Looking back on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

an ovreview of the hottest items

By PF Staff in Articles and Tips on Nov 27, 2012

Black Friday and Cyber Monday were a huge success for Pentax.  The lower lens prices, which resembled the prices before the introduction of Pentax's unilateral online pricing policy, were much more reasonable and finally got Pentax lenses to start selling again!  Savings on the Pentax K-01, K-5, K-5 II, and K-5 IIs were also very welcome, and many of our users took advantage of the lower pricing to upgrade or complement their current body!

We've collected data from our affiliated retailers and list the most popular Pentax items below, along with their relative popularity.  The chart only includes items that represent 4% or more of total sales.

The Pentax K-01, which was the second most-popular Black Friday item, is still discounted and selling for $316.95 at B&H.  Pricing all all other items has gone back up to normal levels.

We hope that the high popularity of the Pentax DA* lenses sends a strong message to Pentax, and that hopefully the US pricing policy will be amended in the coming months.  Before Black Friday, besides Pentax kit lenses, we generally only saw our users purchasing Sigma, Tamron, and other third-party lenses.  Ironically, this weekend, the tables were turned so much that not a single forum member picked up a third-party lens!

Two more interesting observations can be made from this data: first, the DA* 16-50mm was nowhere near as popular as it's larger cousin, the DA* 50-135mm (despite having the same price).  Could the poor reliability of Pentax's SDM and the superior performance of the Sigma 17-70mm be to blame?

Second, we don't see any K-30's in the chart!  Hopefully it gets more attention during the holiday season, as it's certainly just as worthy of attention as the K-01.

Let us know through your comments what your thoughts are on this- and if you want cheaper Pentax lenses in the future, make your voices be heard!