I sent an email to Pentax Japan in my not so impressive Japanese. The response was pretty much marketing speak, but here it is.
This is the response I received (with my poor translation back to English, anyone with more skill please feel free to correct in your own post):
(my name)様
ペンタックスインターネット問合せをご利用いただきまし
てありがとうございます。
- Thank your for using the Pentax Internet enquiry.
お問合せいただきましたカメラとレンズにつきまして、回
答いたします。
- This enquiry was received by the camera and lens desk?
FA Limitedレンズは、今は販売中止の予定や情報はありま
せん。ご安心下さい。
- Right now there is no (edit: plans and news) of suspending the sale of FA Limited lenses. Please continue to have piece of mind. I asked them about that rumor... just to see what they would say.
また、400mmくらいの望遠レンズやリアコンバーター(テ
レコンバーター)のお話は貴重なご意見として伺います。
- again, 400mm (approximate) telephoto lens and rear adapter (tele-converter) talk/opinion is valuable to us. I told them about my current activities of going out in extreme conditions and photographing birds.
I even included a link to this photo and talked about how important and nice their WR is (haha). I had mentioned that I have the biggest thing Pentax offers in the USA (DA* 300mm), but felt I need a bit more range somehow.
これからも多くのお客様のニーズにお応えできる製品作り、
サービスの提供を目指します。
- After this, also Pentax wants to try and fill the needs of as many users as possible. I mentioned a few miscellaneous things like how I feel they should try to communicate with their foreign users a bit better, as lately there has been a lot of miss information about topics that are important to users (eg. Pentax company outside Japan) of their higher-end gear.
今後もペンタックス製品をご使用くださいますよう、よ
ろしくお願い致します。
- Thank you for using Pentax. Please treat us well in the future. I had mentioned I was a Pentax user since the *ist DS.
That's it. My goal was to give them some direct user feedback, whether they take any of it to heart is up to them. It's just my way of trying to help them help me.
Last edited by sjwaldron; 09-26-2010 at 12:59 PM.