I was a teen when Pentax was popular and in my early 20's when Nikon became the one to own. The Pentax was a beautiful camera to hold and behold, it had nice lines, was fairly ergonomic (although I never liked the feel of the winder lever), and had excellent lenses, but... that was when the M42 screw mount was the main mount for 35mm SLR's. Once the bayonet mount became more popular for ease and speed of mounting, the Nikon system took over and that was the camera to have. The Beatles owned both and I assume they had Pentax before they preferred the Nikons, and I also assume it was due to the mounts improving from screw to bayonet (and the popularity and massive system that Nikon offered). Pentax still made a more handsome, more ergonomic, smaller and sexier camera than Nikon, even with the K mounts. Bob.