[krtwood]

ummmm...had you read the thread, this is NOT isolated to Amazon...

Pricing at bh and adorama have NOT changed. But they are out of stock. So the little fish jack up the price while they can to take advantage of the situation.

And, oh, how does your theory explain the current prices for the K20D?

Do you mean the K-7? Again, price is still at about $1000 at bh. If the K20D prices are going back up then it's because the supplies are starting to dry up. First the prices get low and all the high volume sellers clear out their stock. As supplies go down the price goes back up. Eventually you'll just end up with a bunch of odd ball stores trying to sell them at full MSRP.

[jeffkrol]

Which lens. You have 2 different graphs

1st graph is for k-7 body
Second one is for lens.....

[Rondec]

But the question is, why are they out of stock? Doesn't make sense that Pentax would suddenly stopping making these DA* lenses unless they are working on something else and don't want to telegraph the change ahead of their announcement.

[monochrome]

But the question is, why are they out of stock? Doesn't make sense that Pentax would suddenly stopping making these DA* lenses unless they are working on something else and don't want to telegraph the change ahead of their announcement.

I have read on other threads that lens makers do not produce each lens continuously. Rather, they perform batch runs and store lenses until the supply runs low, at which time they produce another batch.

Perhaps the fix for SDM has been planned for a time, but Pentax has been waiting to sell the existing stock of lenses.

Perhaps that stock has now run down.

Perhaps, happily, that circumstance coincides with an upcoming camera convention

[AOShep]

So if there is a new SDM II in the works how does that help those of us with the original SDM.? I picked up my 50-135mm from Amazon last summer for $750. But I don't want to spend even that much again to fix my focus issues.
Ironically, I had no problems with my SDM until I started reading threads here. Now the focus goes wildly out of control and I have to use the manual focus ring to wake it up.

[Votesh]

I just checked amazon and the K-7 is at $999.99, so no problems there as far as I can tell.

I also checked on Pentax's official lens roadmap. It hasn't been changed since March 2009. I wonder if Hoya just doesn't care to update it or what. If I remember correctly it used to be updated fairly often. Maybe they just learned that putting, and leaving, lenses in the under development section for years upsets some people

Really though, I wonder if something big is in the works. Maybe a huge new announcement or just some revamping of old product lines. I think an SDM II could explain why lenses were added and subsequently removed from the roadmap (DA* 30mm, super-tele). If they decided to introduce a new SDM system after already beginning work on those lenses, they might have removed them to make sure they weren't whetting too many whistles, in case development took longer than expected. Either way, I'm looking forward to whatever they show at PMA, unless it's just some stinking point and shoots.

Speculation sure is fun.

[brecklundin]

weird about the K-7 because when I opened this thread it was over $1100 from Amazon (not a 3rd party seller, it was only like $20 cheaper than the K7 Kit) and yeah, now it's dropped to $999.99...

I also checked on the 16-50 and 50-135....the former is over $1100 still and the latter is still hovering around $950 after being around $820 for the latter portion of 2009 until this month sometime.

In fact it appears Amazon is not even showing any 16-50's in stock nor any 50-135's in stock either (the normal "usually ships in 1-2 months" message for the 50-135 which probably means they just ran dry and don't want people to look elsewhere, like we already don't know about other options...yeesh...hehehe). And as someone already has mentioned, these are the two lenses which seem to get the most reports of failures, though I seem to recall reading some failures of 60-250 copies from at least a couple of the long time members here...) Plus I also suspect they have sold far more of these two lenses than the other SDM lenses combined.

I agree, Votesh, speculation is a LOT of fun!!

[rvannatta]

maybe, but that would be something, I am not sure how much better they could make the optics in the 50-135...or even the 16-50 which I think only needs better QC on it's optics, or maybe the design is just not right.

Didn't Tokina d/c the 16-50 and the 50-135 in Canikon mounts? So, yeah you could be right, maybe it is just the supply is done and the new versions won't be out until announced at PMA?

I am actually thinking about hitting PMA siince it's only a 3hrs drive for me, dunno if I am up to all the walking though. We'll see...I have to live through my Yosemite vacation the 2nd week of April before then...hehehehe...

If you are headed through Yosmite, and driving----keep a long lens and tripod on at least one camera body. when I went through there 18 months ago I met a herd of bighorn sheep
standing beside the road. some of the best poses occurred while I was digging my
300 mm f2.8 out of its box and getting a monopod stuck on it. I still got some photos but I would have from from 50 feet away if I had had my camera assembled.

[rvannatta]

I
Really though, I wonder if something big is in the works. Maybe a huge new announcement or just some revamping of old product lines. I think an SDM II could explain why lenses were added and subsequently removed from the roadmap (DA* 30mm, super-tele). If they decided to introduce a new SDM system after already beginning work on those lenses, they might have removed them to make sure they weren't whetting too many whistles, in case development took longer than expected. Either way, I'm looking forward to whatever they show at PMA, unless it's just some stinking point and shoots.

Speculation sure is fun.

Hmmph! there will be an 'improved' sdm allright---just like the existing one
but with the screw option removed to save expense, though it is possible that
the legacy screw IS the culprit that keeps the SDM from being as fast as it might otherwise be......

[thibs]

Hmmph! there will be an 'improved' sdm allright---just like the existing one
but with the screw option removed to save expense, though it is possible that
the legacy screw IS the culprit that keeps the SDM from being as fast as it might otherwise be......

It is already the case on DA*55 and DA17-70. Nothing new.

[Alex00]

Price went back down to $819.95 at amazon

[Pål Jensen]

But the question is, why are they out of stock? Doesn't make sense that Pentax would suddenly stopping making these DA* lenses unless they are working on something else and don't want to telegraph the change ahead of their announcement.

Almost certainly due to unexpected sales volume. The Pentax K-x and K-7 are hugely successful. The increased sales volume also translates into lens sales; particularly kit lenses. In addition there are new lenses in the pipeline; three new lenses for the 645D + almost certainly new production of old 645 lenses in Vietnam. It is probably just logistics....

[zelovoc]

last month i talked with regional representative and she told me, that pentax won a contest for japan police and they are producing lenses only for police and that new lenses will come maybe in march-april, so it is possible that they are sellng very well and they are runnig out of stock. maybe that`s the reason for price rise.

[Jasvox]

Price fluctuation? Amazon.com? Wow, who knew.

Jason