Not literally, of course, but I am smitten, big time!
Monday, I went to a local camera store hoping that they've have some old Pentax-mount extension tubes among their used gear for sale. While they didn't, that led to a conversation with the salesguy about how frustrating it can be to find accessories for Pentax cameras. He just so happened to pull out a gently used 40D from behind the counter, attached an EFS18-200 to it, and let me play with it. I was absolutely blown away by the super quick AF and burst mode, as well as how quiet the AF was, even though the 18-200 isn't a USM lens. Of course, I didn't have the $600+ he wanted for it, but if I had had it, I would've been very tempted to walk out of the store with it, never mind that all my lenses are Pentax-compatible.
I've been shooting with Pentax for almost 2 years (in Oct.) and have been pretty happy with it, for the most part. Other than messing around a little bit with my dad's Canon XSi (since replaced by the T1i), I really hadn't played around with anything else in the DSLR world, so I really didn't have much to go by in comparing things like AF speed and such. Even with that, there have been times where I've become really frustrated with AF hunting and noise on my K20D in addition to the lack of accessories, either Pentax or 3rd party.
I will have to admit that up until yesterday, I've had fleeting thoughts about switching systems, but now I'm starting to give it even more serious consideration. Of course, the K7 has come out and it does address the AF speed issue, among other things. The simplest thing to do would be to upgrade to the K7, but that still doesn't address the lack of Pentax and compatible accesssories. I've also considered eventually picking up a FF body as a long-term goal and assuming that Pentax doesn't come out with a FF body, I would have to switch systems when that time came, anyway. As for my shooting habits, while I'm open to shooting all sorts of things, my passion is nature photography, including landscapes and macro. While I'm a hobbyist at this point, I'd love to go pro if the opportunity presented itself.
I did mention that my dad does have a T1i, so we could share lenses, as he has some very nice L-glass I'd love to play with.
As this is a major decision, I'll be taking my time and doing my homework as to what would work best for me in the way of gear. Forgive me for any seemingly stupid questions I might ask in the process.
Since I've about made up my mind that I'm going to switch, I'm expecting to start building my Canon system sometime around Christmas.
I know this is long, but what happened with me and that 40D on Monday was quite unexpected and a bit shocking.
I know this is kind of long, but thanks for reading!
Heather
