[Stefan Carey]

You mean like truthful & honest guerrilla viral marketing by Pentax fans

Yes, I suppose I do. I think the real marketing war is out there, less so on this site with its captive audience of Pentax fans (me included).

As an example of creative and intelligent marketing (and fairly neutral I am pleased to say), John Bee has led the way in showing what the K-5 is capable of. Mr Bee has anticipated the natural questions and comparisons, and quite frankly impressed the hell out me for doing this. And in the way he has handled the questions, some of which were confrontational.

It seems a shame Pentax marketing could not have been as creative as John with such an amazing new camera to strut their stuff with. Then again, I have no facts about their marketing efforts to base this on, only what I read here. Pentax may well be doing much more marketing than I imagine. Pentax have hired a new marketing company. So who knows, we may see some action yet.

Web 2.o gives us lots of options, but some have more credibility in the consumer's mind than others.

My take on all this is that Pentax made beautifully engineered and machined kit lenses, and now that pride and superb craftsmanship has also found its way into their software. The transition to digital is complete, so well done to them.

Excuse me for rambling...

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Last edited by Stefan Carey; 10-20-2010 at 12:57 AM. Reason: edit

[WideOpen]

Sign the cast of Mad Men to endorsement deals! I think the K5 in particular speaks for itself... so subtle advertising is what Pentax needs. We don't want Avril Lavigne bouncing around in a rainbow of colours!

[FullertonImages]

I see Pentax easily increase their market share 4 times over in the next 3 years at the rate they're going. This is the second generation of really good, competitive products; and this generation, particualrly the K-5, is probably the most competitive and appealing camera they're ever made. On top of that, they seem to finally be dropping some change on advertising, and getting much more love and attention from photo mags (coincidence...?). I think they're well poised to be making some big strides in the next few years.

[Winder]

Hope Hoya won't cage pentax phoenix. Hoya had a layoff of pentax in 2009. And I didn't see any invest into pentax by HOYA.
Maybe it's better for pentax to be sold to others. Hoya bought pentax because its medical equipment optics business, not for camera.

They were more interested in the medical, but the camera division has been a bright spot and is doing very well for Hoya. Hoya has done a lot to get Pentax profitable again and we are seeing a growth in market share for Pentax. There is a waiting list for the 645 and the K-5 looks to be a best in class DSLR.

I think Pentax users should be happy with what Hoya has done in a relatively short time.

[adamfogerty]

The K-7 recently won a "mid-range" DSLR shoot-out in a UK photography magazine as well:

http://www.pentax.co.uk/en/media/d0fe2c8e9ec988d6f247f1e1bb25f55c/Pentax_rev...RU_Aug2010.pdf

I was also heartened to see beginners genuinely recommending the K-x on the photography sub-section of a UK motoring forum :-)

Looks like Pentax is certainly getting exposure back in old blighty.

Whereas here in the US, I've noticed that Canon has recently launched a new TV advertising campaign.

Adam

[falconeye]

We aim to quadruple our market share over the next three years

Well, I learned from other sources that Pentax started to make bold claims, at least when talking to dealers. Another one I heard is to become #3 and become an equal player to Sony again. To grow from 3% to 12% while Sony grows from 10% to 12% would be the same bold claim.

But that's words only. I don't think they have left the phase without vision for the future yet. They just turned profitable. I'd rather see the products than hearing bold press release claims. The products they have are great. Just not enough to compete (late for mirrorless, no pro body below $10k, no enthusiast FF, no super tele prime, no super tele zoom, no TC, no fast zoom beyond 135mm, no ring motor AF, no mirrorless mount which fits video cameras etc.).

Rather than trying to compete head to head with Sony, I'd rather like to see their cooperation intensify (their use of Sony sensors is a good decision obviously). E.g., I'd like to see Pentax license the E-mount and release a mirrorless camera, lenses and a good K-mount adapter for it. That could benefit both: Sony in their uphill battle against Canikon and Pentax in making best use of their limited dev. resources.

[gazonk]

E.g., I'd like to see Pentax license the E-mount and release a mirrorless camera, lenses and a good K-mount adapter for it. That could benefit both: Sony in their uphill battle against Canikon and Pentax in making best use of their limited dev. resources.

Yes, I think that may be a viable way for Pentax to go mirrorless. Sony now supports autofocus with A-mount lenses. It's supposed to be painfully slow, but maybe Pentax can learn from that and provide better autofocus with a K-mount adapter?

Pentax may make their own unique E-mount bodies, e.g. focussing on usability and ruggedness - and maybe in-body SR - instead of being the smallest. And they may use their lens knowledge to make E-mount lenses that are WR and/or more compact than the bulky Sony lenses.

But I think they still have some time before they have to enter the mirrorless market, and that they're doing just the right thing now. In fact, I think they're doing better than expected: I think quite a few posters here - at the beginning of 2010 - doubted that they would be able to bring out such good upgrades to the already wonderful K-x and K-7 this year - that too many resources would be bound to the 645D.

I'd like to see a few more lens announcements soon, though... (still waiting for 55-300 WR - and I see the need for a fast 28 and a 400).