Originally posted by Pål Jensen Camera stores are mostly history. People do research and buy on the web.
And what do you see when you access the internet?
1. On Youtube there are only a few positive reviews regarding Pentax.
2. On Facebook groups where photographers are showing their work you barely see a Pentax image among hundreds of images taken with other cameras. I love strobes despite the fact that I tend to shoot using natural light lately, but I'm a member on a few strobist Facebook pages and if someone enter on these nice groups to learn how to control light they see only Nikon, Canon, Sony, Fuji images.
3. On the websites of photo shops you can see only offers, discounts and hot deals for a lot of brands, but not for Pentax.
So, please tell me how do you think that someone new to photography has more than 2-4% chances to buy Pentax as long as he is surrounded by:
- friends shooting with other brands
- offers and deals from other brands on the websites of photo stores
- lots of Facebook pages/groups and Youtube channels where he can see nice images, reviews, etc. for other brands
- lots of Nikon, Canon, Sony presentations of ambassadors and also photo tours where he can test cameras and lenses
This forum is a great resource for the ones who have heard about Pentax, but it's not enough to count in today world where guys like Tony Northrup have lots of influence among unexperienced photographers and they promote Nikon, Canon, Sony, etc. but not Pentax
So again, if Pentax is not doing anything in online, how do you think that the closed brick and mortar stores who still had Pentax on their shelves is going to be useful for Pentax as a brand? At least on camera stores people have the opportunity to touch cameras and lenses.