[1wild1]

I bought my K-50 from Micro-Center here in St.louis. It was the only pentax model they had and only the two lens kit with flash and bag, and did not have one on display. The salesman was pleasantly surprised when I asked for it, especially after spending 15 min explaining some of the differences with the cannikon models on display to his previous customer(mostly touch screens and pixels). The price was the same as online deals so I supported the Brick and Mortar. And any excuse to go into microcenter is always welcome. I haven't run into anyone else shooting it at the kids events or anywhere else. Apart from the one or two "pros" in my little town, everyone I've talked to with a dslr just uses scene mode or auto.

[ambaker]

I try to support local stores where I can. If I use their advice or handle the cameras at the store" then I but from the store. I want there to be stores to demo cameras for me in the future.

[Andrew Goodall]

I have a standard answer for people who think Canon and Nikon are the only show in town.


Canon people like to pick on Nikon people. Nikon people like to pick on Canon people. Pentax people rise above it.

[Waratah]

I try to support local stores where I can. If I use their advice or handle the cameras at the store" then I but from the store. I want there to be stores to demo cameras for me in the future.

Same. Modest premium for being there. And bigger premium for personalised advice and tailoring.

[deus ursus]

I have a standard answer for people who think Canon and Nikon are the only show in town.


Canon people like to pick on Nikon people. Nikon people like to pick on Canon people. Pentax people rise above it.

And there you pick on Canon and Nikon people. :-)

[jeallen01]

And CaNikon people both pick on Pentax from what I read here and elsewhere!

[stein]

No representative in my country. Had to go abroad to buy my Pentax. Locally, there are at least 15 or maybe 20 shops where one can buy a Nikon, Canon or a Sony. Go figure.

[trevinon]

Whenever I've tried to do that, they usually refuse due to copyright or trademark infringement. The only way around it is to use different colors and a different font, then a few custom places will do ONE.

¿How is this possible if nobody knows the brand? ;-)

Norberto

[Alex645]

¿How is this possible if nobody knows the brand? ;-)

Norberto

Nobody? I would say most people have at least heard of Pentax as the Spotmatic from the mid-60's till the mid-70's and then the K1000 from the mid-70's till the mid-90's was the most popular SLR used in schools offering photography classes. The Pentax 67 is a legendary medium format camera and many government agencies or subcontractors from police departments to science and medical research at universities used Pentax cameras, binoculars, and even microscopes.

Today's youth may not have heard of Pentax, but then many had never heard of David Bowie or who Richard Nixon was. The non-black color body options has a great appeal to youth and although Canon may be rolling their eyes, Nikon took notice with a few red bodies of their own.

No, enough people know. I tried to get YAMAHA sewn onto a guitar strap for my son at a small shop (not a big franchise at the mall that is totally aware of enforcing trademark law). They had never heard of Yamaha musical instruments, but they knew about Yamaha motorcycles and refused to do it. You'd think ONE logo....who cares, but at least in U.S. every place I've wanted to get something printed onto a shirt, hat, strap, etc....no can.

[Photos-by-Chas]

Nobody? I would say most people have at least heard of Pentax as the Spotmatic from the mid-60's till the mid-70's and then the K1000 from the mid-70's till the mid-90's was the most popular SLR used in schools offering photography classes. The Pentax 67 is a legendary medium format camera and many government agencies or subcontractors from police departments to science and medical research at universities used Pentax cameras, binoculars, and even microscopes.

Today's youth may not have heard of Pentax, but then many had never heard of David Bowie or who Richard Nixon was. The non-black color body options has a great appeal to youth and although Canon may be rolling their eyes, Nikon took notice with a few red bodies of their own.

No, enough people know. I tried to get YAMAHA sewn onto a guitar strap for my son at a small shop (not a big franchise at the mall that is totally aware of enforcing trademark law). They had never heard of Yamaha musical instruments, but they knew about Yamaha motorcycles and refused to do it. You'd think ONE logo....who cares, but at least in U.S. every place I've wanted to get something printed onto a shirt, hat, strap, etc....no can.

Over the past several years, I have noticed a decrease in the number of photography and camera shops/stores. There is a sufficient number of them in large cities Like New York, Chicago, SanFrancisco and others of comparable size. However in the smaller cities, they are almost, if not entirely, non-existent. I live in a very rural town and to find a store which carries any brand of camera it is many miles away or is a large chain like Walmart, Target, Best Buy which carry the highly advertised, Canon, Nikon, Sony. THey do not carry Pentax and may not have been approached by Ricoh/Pentax to carry them.

[trevinon]

Nobody? I would say most people have at least heard of Pentax as the Spotmatic from the mid-60's till the mid-70's and then the K1000 from the mid-70's till the mid-90's was the most popular SLR used in schools offering photography classes. The Pentax 67 is a legendary medium format camera and many government agencies or subcontractors from police departments to science and medical research at universities used Pentax cameras, binoculars, and even microscopes.

I should have clarified: "nobody in the printing industry (mostly young guys) do not know what Pentax is. They do not register that this is a brand. Chances are you should be able to print it.

[Alex645]

I should have clarified: "nobody in the printing industry (mostly young guys) do not know what Pentax is. They do not register that this is a brand. Chances are you should be able to print it.

No harm in trying, but even if they haven't heard of Pentax, I still have doubts they would blindly fill the order. If it was a name like Milton Bradley or even initials like IBM and your name was Isaac Buford Masher...then they might fall for it. Pentax sounds like the name of some sort of technology or company. Also I've seen it where the employee will call or ask the owner/manager and the buck usually stops there.

[totsmuyco]

I've been shooting since college and here then in my country Nikon and Canon were the most popular. Nikon was what they call the cream of the crop of Japanese cameras. After that would be Minolta then Olympus and then Pentax. During those days I've used Nikon and Canon and I've shot with a Minolta once. If I didn't have both systems, I would have bought Olympus. Pentax here was so rare that probably during those times I've seen only one or two.
When I was in sophomore I joined the pioneer photography club in the city. Most members had Nikon then Canon then Minolta. One member had an Olympus OM-4 but nobody had Pentax. I still think it was poorly marketed. It seems that Pentax was just like a hobby where it was tossed around from Asahi and so on until it reached Ricoh. Pentax may not be Canon or Nikon but it has to be well positioned if it has to survive.

[PhotoHeron]

We have one camera store here in Fort Smith AR. Even the salesman did not know about Pentax cameras. They only carry the big names.

[sherrvonne]

We have one camera store here in Fort Smith AR. Even the salesman did not know about Pentax cameras. They only carry the big names.

Had to laugh on this. Me with my K3 am teaching my aunt from Arkansas how to use her Nikon D3200. I have never used a Nikon aside from picking up her camera and shooting pics of her with it. I downloaded the manual for it onto my phone in iBooks (since her phone doesn't have the storage capacity) . Whenever she visits we go on shooting sessions and I am helping her learn her camera controls now. Yay, I showed her how to take it off auto and put it in manual. When she came for another session I seen that she had put it back into manual and had been using it that way although only on the exact settings we used the last time. Showed her how to change aperture settings this time. Lol, she is determined. Helped her find which AF long lens she needed to. So far it's going good. Hey, I'm learning a big brand now? Lol