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05-30-2011, 03:29 PM - 1 Like   #1
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Even reputable camera store people don't know Pentax anymore

I stopped by a well-known camera store in Indianapolis to browse. They keep a small collection of used Pentax lenses, but unfortunately it was all overpriced and mostly junk. They were asking $85 for an M35/2.8 which they had rated a 7 out of 10 even though the aperture blades were sticky as molasses.

Anyway, as I was looking, the salesperson asked what camera I had. After I said a Pentax K20D, he told me not to bother looking at the old lenses because they wouldn't work on a digital camera. I tried to explain that Pentax cameras were backwards compatible to the screwmount era if you didn't mind stop down metering. However, he said that mounting an old lens on a Pentax would prevent the camera from even turning on, and that was why Pentax digital cameras were a failure.

It wasn't worth an argument.

I wish Pentax would at least get some advertising out to the masses. They've got a great product, and only a few of us know it.

05-30-2011, 03:43 PM   #2
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I've schooled some older photo punks who are blown away by what I could pull off with a 50 dollar ebay find.

Not the best photographer, they *were* pretty impressed with pentax after I showed them what it was "all about".
05-30-2011, 04:39 PM   #3
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My Dad likes building simple telescopes and 50 years ago he also used to photograph using Practica equipment. He asked me what would be needed to attach a camera to his telescope and when I told him that I just needed a screw mount on the telescope he found some old mounting thing he'd made for a telescope years ago that was a screw mount.

He mounted it on the telescope, i attached the K20d to the the mount he'd made using the trusty screw mount to K mount adapter. A quick switch to manual, press the green button and there you go. Since the K20 will tether to a laptop, inside of a couple of minutes we had a complete telescope camera system.

Let's see other systems manage that!! The photos through the telescope weren't too bad actually. Trouble was, it started raining very shortly afterwards. Oh well, next time. At least it proved the concept.
05-30-2011, 04:44 PM   #4
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I was in at our local Camera Shop on the weekend and was actually told "If you need Pentax gear, just shop online". They didnt even ask if they could order stuff in for me, they just didnt want to know.
*sigh*

05-30-2011, 04:47 PM   #5
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They aren't instructed to push Pentax gear. Pentax doesn't advertise like Canikon does. People are like sheep, and they want what marketers tell them they need to buy. they get "herded" in a certain direction, and it's easier to join the flock than go with anything that could be better. "I saw it on TV, so I HAVE to have it!"
05-30-2011, 04:53 PM   #6
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Sounds like we're a bit better off here in Canada for Pentax.

Vistek which is quite a large outfit in Toronto, a few locations in other places as well, generally carries Pentax bodies and lenses & other accessories. They even had a Metz 58 AF-2 flash for Pentax in stock.

Henry's, a reasonably large photo chain carries Pentax bodies & lenses in stock and their salespeople actually can talk about Pentax. The fellow in the Henry's that I bought my K200 and then my K20 from told me about the old glass that is available. He's quite a young guy as well.

I guess we're lucky but sometimes it's like fighting a battle which has been lost.
05-30-2011, 04:55 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by klh Quote
However, he said that mounting an old lens on a Pentax would prevent the camera from even turning on, and that was why Pentax digital cameras were a failure.
I bet you wish at that moment you had your K20 with you preferably with a screw mount to K mount adapter installed so you could demonstrate how wrong he was.!!!

05-30-2011, 04:59 PM   #8
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Down here in the USA, the sad fact is, if a store puts in X amount of dollars of Pentax and X amount of Canon and X amount of Nikon, they can turn the Canon and Nikon money over many times before the Pentax turns over once. So they put the money where it moves. It's just economics.
05-30-2011, 05:02 PM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by Lurch Quote
I was in at our local Camera Shop on the weekend and was actually told "If you need Pentax gear, just shop online". They didnt even ask if they could order stuff in for me, they just didnt want to know.
*sigh*
You need to jump on that bike of yours Lurch, and head down to Elizabeth St. Melbourne.

Lots of camera stores (at least ten- camera precinct), lots of Pentax gear.
05-30-2011, 05:13 PM   #10
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In HongKong is just the same. Nearly haven't seen any Pentax Digital or Film in here. Sigh...
05-30-2011, 05:17 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by wizofoz Quote
You need to jump on that bike of yours Lurch, and head down to Elizabeth St. Melbourne.

Lots of camera stores (at least ten- camera precinct), lots of Pentax gear.
Oh damn... an excuse to travel down to wonderful Melbourne. Dang!

(and no, I'm not being sarcastic)
05-30-2011, 05:26 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by klh Quote
However, he said that mounting an old lens on a Pentax would prevent the camera from even turning on, and that was why Pentax digital cameras were a failure.
That's when you say "my camera must be defective then, because my camera works fine with 30 year old lenses."

And after DPreview's review of the K-5, I hardly call Pentax digital cameras a failure.
05-30-2011, 05:28 PM   #13
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I asked a camera shop here in Taiwan why they didn't stock Pentax. He said people woundn't buy it. I told him it he put up a sign in the window that they had Pentax people would come in for it. He finally admitted that Pentax does not push for them to sell so they don' t try.
05-30-2011, 05:30 PM   #14
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It would be interesting to show some of these salesmen the DPreview review, right there in their shop, and then ask then why they don't carry a camera that is rated so high. Oh, wait...I know why. See my above posts.
05-30-2011, 05:57 PM   #15
klh
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QuoteOriginally posted by mtansley Quote
I bet you wish at that moment you had your K20 with you preferably with a screw mount to K mount adapter installed so you could demonstrate how wrong he was.!!!
Unfortunately the camera was at home. Besides, he didn't really care.
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