what rock have you been living under? Pentax gear has been available at every photo shop for decades, there are hundreds of lenses to choose from, and they are incredibly reliable. There is nothing that makes Nikon or Canon discernibly better than Pentax at the entry and mid-level of SLRs, the only significant different is lack of a high-end model in the 3-6000 dollar range, which is hardly a problem for most people. I appreciate brand loyalty, I am loya to Pentax for example, but I'm sorry Canon and Nikon are hardly the holy grail here, Pentax, Olympus, Konica-Minolta (now Sony
) all make great digital bodies, there is no need to shut them out of the picture