What's a Pentaxian? Chances are if you don't know what one is you aren't one. Whether you are or you aren't one, though, you can still hang out at the Pentaxian Web site launched last week by the makers of Pentax cameras.

According to the company's vice president for marketing Ned Bunnell: "The term 'Pentaxian' is used widely by Pentax photographers who describe themselves on various Web photo forums. We built www.pentaxian.com as a gathering place for them all."



The site is anchored around the video biographies of four professional photographers who use Pentax equipment. The videos are engaging and worth watching-even if you're not a Pentaxian. Other features at the site include:

• A Community Section with a content geo cloud where visitors from around the world may submit a brief answer to the question "What makes you a Pentaxian?"
• Search options to locate hidden promotions and opportunities to win free premium items such as t-shirts, cameras, lenses, and flashes.
• An entertaining quiz that tests Pentaxian knowledge and gathers information about what it means to be a Pentaxian.
• Access to various Pentaxian print advertising campaigns including PDFs and wallpaper downloads.
• A "Keep Me In The Loop" e-mail signup that allows visitors to opt-in to receive future Pentaxian updates including new artist videos, product promotions and such.

After visiting Pentaxia, you may want to ogle the photos at the company's gallery, which was launched last month. And if you happen to own a Pentax digital SLR and would like to see some of your work displayed in the gallery, you can get information about that by writing to photogallery@pentax.com.

While all this Pentaxian business seems like a granfalloon to me, I still had fun poking around the site, even if I don't own a Pentax DSLR.