finally found my brand.

[marklevin]

So my Pentax pre-dated the ones you mentioned. On my 12th birthday my parents gave me a "Honeywell" Pentax H1a and it truly changed my life. It started a hobby (and some commercial work) that has lasted 55 more years and is still going strong. I loved that camera. I've owned other Pentax cameras since then but that H1a was a wonderful and miraculous marvel (in my mind).

[TL-xwfh]

The Asahi Pentax Spotmatic II is THE camera that started the SLR revolution, not the K1000, which is largely an updated model of the Spotmatic. I still love my Spotmatic, bought in 1969!

[nilofido]

I was shooting Pentax from 1994 till 2005, a MX and a LX, loved them and have great memories of them, like shootings at minus 17 Celsius on a Kodachrome 25 or 64, can’t remember it was January 2003, sunrise in Stonehenge, my breath wasn’t freezing on the back of the camera, but the faithful MX was perfectly comfortable, completely mechanical and coupled with a 1960’s light meter I didn’t even need to use a battery for its in camera metering, incident metering + 2-3 stops overexposed to compensate for the freezing conditions....

[joekrepps]

Dad got me hooked on Pentax in the early 1980s. When he wanted a change from his ME Super, he offered it to me. It was a great upgrade from a Yashica Lynx 5000 range finder I was using. Though I wandered away from photography for many years, and went Nikon for my first two DSLRs (Pentax/Ricoh really SUCK at marketing!!!!), I'm now using a K-1 MkI. _I_LOVE_THIS_CAMERA!!!_
Like every European car I've ever owned, it has quirks. The nice people on Pentax Forum have scolded me for not sending it back while it was under warranty but I see it as part of the quirkiness of using a Pentax. (BTW, after the ME Super, Dad had a "fling" with a pricey Mamiya. When he was busted by Mom, he picked up a PZ20.)
VERY happy to see a glowing, happy review of Pentax! For a long time, I've been following the young guy with the big frizzy hair, who seldom hesitates to take Pentax down a peg.
Looking forward to the new crop body from Pentax this year!

[joedusel]

I was out shooting an event today using my Pentax K-1 and K-3 cameras. I've been shooting Pentax since 82' starting with an ME Super.

[anantdabholkar]

I started with the Pentax ME in 1979 and then graduated to the MX and LX. Since then, I didn't find any Pentax camera compelling enough to purchase, until the Pentax K-1. The K-1 had the resolution to exceed fine grain film in full frame and use my collection of Pentax-M lenses. What a blast like having the film days back without the hassle and wait of getting film processed, especially Kodachrome which to a week! I got the 28-105 kit lens and the 15-30 ultrawide zooms with it. BTW, the LX was the first professional "system camera" with finders, backs, motor drives, etc. I meantime switched to Canon in 1987 when the EOS system came out. Canon for action and portraits, Pentax for Landscapes, what a perfect world!! Thank you so much for this Pentax video, I'll finally subscribe to DPreview (again).

[photo]

I still shoot the Pentax 6x7 regularly, like at least 2-4 rolls a month.

[shlawchablaas]

I love how, while other photographers say “I’m a Nikon shooter” or “I use Fuji cameras” or that sort of thing, Pentax people are called Pentaxians. It’s like something out of Star Trek:

“I am a Pentaxian, our proud warrior race has traveled these stars for eons before your foolish species entered this galaxy”

“In the language of my peoples, we say ‘Takumar sharp, ’ not ‘tack sharp’ as you humans do”

“Admiral, we have received reports that the Pentaxians have sent their flagship to the Cardassians as tribute. Let us only hope the Contaxians haven’t got there first.”

[mikeem]

The K1000 was one of the first cameras I learned photography on at school. Then the school bought a Pentax ME Super, one of the first "advanced" cameras. That was a real treat to use!

[milesgommeimages]

I still own a Pentax MX. It still works (amazingly!) and has only had about 3sets of batteries and one service! It taught me photography and I had it with me everywhere. It’s an early version ca 1977 so amazing!

[snappiness]

I still shoot a K10D and K1000 😂 I do appreciate that you all have always kept reviewing Pentax, even their mid-range stuff when it's not super exciting necessarily. But good for newcomers to know, since the price-per-feature of some of those entry models is amazing!

[thecaveofthedead]

I've had my Pentax MX from my dad since 1993 and I still use it regularly. It has the biggest viewfinder of any SLR while simultaneously being one of the smallest, carry anywhere SLRs. My 6x7 mirror lock-up is another huge favourite and I'm about to put it to work for portraits of my friends for making some huge photographic prints. The 67 is still incredibly popular and people are doing stunning work with every day - which you can see on instagram. These all-mechanical cameras should be repairable for many decades to come.

I'm a Fuji guy for digital, but I'll be buying the K1 when it's sufficiently below the $1, 000 mark. That's a pretty future-proof DSLR. Apart from being able to shoot my Pentax lenses at their native perspective, the high resolution sensor and the pixel-shift will make it perfect for digitising negatives and slides with my old 50mm f2.8 macro lens and an extension tube.

[sarfaraz.hosseini]

Nikon shooter, but got started with Pentax and Minolta. Pentax cameras were always accessable, and they always looked after their customers. I was sad when Pentax sold their camera business to Ricoh after their parent merged with Hoya. The photography industry is in such turmoil, but i'm hoping it levels out at some point, and looking forward to reviews of a new Pentax.

[timmytreu]

Pentax 6x7 all the way! one of the greatest cameras! I still use mine (I bought it in 1976, and has never stopped to amaze me... never an issue) today in the studio and for landscape.. it is bulky, yet very "reassuring", if you catch my drift!

[tomcruz]

PENTAX I'm so happy someone is talking about it