Photographers are a funny lot at times. We are fiercely loyal to the particular brand of gear we use. No matter what bodies you use, you love them. That's the way I felt about Pentax after using a Pentax film body and moving up through several versions of digital bodies after that. For the most part, all the cameras available now are perfectly good cameras for general use. That said, there are sometimes going to be situations where one particular camera might not lend itself to a particular type of shooting as well as another might. I found that with Pentax bodies while shooting concerts. I had quite a lot of images ruined by inconsistent focusing.
While shooting a festival one night, I had especially horrible results with a higher than normal rate of "deleters". Concerts have characteristics unlike many other types of photography. You are dealing with not only low lighting, but wierd and fast moving light a lot of the time, which throws off some focusing systems more than others. Add to this, performers' movement and you have a set of circumstances that my Pentax bodies seemed to struggle greatly with. I decided to take my wife's Nikon full frame to the next night's performances, to say I was blown away with the resulting images was a massive understatement! Not only did I have almost no "deleters", I also found that because of being full frame, I had much more editable images as well.
All this got me thinking......it was time to go full frame, but what brand? The Pentax full frame camera had finally come out after literally years of waiting, but it was expensive. Another consideration, would it focus for my needs any better than prior APS-C bodies from Pentax. Also, my lenses at the time were all APS-C lenses, not for use on a full frame body so there was another considerable expense. I had also learned from using my Wife's camera, that Nikon bodies would perform for me while doing the type of work that I do.
When a friend offered to sell me her Nikon D810 at a very good price, the offer was just too attractive to refuse! I saved a lot on the body and with a few high end but used lenses, I am now officially a Nikon shooter and I can say I absolutely love it. My first concert with the new camera was April 14 when I shot The Dixie Chicks in Ottawa and once again, the Nikon performed flawlessly. I am beyond happy with my decision to change brands. It cost me some money, but not as much as the equivalent gear in Pentax would have, and I have gear I have faith in for the type of work I do. Peace of mind means a lot to me in photography.
