Originally posted by Bophoto 2. Didīt you see about DA*300 in New Zeeland and many other posts?
5000New Zeeland dollar in New Zeeland and send to his door from BH-photo in New York under 2000!!!
That was me - for me, the thing which is really insane is that the K20 kit costs more than a D300 body here. I've heard that the local distributor doesn't buy in large volumes, so is unable to obtain decent prices. Then again, they might just be price gouging the small captive market they have, I really don't know.
What I do know, is that CR Kennedy, who are the Australian Pentax distributor, as well as the Australian and New Zealand Sigma distributor, are able to put Sigma gear in the camera shops here at decent prices. Conversely, there is little Pentax gear on the shelves here, and what little there is is very overpriced.
Originally posted by gazonk 5000 NZD? That's ridiculous. The price in Norway seems to be (with current rates) 3500NZD +/- 100NZD. But again, the NZD has been a volatile currency over the last few months, that may partly explain it.
That $5000 price does include 12.5% GST (our name for VAT), so it's really $4450. The DA* 300 has always been insanely priced here (along with the DA* 200 actually).
Realistically, it's not much of a problem, since there isn't really a service centre in this country, so I lose little by buying from overseas. It's just a crying shame I can't support the awesome guys at my local camera store. I do what I can by buying things like filters, and camera bags there...
I can't blame the guys down there for not trying to sell Pentax though - when a K20 is in the same price bracket as a D300, and the lenses are more expensive than Nikon equivalents.... well yeah it's not exactly a good value proposition.