I'm one of those guys. I secretly want my personal choice of cameras to make it to the top of the photo food chain and be the choice of digital photographers around the world! So I look to see what everyone is carrying and in my minds eye I attempt to "will" the brand name on the bag, body and lens to change! No luck so far. So who in god's name is buying my brand?
I see Canon everywhere. In Washington, New York, Rome, Florence and even here it's Canon, Canon, Canon! Find a rare camera store and you find Canon. Visit your local pawn broker...Canon. The Canon folks have it down. They advertise everywhere and not just during the holiday shopping season. But what of Nikon?
Cameras and lenses are crafted in Nikon plants. No copiers nor printers nor studio quality digital tv and film equipment are made there. It's a camera company and I'm sure they're diversified to some degree, but not far afield of their core product. But we consumers don't really care. How much does it cost to get a Canon? There's soooo many choices at just about every price point. Not like Leica whose prices start 4 to 5 times higher than just about any mainstream camera company. Their entry level stuff will level most wallets.
Don't get me wrong. The Leica store in Washington, DC is next to a favorite breakfast spot for my wife and I so I usually get to press my nose against the window and drool over the sleek beauties on display. To give you an idea how the store panders to an elite crowd it doesn't open until 10am. The average Joe has been at work for over two hours before they unlock the doors. I made it back there once and took the tour. Lovely sales people took pity on me and treated me very nicely. They looked at me as a dry run for when a qualified customer might enter the establishment and throw down their purse to claim their premium priced optic prize. I smiled and took the product catalog which I proudly displayed as we walked back to our hotel where my Pentax awaited my attention. Come to think of it, I don't remember seeing anyone else enter the place or found nose prints on the front window other than my own. Oh yes. Nose prints are identifiable...just like fingerprints. It's true. Look it up*, but I digress....
Then there's Nikon. Nikon is ranked with Canon and, though not endeavoring as far afield as its fellow Japanese photo giant, it is a most revered name for amateur and pro photographers.
The bodies are great as is the glass. But I didn't see as many or even a few gawking my way from bag to bag, strap to strap and camera to camera wandering the sites of Rome and Florence. Nikon was notable to me in its absence. I had expected to see it in the hands of tourists snapping the attractions.
I was was carrying a simple Sony mirrorless rig with only two lenses. Didn't see any of the brand in our meanderings. But I know the brand is coming on strong. The best of Canon and Nikon (and most other brands) have been using the Sony sensors for years. The engine that made those top cameras go...Sony. Sony's A lines of cameras have been gaining popularity and can be found right next to the Canon and Nikon products on major retailer shelves. Once again, if you can't visit B&H Photo on 9th Avenue in Manhattan or Pittman Photo Supply in Miami, there are few places in the US you can get "hands on" with an assortment of camera brands you might be considering for purchase.
As the big two brands try and break away from Sony by developing their own sensors the company has been bringing out new products at great price points and good reviews. Who knows? SONCANIKON?
And now for the also-rans. My brand and all the others languish under the power of the Goliaths of photo retail. We'll skip Olympus, Panasonic, Fuji, Samsung, Sigma and all the others and look at my favorite...my team...my investment, Pentax.
Where are you Pentax users? I never see Pentax DSLR's out and about, lens cap off and at the ready. Am I a "David", challenging Goliath on my own?! I know Ricoh/Pentax must be selling cameras somewhere or they would return to making copiers and binoculars! Stand up for your choice in lenses and camera bodies! Pentax makes great glass! They've been building and improving their DSLR lines for years now. Compare the power and flexibility of their current flag ship body with the K10 or K1 of old. If they EVER deliver their mythical FULL FRAME as promised, the playing field and game could change forever. They hit a home run with their superbly priced 645Z medium format camera used the world over by countless professional photographers.
Build on it with a line of full frame products.
My reason for sticking it out (I almost jumped to either Sony or Canon earlier this year) even after its release was delayed until Q1 2016 is the camera's reported ability to adapt to APS-C lenses as well as full frame. The savings in not having to buy new glass and being able to use what's already in my kit bag is huge!
So I wait. Rarely, outside of the Pentaxian blogsite, do I see anyone championing the brand. I always feel like I have to explain why I chose Pentax. I still have my reasons packed away in its bag in my closet. I am determined to take my 48 year old Asahi Pentax 35 mm out and shoot some film, just to remember how it feels...barring fungus or other old age maladies having crept into its nooks and crannies.
I saw an ad recently touting the fact that more photos are taken with IPhones than with any other device on the market. I believe it. Add the other phones with high megapixel cameras built in and you have a new industry and I'm not talking about selfie sticks.
Samsung and LG have killer cameras in their phones that, in the hands of someone with an eye for photographing things turn out surprisingly good pics. There are lenses made to fit on the phones too. A pro photographer friend admitted she has some for her phone. What can I say? Apparently lensmakers are willing to eat their young for a dollar. But a camera isn't photography. And a cell phone isn't a camera. Truth be told one must mention what phones have done to camera sales. I imagine it is difficult to sell the simple point and shoot digital cameras anymore without their having some other hook to keep up with the flexability and instant gratification of phone pic sharing for tweeting, facebooking or instagramming. It's a communication device that now allows pics and videos to be digitized and sent to friends and family within an instant of being taken. Hard to fight progress...if you want to call it that. I don't see anything wrong with it as long as it leads to human interaction. We all spend too much time face down peering into that tiny screen for entertainment and information.
But this is a topic for another time.
Pentax users of the world, unite! Fly your flag high. Maybe someone will notice. Pentax! I want my full frame camera. I wanted it for Christmas, but now I will have to wait until my birthday, but I may not be able to hold out much longer.
*Being my own fact checker I looked it up. Dogs can be identified by nose prints, not humans. I stand corrected. MikeDSr.
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