K-r kit:
Amazon.com: Pentax K-r 12.4 MP Digital SLR Camera with 3.0-Inch LCD and 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens (White): Camera & Photo
K-5 kit:
Amazon.com: Pentax K-5 16.3 MP Digital SLR with 18-55mm Lens and 3-Inch LCD (Black): Camera & Photo
K-5 body only (2x the K-r kit!!):
Amazon.com: Pentax K-5 16.3 MP Digital SLR with 3-Inch LCD (Black Body Only): Camera & Photo
Ok, we all know the features and other bullcrap, lets forget that side of things...this is a rhetorical question and observation...one can pre-order a K-r kit for $800 or a K-5 "kit" for $1750ish...something smells here...like a the day after $2-Tuesday at a Nevada whorehouse.
I can't explain why I feel this way. I only just now started to really look at the pricing structure of HoyaTax vs. the other companies as well as the Hoya in-house pricing but it just does not seem right or consistent.
I have little doubt that the K-5 is going to be a wonderful camera. There is nothing to suggest otherwise. It is the prices...and NO IT'S NOT EXCHANGE RATES. See the exchange rate thing applies to ALL bodies not just the most expensive HoyaTax (nobody is saying the exchange rate is inflating the price of the 645D, right? I mean it's a more expensive body and if the value of the Yen vs. the USD was the issue then the new price for the 645D should now be $15,000 vs. the current $10,000 price.
I have no problem if the K-5 had features like dual processors, a-la the 7D, and other added features to make it bleeding edge.
So let's not push this into the realm of us vs. them brand wise but rather why would there be such inconsistent pricing...maybe my crap-detector is firing because from the first day of Photokina it felt as if Hoya was lying to consumers about the new body...via mis-information, lack of coordination of information and anything else one could call misdirection to focus attention away from something. What that something is, I obviously don't know...but I sense there is something.
Another example is the very fast sell-out of the K-5 on Amazon...why? Did they order like 10-bodies and refuse to order more simply because of the now dead stock K-7 bodies? Is Hoya planning to keep the K-7 in production to keep the K-5 price up?
Or, just as with the K-7 has some hardware related problem surfaced late in the production process so in order to slow sales has Hoya decided to inflate the price of the K-5 until whatever the issue could be is fixed?
I guess I am wondering if Hoya has again shot themselves in the foot with the release of their newest "higher end body" like with the sensor of the K-7 which had to be a KNOWN issue but the body was released anyway. If Pentax did not know about the K-7 sensor problem prior to the first production units leaving the warehouse then there are deeper issues than price structure at the company anyway.
Or? I dunno...and again, I am not being negative only asking the question WHY? Using exchange rates is not enough, especially considering the parts to build these things were bought months ago not yesterday.
And no, I don't think the D7000 is going to have the construction quality of the K-5, anyway I'm genetically predisposed to biologically reject anything Nikon, I've always been that way. So, Nikon is not and won't ever be an option for me...hehehehe....
Still if Nikon can do it, why can't Pentax at least get into the a closer section of the ballpark?