Originally posted by: Slap
Originally posted by: glen
What does Fuzzy recommend? The Rebel or the Nikon or what?
He didn't have a specific recommendation. He stated the lack of lenses for the Pentax as a con.
Yup. This conclusion was brought about because I was seriously toying with the idea of switching to Pentax because of the excellent K10D, but realized that it would be MUCH more expensive for me to get the same lens lineup as I currently have with the Canon. I had a discussion with virtualgames0, who is a Pentax user, and he admits that Pentax's strengths are on (old) primes. Zoom lenses are a lot harder to find.
Even though I use a Canon body, ALL of my lenses are either Sigma or Tamron (excluding the $40 Canon 50mm which is negligible). All of my lenses I bought used at a really good price because of the current Canon lens market; there are a lot of lenses, a lot of selection, and a lot of competition, so sellers often sell lenses at pretty significant discounts. I've gotten all of my lenses at pretty good deals.
Pentax on the other hand, still does not have a large seller base for current used AF lenses. The used selection is weak, there's not much price competition, and I KNOW that if I rebought my Canon lenses in Pentax mount I'd be spending a couple or more extra hundred dollars by going used or even new if the lens I want can't be found on the used market.
Just for example:
Sigma 10-20mm in Pentax mount: I can't find a used one, not even on eBay. The cheapest elsewhere is for $468.22. I bought my Canon mount Sigma for $400 even.
Sigma 50-500mm in Pentax mount: Again, I can't find a used one. The cheapest new lens is $950. I got my Canon mount version for $650.
Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 in Pentax mount: Not on eBay, can't find a used one. The cheapest new lens is $899.00. These regularly sell used for $500 even in Canon mount.
If I were to switch my lenses to Pentax, I'd probably be spending $1500+ for this upgrade, which would more than make up for the improved (though not perfect) K10D body. With this money I could go for a full frame 12MP 5D, or even a weathersealed 1DMKII
But hey, if you're perfectly fine with shooting with primes, Pentax will get you excellent quality on the cheap.