[Raffwal]

I've been close to buying the probably last silver K-5 available over here, but seeing those crazy colors makes me see the silver K-5 in the same light and having the same style. Not so sure any more.

[hcarvalhoalves]

It's for the Japanese market.

Don't worry. Japan is pretty different and they love this kinda of stuff, specially the youngsters.

You can keep buying your boring black version so you can associate the brand with professionalism here in the west.

[mudrij]

Really liked the colors of this SLRs. But my next DSLR definetly will be k5

[kent]

Gotta love brown and blue marble K-R

[fast50]

Ummm.. What do you think THIS is?

Not a Titanium K-5

And I know I'll get metallurgists arguing over the relative merits of Ti and Mg alloys, but that never stopped Leica.

But it IS exactly the sort of thing they should be doing more of. What makes that camera more interesting than the can of silver spray paint is the toughened glass screens.

Brands are a lot more forgiving in Japan (witness the $100,000 Toyota Century and the $8,000 Seiko watches) than the US and EU, where buyers will be put off Pentax if they see too many that look like toys.

[NaClH2O]

*snip*

Brands are a lot more forgiving in Japan (witness the $100,000 Toyota Century and the $8,000 Seiko watches) than the US and EU, where buyers will be put off Pentax if they see too many that look like toys.

But that's the point, they aren't sold in the US or EU so ain't nobody there gonna see one.

NaCl(but you can stick to deadly boring black iffin ya wanna)H2O

[fast50]

But that's the point, they aren't sold in the US or EU so ain't nobody there gonna see one.

NaCl(but you can stick to deadly boring black iffin ya wanna)H2O

Nobody, except all the people who read global forums like this one or dpreview. Or the gadget websites. People do base their brand perceptions on what they see on Engadget, etc, so potential buyers will associate Pentax with gimmicky toy editions.

But yes, at least they will never be seen in B&H, Best Buy or Jessops.

[KLSMpls]

Well definitely not Best Buy as they don't carry Pentax period! I have no problem with Pentax differentiating themselves, but I would still argue these simply look cheap. Much more so than than having a few different colors. I said to each their own on the colors, but these just ooze cheapness. How many Japanese youngsters are we talking about and will they take Pentax seriously when moving up? Too bad somebody from Pentax doesn't chime in here with their marketing research on why it is a good thing and this thread can be put to rest.

[eddie1960]

The problem is everyone here is looking at it from a north American perspective (primarily and American perspective actually) . Japans culture is wildly different (Christ one of the popular drinks is called Pocky Sweat - try marketing that here)

Personally I think anything that grows sales volume is good. The forum represents a really small proportion of enthusiast users. We are miles from this target market. though personally there have been several special editions i would happily own if they were available here) The Colour thing abviously has had an impact because Canon has moved in on it with several models. Yuo don't have to like them, as long as they appeal and sell and bring new users to the brand i see no issue. As for it affecting a pro's decision on a camera, not likely. A true pro makes their decision based on what is the best tool fro the job they are doing, and many pro's operate on multiple systems for different uses. Plus for pro image I thing the 645D is pretty damn good credentials (now if they'd just offer a robot version I'd have to sell may car and move up )