Unusual K20D Deal at Amazon right now...

[cheekygeek]

Here's a weird one. I was just looking at the Amazon page for the K20D with kit lens (click to see price) which is $1249. Then I went to the lens alone page Amazon.com: Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL II Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras: Camera & Photo which Amazon has for $153.44 (click to see price). But if you scroll down the LENS ALONE page (Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL II Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras) you see that you can order the lens and the K20D body together for $1124.90 (a savings of $125 over the kit price ???).

At least for the K20D, it looks like the rebates are being extended in the form of a permanent(?) price cut.

[falconeye]

Originally Posted by cheekygeek

Here's a weird one.

The first price is Amazon's bundle price.
The latter prices are from resellers on Amazon's platform, i.e., the lens and the body from two separate resellers. The body w/o lens was 999.99 USD from Pavillion.

[nirudha]

Yep, even with shipping picking the lens and camera from different sellers is cheaper. Buying off Amazon does have the advantage of post order price protection. If the amazon price drops up to 30 days after the order is shipped out amazon will refund the price differance.

You can use Price Protectr - Get Your Money Back! to keep track of this

[RiceHigh]

The price of the K20D has been going down steep slope for recent months. I have seen the K20D with grip has been selling for just a little bit over US$1000 at a large electrical appliance chain shop in Hong Kong.

The case is just a new replacement model is coming (which is unlikely) and that the K20Ds are not selling well and so that Pentax needed to cut its set price aggressively.

Originally Posted by cheekygeek

Here's a weird one. I was just looking at the Amazon page for the K20D with kit lens (click to see price) which is $1249. Then I went to the lens alone page Amazon.com: Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL II Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras: Camera & Photo which Amazon has for $153.44 (click to see price). But if you scroll down the LENS ALONE page (Pentax DA 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 AL II Lens for Pentax and Samsung Digital SLR Cameras) you see that you can order the lens and the K20D body together for $1124.90 (a savings of $125 over the kit price ???).

At least for the K20D, it looks like the rebates are being extended in the form of a permanent(?) price cut.

[falconeye]

Originally Posted by RiceHigh

The price of the K20D has been going down steep slope for recent months. [:::] K20Ds are not selling well and so that Pentax needed to cut its set price aggressively.

@RH: Why do you have to see the negative options first?

I did some studies and found that only one thing is happening: K20D price was approaching and now has approached the K10D price curve after their respective launches. The attached chart shows German street price over time for both models. One should note that DSLR prices are going down (CMOS getter cheaper), not up over time (*istD was ~1500 Euro initially!). So, the K20D street price should end up slightly below the K10D street price in the end. Needless to say that the K10D was a best seller...

Note for the charts:
- The small inset chart is for the K20D, scaled in price and time axis to match. The big chart is for K10D.
- The first (high) price for the K20D was a pre-launch price and not a street price.
- Recently, the K10D prices are going up as supply stopped. Both effects to be ignored.