[Jack Simpson]

I received the information at work today regarding the Pentax Canada price
increases ..effective April 1, 2009 and, nope, it is not an April Fool's Day prank

There are some price increases that are, IMVHO, reasonable and then there are
some prices that, again IMVHO, are a tad unreasonable and those Price
Increases are as follows:

DA 35 MACRO --- + $200
FA 31/1.8 ---- +$360
FA 35/2 --- + $280
FA 43/1.9 -- + $360
FA50/1.4 -- + $80
FA 77/1.8 -- + $280
DA 50-135/2.8 -- + $640 -- NOT A MISTAKE
DA 300/4 -- + $120
DA 12-24/4 -- + $440
DA 40/2.8 -- + $160

AF360FGZ -- + $164
AF540FGZ -- + $225

There ya go lads ..... read 'em and weep ....

Cheers,

Jack

[fearview]

so the pentax USA ithink..

wow!!

PentaxWebstore - SLR Lenses


--

[StephenG]

ok - I know I am going to be crucified for asking this here BUT................

how many of those lenses are FF compatible..??

I can only guess that for some reason those lenses may be the ones that suts the new body they plan on releasing, and so in anticipation of a mad rush to buy those lenses Pentax has pushed the prices up like that..

what other reason can they have for such dramatic increases on some lenses?? other than they believe people are going to be buying them soon and so they looking to maximise profits on them.

[Matjazz]

Wel, our local dealer said the prices would go up in december, but they didn't. At that time I also saved webpages from a reputable German store. compared with todays prices some lenses have gone up (mainly DA*), some down and some are the same.

[melander]

We had our prices skyrocket in januari, DA*50-135 went up with over 40%

[frogger]

When I called Aden to enquire about the FA77 yesterday, they told me better make up my mind quick and think about any other lenses I might want to buy in the near future because come April things are going up a surprisingly large amount.
A positive for those that own a lot of that equipment is resale value should improve a bit.

[Peter Zack]

Sad but I expect it's partly due to the sinking $CAD. It was par last summer and now around $0.77 or so. That's going to add cost to 25% to the cost alone. Every other supplier did it, so not surprised that Pentax is as well.

[AndrewShirley]

Our prices are already higher than the states. I don't think the CDN dollar has anything to do with it.

If this comes true then Pentax is digging a hole for itself here in Canada. There is absolutely no way I am paying those price increases. I will sell all my gear and go with another brand since the prices will be on par.

- Andrew

[frogger]

If the retail price of something like not so impressive 540fgz comes close to something like the SB900, that is a real head scratcher. The 360fgz which won't even swivel looks like it will be a ripoff as well.

The DA*50-135mm increase is just silly.

Atleast the DA*16-50mm with all its shitty QC issues isn't on that list :-).

Looks like the "value" proposition for Pentax vs other brands will be gone in Canada.

For their sake I hope they are going to be releasing a camera that makes paying more for the lenses not so out of the question (D300/D700 beater).

[RBellavance]

Sad but I expect it's partly due to the sinking $CAD. It was par last summer and now around $0.77 or so. That's going to add cost to 25% to the cost alone. Every other supplier did it, so not surprised that Pentax is as well.

The problem with that is the prices didn't go down much (if at all) when the dollar was at par...

[Samsungian]

I follow Canon and Nikon new gear inaddition to Pentax. When Nikon announced the feb 1st price increases on Jan 14th several sellers IMMEDIATELY raised prices. If there is something you need buy it today with this fair warning Jack has provided.

Hoya turns simple glass filters into Gold. I've got the wholesale sheets for filters & MARK UP is INSANE on them. On April 1st 2009 they'll have been incharge of Pentax for one year. So whats Hoya done in a year? K-m, K2000, K-m white, K2000 white, deleted a couple lenses off roadmap and we wait still for 60-250SDM, 55SDM & 15mm LTD. Now the 50-135mm SDM will about double in price! Hoya and Pentax must really believe 50-135mm 2.8 is instead a 75-202mm 2.8 zoom due to crop factor and will now ask what canon asks for their full frame , weather sealed 70-200mm 2.8 IS.

Extreme Price increases on Hoya's 1 year anniversary take over of pentax should prove to "Be Interesting" in the internets. I just looked and the 77mm LTD I had bookmarked popped up $100 from last night... Clock is tick'n if cost outlay for gear you want matters.

On the otherhand used pentax glass will go up in value so in a couple months if you decide to leave Pentax you may get more than you paid for your used lenses.

I received the information at work today regarding the Pentax Canada price
increases ..effective April 1, 2009 and, nope, it is not an April Fool's Day prank

There are some price increases that are, IMVHO, reasonable and then there are
some prices that, again IMVHO, are a tad unreasonable and those Price
Increases are as follows:






Cheers,

Jack

[Wheatfield]

The doom and gloom scenario, Hoya wants to close the doors on the camera operation, so they raise prices to kill sales, and close the operation due to poor sales.

[eyou]

so why is the 21mm DA and 70mm DA excluded from these price hikes? (not that i'm complaining)

[cyg]

That was bound to happen imho.

Prices did go down when the C$ went up -- although not as much as we may have wished, but to be fair it was more a case of the US$ going down than the C$ going up (eg compared to the Yen or Euro).

When US customers start buying their photo gear at a Canadian shop (like Prodigital), you know something is wrong!

[k100d]

ouch! more reasons to jump ship if some of the "value" that Pentax offers is no longer there :/