I have shot with pretty much every major camera brand. I've come back to a few but one has drawn me back again and again. It used to be a major player in the photography world. It always had a reputation for 35mm and medium format film cameras. Then the digital era happened and it took a while to find its feet. Canon and Nikon stole a march on most their competitors and largely cornered the market for commercial photographers. Pentax however, slowly worked on their digital cameras, introducing revolutionary features, some spectacular coloured camera bodies and a few misses. In 2025, they are small compared to the current giants of Sony, Canon, Nikon, Panasonic and Fujifilm. They take their time introducing new models and lenses but these new ones are as ever feature packed, rugged and very well made. Why then do I keep coming back to them when most of the other camera brands are equally well made, feature packed and have rugged weather resistant models?

There are a number of reasons. Firstly, I love using DSLRs and Pentax make the best crop sensor ones. You pick one up and it feels comfortable, reliable and intuitive. They are focused on photography not being hybrid cameras. It is a rarity that cameras in 2025, don’t lean towards video specs but Pentax video isn’t the best by quite a long way. For photography however, they certainly deliver. Colours produced are punchy and the detail you can resolve is wonderful. The image stabilisation which has been feature of Pentax DSLRs for many years, is very good. Pentax cameras have a formidable lens catalogue as they are backwards compatible for all K and KAF lenses going back to the 1970s. Some of their old lenses of which I own several, are beautifully made. I own a few modern lenses, all of which are fabulous quality. Most current lenses are weather resistant so you can shoot with the cameras in very harsh conditions.

I traded in some gear for firstly, a very reasonably priced Pentax KP and then got the opportunity to acquire an exceptionally cheap and what turned out to be, brand new Pentax K3 III, the flagship APSC current camera. They are both very comfortable and familiar to anyone who’s shot with Pentax before. The K3 III feels like its on another level to other cameras I've used including some heavy hitters from Canon and Sony. You can’t always explain how something feels eminently capable other than by picking it up. You just know. The KP feels different but in a positive way. You also have to train yourself to see the world through an optical viewfinder after using mirrorless cameras but you soon get used to it. Maybe I am attuned to shooting with DSLRs more than mirrorless as I enjoyed using Canon and Nikon full frame models. Modern thinking is that EVFs are the way forward yet the most prestigious models of the most famous camera brand in the world, Leica; make their M series rangefinders with optical viewfinders. It is after one less electronic screen to look at when you have a camera with an OVF.

As Christmas is almost upon us and I sit here typing whilst listening to my Kate Rusby Christmas playlist, I look back on a monumental year. 2025 began with Pentax and is ending with it. We moved house, got married, sadly lost our two beloved old cats and gained two sister kittens. I’ve rattled through too many cameras only to end up where 2025 began. I’m getting tired of trying new gear and want my future to be about what I make with what I've got. If you have never tried a Pentax DSLR, I would urge you to have a go. You can pick up really good older models for peanuts. Their kit lenses are very good, weather sealed and a bargain. You will experience a certain freedom of having what is essentially a dedicated weather sealed camera to have fun with, which after all is what photography should be. I wish you all a very happy Christmas and peaceful New Year.

Pentax - Forgotten Legends

Art at a time of Upheaval