[momtographer]

and I saw a nikon d40 on display and decided to test it out, the second I picked it up I laughed my a** off, just like canons they feel like toys to me and it was so teensy,like a complex point and shoot, I cant believe I was so tempted to switch. Whoever said it was right, just HOLD a pentax.

I ~puffy heart~ my camera

[joefru]

Me, the other day: same thing, same reaction. Upside: my five-year-old could use it comfortably.

Did your Wal-Mart have a lens on the body? Mine didn't, and I'm wondering if they meant it, or if someone had already stolen it.

[drabina]

A sad part is that Walmart and pretty much all other stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, etc will only carry Canons, Nikons and sometimes Sony cameras. I have never seen Pentax in any of the big retailers. So how can a regular John Doe compare if the only cameras on the display are Ns or Cs and we all determined that they have the same plasticky feeling? Hear me Pentax?

It sort of reminds me of Apple computers but now you can get them in about 50% of the stores that carry computers.

[momtographer]

Me, the other day: same thing, same reaction. Upside: my five-year-old could use it comfortably.

Did your Wal-Mart have a lens on the body? Mine didn't, and I'm wondering if they meant it, or if someone had already stolen it.

lol someone must have stolen it there was a lens on this one,thats not a bad idea...hmmm

[KjetilH]

Probably not even worth to steal. Rumors (reviewers) say that the Nikon kit lens isn't very good.

Actually, I bought my K100D in a store called 'Lefdal', a generic electronic/electric store. They also had some Canon, Nikons, and even a Sony.
Though I've only used a D40 in addition to my own camera, the Nikon felt a lot cheaper, even though they were available at the time for the same price (the D40 still is today, for about $5-600 for the kit).

[Lowell Goudge]

A sad part is that Walmart and pretty much all other stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, etc will only carry Canons, Nikons and sometimes Sony cameras. I have never seen Pentax in any of the big retailers. So how can a regular John Doe compare if the only cameras on the display are Ns or Cs and we all determined that they have the same plasticky feeling? Hear me Pentax?

It sort of reminds me of Apple computers but now you can get them in about 50% of the stores that carry computers.

Ive seen pentax in Best Buy in canada. usually K100

Not looked elsewhere as that is not where I would buy my camera, buit they seem to carry everyone's entry level cameras.

As an aside, we seem to be migrating back somewhat to the heyday of the SLR, when every department store (the forerunner of the big box retailers) carried cameras. It fell back to specialty stores in the 1990's, I guess it is a question of chacing the ever expanding retail buck.

[momtographer]

I have yet to find a store that carried pentax in store, even our local ritz, there always out of stock .When we visited a ritz in Va they had a bunch of lenses on clearance, but of course I didn't have the money

[StarDust]

I completely agree. I bought my K10D at "Fuji Fotocenter". I knew this was a good store based on previous experience but also because I was looking for a Pentax and the guy working there had worked at Pentax in Sweden for 20 years and convinced me to buy it. So I bought the camera there and afterwards I looked around in other stores to see if they had a Pentax but only found Nikons and Canons. Considering Pentax is the third best SLR manufacturer (according to websites, photo magazines etc.) it seems that Pentax has directed their commercials towards consumers a bit too much and not tried to convince the retailers to actually get the camera to their stores.
I guess it boils down to the consumers demand but still...
Maybe we should go to loads of retailers who don't sell Pentax's and ask if they have one just to convince the retailers.

Edit: There should have been a quote from drabina there...

[zmatt]

I kinda like to buy online, its cheaper.

[MrA]

I kinda like to buy online, its cheaper.

I got my K100DS in Argos (store, not via the web).

[rfortson]

Pentax is starting to sell on Walmart.com. Not sure if it's out there yet, but Ned Bunnell (President of Pentax US) said on his blog that they had signed a deal with Walmart for online sales. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing. Obviously Pentax thinks it's good.

[pentkon52]

I kinda like to buy online, its cheaper.

I like to go to a real camera store, talk to a real salesman, and test it out in person. They gotta live to ya know.

As far as me buying one at Wal mart etc, not a chance. Any store that sells lettuce and beer, will not know a lot about cameras, at least thats the case in my "hood".

Dave

[zmatt]

I like to go to a real camera store, talk to a real salesman, and test it out in person. They gotta live to ya know.

As far as me buying one at Wal mart etc, not a chance. Any store that sells lettuce and beer, will not know a lot about cameras, at least thats the case in my "hood".

Dave

the markup is not worth the services which they offer IMHO

[Wheatfield]

Up until very recently, Pentax didn't have the financial or manufacturing resources to supply the needs of a Wal-Mart sized chain. This lack of resources is why they have been very slow to release new lenses and, to a great extent, new camera bodies. They were hurt badly by the 6mp FF debacle, and were extremely slow to get into the DSLR market as a result.
This cost them huge market share, market share which will be very difficult to reclaim, if it is possible at all to recover it.
They milked the istDL chassis for as long as they possibly could, I believe there were 4 or so iterations of that camera, and have pretty much reran the K10 in the guise of the K200.

People here don't seem to realize how very close Pentax came a couple of years ago to closing it's doors altogether when they bitch and whine about the lack of long lenses and teleconverters.
The partnership with Samsung has obviously been a good one, the CMOS in the K20 is very good indeed, and the buyout from Hoya seems to be a good thing. At least they released the K20 rather than being closed down, since mostly, Hoya wanted the medical imaging division and took the camera division pretty much because it came as part of the Pentax package deal.

[Confused]

Hi StarDust

Just noticed your location ! A few summers ago my wife & I took a truly wonderful 15-day cruise around the Baltic ports. Naturally Stockholm formed part of the itinerary and one of the most endearing memories of my life was waking up at the crack of dawn in order to photograph the astonishingly beautiful archaepeligo that comprises hundreds of outlying islands (many of which had attractive houses built on them) that form the approach to the city itself. The weather was utterly perfect that morning with a cloudless sky and no breeze whatsoever. The seagulls soared effortlessly overhead whilst the ship glided serenely through the water and I was eventually joined by a few early-risers. We were able to take full advantage of the imperious view over the islands afforded us from the front of the upper-deck. Shortly after docking in the capital, we disembarked independently and took the train northwards from Stockholm through the attractive countryside to Uppsala, where we hired a taxi from the station to take us to see the awesome gothic Cathedral....what a building ! All-in-all, that whole day was a truly magical experience and it is firmly etched in my memory. We fully intend to return to Scandinavia in the near future in order to explore more of your delightful country,

Best regards
Richard