I recently lost my Pentax ist-DL that I had been shooting with for 9 years. This camera made me a ton of money and documented my unit's deployment. It went with a whimper. This left me with no camera.

It took a few months but I was able to replace it.

I just recently stopped off at my local fence (USA PAWN) because every once in a while they get some Nikon equipment in. I had to switch to Nikon because no one in southeastern AZ has ever heard of Pentax.

What did I see in the case? A brand new condition, 17k clicks on the shutter, Pentax K20D. Not only that, it was sporting a 50mm f1.4 AF film lens (75mm on a DX). I know how much that lens is worth. The price on the whole deal was $200. I checked it out and haggled with them. I got them to eat the sales tax. Then they bring out the rest of the kit for it. It had the new kit lens, 18-55 DAii, two batteries, charger, and a nice small bag! It just kept getting better!

This camera is simple, straight forward, and isn't loaded withh all the crap that the Nikon D3200 ships with. It has none of those Prosumer modes like FLOWER or SMILE or TREE. It basically has AV, TV, and TA-V (ISO Priority), M, and Program. I have used it on a few shoots already and I have only had it a few weeks.

The only issues I have with the 50mm f1.4 are that the images are a bit soft wide open. I usually use f1.8 to 2.8.

My old lenses work fine, my 75-300mm Zoom, my old kit lens, my two vintage 50mm lenses, and my old Gemini 75-200mm.

Attached are a few shots from a recent shoot.
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Pentax makes great stuff.  Not sure on that model, but my old K100D had shake reduction built into the body, which is a great feature.

That sounds like a really good price on that gear.   Your pics r really nice.

My pics never turned out as nice as yours (more my fault than the camera for sure), but the mighty K100D covered the vast majority of my 2 daughters during their growing up years......was a great camera for me.

Penatx DSLRs are tanks! The only camera I have that even feels close to the same as far as heft and sturdiness is my Nikon D50. The rest feel like toys. I have a Sony A200, and a Nikon D3200 as well.

I feel like I could beat someone to death with my Pentax and take pictures of the body. Try that with a D3200.

It takes OK pictures but I live in constant fear of bumping it with my hip or setting it down on the table to hard (normal force). Think these Nikons have been a good learning experience, but thier days are numbered. I could sell both of them and all lenses and spring for a good used K3 or KS2 and have the K20D for backup.

I still like my old K110D . . . . hell, I still like my K1000

I dumped my K-r and most lenses when Pentax had the dreaded "MIRROR FLOP" issues

did they ever resolve that ?  I hope so.


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I'm not having an issue but the K-r and K-x are newer than the K20D. I'll be skipping them when I upgrade. A problem like that would significantly shorten a camera's life span with me, especially if it happened on a shoot. I'd bounce it off the sidewalk, lol.