Canon rates "average" while Pentax takes top spot in survey of online buyers

[Aglet]

I rarely agree with surveys like this for a variety of reasons but J.D. Powers one makes for an interesting perspective.

www.jdpower.com/content/press-release/RoPDeNH/2012-digital-single-lens-reflex-camera-online-buyer-report.htm

you can download the PDF press release from above link but it's the same content as the web page

some points:

- prices up about $350 from last year
- Pentax, Nikon, and Canon are the top 3, in that order, and very close in their scores
- cameras were rated on 5 areas; picture quality, durability/reliability, features, ease of operation and speed

Only thing I can take away from this is the Pentax K5, with its pile of incredible features and best image quality of any APS-C sensor camera, has really pleased its purchasers. If only they had some really good performing glass that I knew about I'd consider adding one of them to my collection.

I doubt the results will stir any response from Canon or Nikon but likely puts a smile on the marketing guys at Ricoh/Pentax. I still haven't seen any real advertising from them yet, despite their intent to gain mindshare in the north american marketplace. Maybe this will spur them on.

 

[Bennymiata]

Personally, I think most (but not all) Pentax DSLR customers are first time DSLR buyers and don't have large collections of lenses, and so, are not as fussy as Canon and Nikon users.
Many Pentax DSLR's are bought on price,or because they come in pretty colours.

Lots of Canon and Nikon users are "heavy" users and so are fussier with what they have, where most Pentax users are just amazed at how much better their photos look after having only owned a P&S beforehand.

I have owned a Pentax DSLR, and while it was OK, my subsequent Canons have been superior cameras.

 

[nightbreath]

The difference is 1%, so you can neglect it.

 

[RLPhoto]

At least canon's cameras now have a Rate button. :

 

[rcarca]

The last really good Pentax cameras were the K and then the ME Super. But I am going back to 35mm film! I loved my ME Super, I then had a couple of truly awful Pentax autofocus SLRs and swore I would never go back.

 

[AdamJ]

Personally, I think most (but not all) Pentax DSLR customers are first time DSLR buyers and don't have large collections of lenses, and so, are not as fussy as Canon and Nikon users.
Many Pentax DSLR's are bought on price,or because they come in pretty colours.

Conversely, Pentax could be the default choice for anyone old enough to have a collection of K-mount lenses from the film era - of which there must be many, given the ubiquity of the K-mount in those days.

 

[coreyhkh]

I am a Pentax user and I am looking at Nikon or canon for wildlife work. I have to say from using a 7D its has one of the worst control setups of any camera. If anyone has used a K7 or K5 you would be much happier you can think about taking good pics instead of fighting with the camera. Unless you need fast AF then pentax is behind in that.

 

[RLPhoto]

I am a Pentax user and I am looking at Nikon or canon for wildlife work. I have to say from using a 7D its has one of the worst control setups of any camera. If anyone has used a K7 or K5 you would be much happier you can think about taking good pics instead of fighting with the camera. Unless you need fast AF then pentax is behind in that.

I disagree, The 7D has fantastic ergonomics and handling. 8)

 

[Toronto]

I am a Pentax user and I am looking at Nikon or canon for wildlife work. I have to say from using a 7D its has one of the worst control setups of any camera. If anyone has used a K7 or K5 you would be much happier you can think about taking good pics instead of fighting with the camera. Unless you need fast AF then pentax is behind in that.

I disagree, The 7D has fantastic ergonomics and handling. 8)

It is a free country, disagreement is your right

After owning several Pentax dslrs I will admit their owners do become loyalists and the af is not that far behind ( actually kicks the 5d mkii in the teeth with af ). Now after using a 7D and owning the 5d mkii I can say in comparisons the Pentax k7 and k5 the ergonomics are more user friendly which probably helps their user satisfaction ratings and the system is rather tough with good enough affordable lenses for prosumer use. But the system is closed with no upgrade path beyond aps-c unless you jump to medium format, this is why I also own a 5D mkii and pray everyday for canon to buy out Pentax and learn something about designing camera control systems.

 

[awinphoto]

At least canon's cameras now have a Rate button. :

Well to be fair older Canon's had that super cool direct print button as well 8)

 

[awinphoto]

I am a Pentax user and I am looking at Nikon or canon for wildlife work. I have to say from using a 7D its has one of the worst control setups of any camera. If anyone has used a K7 or K5 you would be much happier you can think about taking good pics instead of fighting with the camera. Unless you need fast AF then pentax is behind in that.

I disagree, The 7D has fantastic ergonomics and handling. 8)

It is a free country, disagreement is your right

After owning several Pentax dslrs I will admit their owners do become loyalists and the af is not that far behind ( actually kicks the 5d mkii in the teeth with af ). Now after using a 7D and owning the 5d mkii I can say in comparisons the Pentax k7 and k5 the ergonomics are more user friendly which probably helps their user satisfaction ratings and the system is rather tough with good enough affordable lenses for prosumer use. But the system is closed with no upgrade path beyond aps-c unless you jump to medium format, this is why I also own a 5D mkii and pray everyday for canon to buy out Pentax and learn something about designing camera control systems.

I know using a 7d and 5d3, when the 7d came out 3 years ago, that was it's trump card was it's superior ergonomics, especially compared to the 5d2. Now i've never shot with a pentax in the last decade, so i'm not as well versed, but do explain why and how the pentax has a better user interface... what quirks do you like? what dont you like? How are you "fighting" with the camera? do explain rather than make blanket statements for those who haven't used that camera.

