Originally posted by Marc Sabatella So, no body only option for those who already own lenses they like? No way for users who are as obsessed as you over this to buy a cheaper kit? That would have been a huge mistake. And it still wouldn't have ended the confusion, as people might buy a kit with a WR lens then try using the camera with, say, the new DA35/2.4 they just bought.
Again, there is no getting around the potential for confusion. No way would it be acceptable for Pentax to limit the options for those of us who might not care about buying a kit with an 18-55WR just because you are worried some people might get confused.
Marc, I'm beginning to think you've just decided to label me a "Pentax Hater" (nothing could be further from the truth) and refuse to actually read my posts out of some sort of pride. How else could you have possibly dismissed this part of my post? It was
right after the part you selectively quoted.
Originally posted by illdefined That and body-only, for the experienced user, where the buyer is forced to consider what they're putting on their camera.
This goes for pros and amateurs alike. If someone knows enough about lenses (focal lengths, F-stops and such) to buy an extra lens and attach something from a different box onto their camera, then I consider them advanced enough to know the attributes of that lens and hold them entirely responsible for what they're doing.
I'm not talking about THEM (us).
I'm talking about the NEWcomers to ILCs, coming from compacts or superzooms, who don't measure their telephoto reach by mm, but by 10x, 4x and 2x.
While certainly advanced enough for experienced users, the K30 is also clearly designed and marketed to be attractive to first time SLR buyers, with it's tough look and shiny colors. People who've never changed a lens in their life, and don't write on PentaxForums (though they've been affected too).
Anyone caught up in this pre-order mix-up (I don't have to tell you how big B&H is), or who drove by a Pentax billboard without seeing or understanding the difference between an 18-something-something mm and another 18-something-something mm lens, or worst of all, and the most likely, just got wrong information at the retailer (Pentax knowledge at retail has never been good) opens up a box with their first SLR in it, potentially with a picture of a wet camera on it….
OF COURSE you can never totally eliminate the possibility of confusion, but we spend our whole lives trying to trying to influence possibilities. Saying you can't affect possible outcomes is like saying 'don't bother wearing a seatbelt'. Isn't avoiding some confusion better than
adding the chances of it? Pentax is in a direct position to affect the
probability of the confusion
it started, with its aggressive marketing and messed up product roll-out.
Originally posted by Marc Sabatella That's not the issue we are talking about. Sure, there is a possibilty of someone buying - or selling - the wrong lens, again, that is always going to be the case, and nothing anyone does can change that. The issue we were talking about isn't the possibilty of accidentally buying or selling the wrong lens, but rather, the issue of someone not realizing that it even matters, and then somehow holding this against Pentax and suing them. There is no evidence that this is the case here.
These are all symptoms of the same problem. Pentax not bundling the K30 with WR kits across the board, with the option of body-only.
Pentax has been sending sales materials to all these retailers for weeks now, and B&H expected WR kits. NewEgg is repeating the sales material and listing the 18-55mm KIT as "Fully weather sealed" not just the camera. Now just imagine these errors multiplied by all the thousands of mom&pop camera shops across the country and their websites.
PENTAX has established an
expectation for this camera kit to be WR to
both retailer and consumer. If they want to have an exception, they better make it crystal clear to both parties what it is, and hopefully they will. So far it hasn't been, as this thread that I didn't start attests. I'm not the only one writing here about the WR situation, and most camera buyers don't write on forums, especially new ones who would be affected by this issue the most.
And people ask me why I repeat myself. it's because people here aren't open enough to fully consider what I'm actually saying in these posts.