[JimmyDranox]

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This morning, by pure curiosity, I've search the Amazon ranking of DSLR cameras. Of course, is not a very precise ranking, due to his fluidity, but can give an idee about the situation of sales in America and in part, in Europe. Asia and Japan are a totally different story in this regard, IMO.

So, the best selling Pentax is.........

1. Pentax K1000, on the 32'th place.
2. Pentax K-3 body, on 55'th
3. Pentax K-5IIs, on 79'th
4. Pentax K-3 kit w 18-135mm lens, on 90'th
5. Pentax ME, on 99'th

Best selling DSLR is Canon T3i (600D), what else? Best selling cameras comparable with Pentax K-3 are on 7'th place, Nikon D7100, and on 9'th, Canon 70D. Best selling Sony is A5100, on the 49'th place. no trace of Sony A7 something in the first 100, in a top where Nikon D810 is on the 6'th place.

In the first 100 are 48 Canon, 33 Nikon, 9 Sony, 5 Pentax, 3 Panasonic, 1 Leica, and 1 Olympus.

My conclusions from this?

First, Pentax is missing a proper advertising for his cameras. And frankly, I didn't need to do this statistics, to ''see'' that I can't see any Pentax advertising.

Second. The presence of two film Pentax cameras in top 100, means in my opinion, than Pentax still has a lot of supporters.

Third. This is a question, not a conclusion. I've have read on this forum for hundreds times the same old, and, in my opinion, completely boring, annoying, and even pointless joke ''Pentax is doomed''. And I wonder. This joke does not make a bad propaganda through potentially costumers of Pentax?

Of course, those who use it frequently will yell NO. But I still wonder.

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Last edited by JimmyDranox; 09-01-2014 at 03:19 AM.

[Adam]

The k1000 isn't even being produced any more. Are you sure it can be compared alongside the others?

Btw, this is neither news nor a rumor, so it should be moved to the industry forum.

[JimmyDranox]

Sorry, I really has no clue where to post it, so if you want to move it, is OK for me.

About K1000, was on this ranking. And I think that not even ME is not in production anymore, but still is there.

[ramseybuckeye]

These rankings are only sales on Amazon, not B&H or Adorama or anywhere else. Read it for what it is.

[JimmyDranox]

These rankings are only sales on Amazon, not B&H or Adorama or anywhere else. Read it for what it is.

I have specified this thing at the beginning of my post. And I didn't write anywhere that is about Adorama, or B&H, or something else.

[Rondec]

The biggest problem with these rankings is that they don't combine kits or, colors. So, a camera like the K30 or K50, which have multiple different kits available are split up. The K3 doesn't have as many iterations available and so relatively will look higher on these lists.

[Dartmoor Dave]

Since the K1000 still sells so well, maybe Pentax should think about creating a fully manual digital version of the cult classic. I'd happily put my pre-order in today.

[JimmyDranox]

I saw this, from the numbers of Canon T3i with different lenses. But is not about the numbers as they are. I'm sure than this moment, the positions are slightly others. Is the general image which we can make about Pentax position, and my opinion, and also yours, about why, with so competent cameras, Pentax is so low on sales, at almost one year after K-3.

[Fogel70]

Since the K1000 still sells so well, maybe Pentax should think about creating a fully manual digital version of the cult classic. I'd happily put my pre-order in today.

They should also sell the digital version for $62, just like K1000.

[Kunzite]

Is that even a ranking purely based on sales? I have my doubts, seeing the "interesting" results they're getting...

[rawr]

Better to look at the most popular cameras list on flickr than the Amazon list.

Bad news everybody: mobile phones make up the most popular cameras there. The same probably would apply to the Amazon list, if they cared to measure that.

So no need for all this Pentax angst.

[jogiba]

Since the K1000 still sells so well, maybe Pentax should think about creating a fully manual digital version of the cult classic. I'd happily put my pre-order in today.

Get a K1000 for $30 including lens and flash and take the film to Costco and get the images digitized on DVD because there is zero chance Ricoh wll be coming out with a digital K1000.
Pentax K1000 35mm SLR Film Camera with 50mm Lens 027075045002 | eBay

[JimmyDranox]

Better to look at the most popular cameras list on flickr than the Amazon list.

Bad news everybody: mobile phones make up the most popular cameras there. The same probably would apply to the Amazon list, if they cared to measure that.

So no need for all this Pentax angst.

We can't compare a 2 billion+ market for smartphones, with a 100 million for DSLR.

I forget to post the link. Sorry

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Camera-Photo-DSLR-Cameras/zgbs/photo/3017..._p_2_330405011

Analysis of a situation is not angst. And I think that my third conclusion can prove this.

[Fontan]

Why do we have to rank Them at all? Who give a lick? I just shoot away with my 645d with zero regards to the well being of this company. Even if they were snuffed out of existence today I would shoot just the same. I think Pentax is just fine as is. If one day I come to a conclusion that Pentax is not fine, then I will promptly move on to Leica, another doomed manufacturer.

[THoog]

Third. This is a question, not a conclusion. I've have read on this forum for hundreds times the same old, and, in my opinion, completely boring, annoying, and even pointless joke ''Pentax is doomed''. And I wonder. This joke does not make a bad propaganda through potentially costumers of Pentax?

Of course, those who use it frequently will yell NO. But I still wonder.

"PentaxIsDoomed™" is an ironic or sarcastic response to the endless negativity that is directed towards Pentax by some forum members. It's generally used to point out exactly the sort of bad propaganda that you are talking about. Which will influence potential buyers more - an obvious (if tired) joke, or endless complaining and negativity by the brand's supporters?

Going back to your second point, the last advertising campaign that I saw for a Pentax camera was in 2007 for the K100D, just prior to Hoya buying Pentax. After that, Pentax virtually abandoned the US market. Ricoh's attempts with the K-S1 are pretty much the first advertising I've seen since - and you've seen how the forum responded.