 

[sdsr]

I am a Pentax user and I am looking at Nikon or canon for wildlife work. I have to say from using a 7D its has one of the worst control setups of any camera. If anyone has used a K7 or K5 you would be much happier you can think about taking good pics instead of fighting with the camera. Unless you need fast AF then pentax is behind in that.

I disagree, The 7D has fantastic ergonomics and handling. 8)

It is a free country, disagreement is your right

After owning several Pentax dslrs I will admit their owners do become loyalists and the af is not that far behind ( actually kicks the 5d mkii in the teeth with af ). Now after using a 7D and owning the 5d mkii I can say in comparisons the Pentax k7 and k5 the ergonomics are more user friendly which probably helps their user satisfaction ratings and the system is rather tough with good enough affordable lenses for prosumer use. But the system is closed with no upgrade path beyond aps-c unless you jump to medium format, this is why I also own a 5D mkii and pray everyday for canon to buy out Pentax and learn something about designing camera control systems.

Reading the Pentax forums one does get the impression that at least some "Pentaxians" are almost paranoid in their loyalty, if anything more anti-Canon/Nikon than some Canon fans are anti-Nikon (and vice versa).
I moved up to a Pentax K-5 from a Nikon D3100 and was very pleased by the various improvements involved - not the least of which was the effective in-camera anti-shake mechanism, whose obvious advantages hardly need spelling out. Yes, the camera's very well designed, and you can take very good photos with it.

But I wanted full-frame and, like you, bought a 5Dii (I've just finished selling off my Pentax gear to help pay for it and various lenses). Unlike you, I don't think the K-5's autofocus is better - though all I ever use is center-point focus and it's hard to tell anyway as Canon's lenses seem to have better automatic focus than any Pentax or made-for-Pentax lens I've tried. I also think it's easier to get the exposure right in the 5Dii. (In fact, my sole operational complaint with the Canon is the rather trivial one that it can't automatically create a new folder each day on the memory card.)

But perhaps the main point for me is lens quality (though I didn't appreciate this until after I jumped ship): in my experience, not only are Canon's better lenses superior in terms of optics and mechanical performance (often at a price, of course), but there are more of them in current production to choose from (not to mention that more third party lenses come in Canon/Nikon mounts than in Pentax mounts and that DxO, for one, has far more modules for Canon lenses than it does for Pentax). More than a few Pentax lenses themselves look better, but it's the results that count; for instance, the new Canon 40mm pancake lens looks and feels crude and cheap next to the Pentax equivalent, but it works better and takes photos that probably look better too. I bought a Rebel t3i as a backup camera, and while in terms of build and design it's inferior in many ways to the k-5, the photos it takes aren't; quite the opposite (except perhaps in the lowest light), probably.

It was amusing to read this sentence in the cited report above: "Pentax performs particularly well in durability and reliability; variety of features; ease of operation; and shutter speed/lag time, while Canon performs well in the picture quality factor." As with so many reviews found on-line, one could be forgiven for thinking that "the picture quality factor" (what a phrase!) isn't that important....

 

[paul13walnut5]

I liked the look of the Pentax K-01.. I wish canon would be a bit more bold sometimes.

The 7D isn't a camera for folk who want something to work out the box... you need to spend time with it and set it up properly. That is no sleight on those who don't want to do that, just affirmation that the 7D is not for everybody.

 

[Toronto]

I am a Pentax user and I am looking at Nikon or canon for wildlife work. I have to say from using a 7D its has one of the worst control setups of any camera. If anyone has used a K7 or K5 you would be much happier you can think about taking good pics instead of fighting with the camera. Unless you need fast AF then pentax is behind in that.

I disagree, The 7D has fantastic ergonomics and handling. 8)

It is a free country, disagreement is your right

After owning several Pentax dslrs I will admit their owners do become loyalists and the af is not that far behind ( actually kicks the 5d mkii in the teeth with af ). Now after using a 7D and owning the 5d mkii I can say in comparisons the Pentax k7 and k5 the ergonomics are more user friendly which probably helps their user satisfaction ratings and the system is rather tough with good enough affordable lenses for prosumer use. But the system is closed with no upgrade path beyond aps-c unless you jump to medium format, this is why I also own a 5D mkii and pray everyday for canon to buy out Pentax and learn something about designing camera control systems.

I know using a 7d and 5d3, when the 7d came out 3 years ago, that was it's trump card was it's superior ergonomics, especially compared to the 5d2. Now i've never shot with a pentax in the last decade, so i'm not as well versed, but do explain why and how the pentax has a better user interface... what quirks do you like? what dont you like? How are you "fighting" with the camera? do explain rather than make blanket statements for those who haven't used that camera.

Not a blanket statement, just an observation but I do not fight with my Canons. As far as user interface, Pentax has their control layout for most functions available at your finger tips and can be accessed with out moving your eye from the finder, switching af modes etc it is right by either your thumb or either forefinger. The control lay out is very nikon like but simplistic and less cluttered. Most Pentaxes are quite usable by anyone out of the box, even first DSLR users and not overly limiting to more advanced users and that is their appeal. After the ergonomics that is where they just fall behind, it is a closed ended system with no real pro level upgrade path and while the K-7's af is faster than the 5D mKII the SDM lenses are not up to par with the 70-200L F2.8 IS II (which I do own ) and only the Pentax limited lens series can match the L lenses for build quality. The system is limiting so I switched but that doesn't mean I can't miss using them and I still have my K20D which I do use regularly.

You have to think of it like this, Those Pentaxes are just plain enjoyable to use, but I needed to switch to the MKII to get better image results.