[Charlie70]

Incredible price, here is the link: Amazon.com : Pentax K-3 SLR Camera - Body Only : Slr Digital Cameras : Camera & Photo

[BigMackCam]

That is an amazing price. Sadly, for us here in the UK, it's still £699 (over $1000) at the authorised dealers, and £536 (about $800) from the the Far East (OneStop Digital)... I'd like a second K3 body to put aside, but trying to wait until the price is at an all-time low...

[seventysixersfan]

Great price but personally I would wait and see if B & H offers its $719 promotion again on the K-3 that includes a free battery grip (a $119 value)

[Charlie70]

Well:
1. Having sold my gear, I was currently cameraless and going stir-crazy - waiting was not an option :-)
2. The $719 promotion actually works out at $773 if you include NY sales tax. Personally, I would never use the grip anyway (weight considerations), but I could sell it to someone who would.

[Rondec]

I am just amazed at the amount of camera that you can get these days for this price. I remember paying 950 for a K7 and thinking that was a pretty good deal (it eventually dropped quite a bit lower, but still).

[Anthen]

Not to ruin your day, but where I live in china, it has been going for 4150RMB (669 dollars equivalent) for a while now. I'm just waiting for it to drop below the 650 dollar mark.

[BigMackCam]

Not to ruin your day, but where I live in china, it has been going for 4150RMB (669 dollars equivalent) for a while now. I'm just waiting for it to drop below the 650 dollar mark.

We're used to paying over the odds for pretty much everything here in the UK... homes, cars, fuel, electronic goods. Still, at least we don't pay a lot in taxes... Oh, hang on a minute... !!!!

[wed7]

Not to ruin your day, but where I live in china, it has been going for 4150RMB (669 dollars equivalent) for a while now. I'm just waiting for it to drop below the 650 dollar mark.

Which shop in China? Here in Manila, it is still above US$1100 without the grip, and Pentax cameras are made here.

[hjoseph7]

For that price you can't go wrong. I paid $699 for my K-5IIs just a year ago when the K3 was going for about $1100.

[Anthen]

Online shops like these: http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.9.EQc7fg&id=37717107793&ns=1&abbucket=12#detail
Taobao is the chinese equivalent of ebay, but as long as many people have bought from the seller, they're reputable, with warranty and everything included.

[Bagga_Txips]

Or there is this one, which may even be the same shop, as the prices and layout are eerily similar:


PENTAX


In fact this is "my" Pentax shop, as I live in Chengdu, about 30 minutes away from the Computer Mall where the shop has an outlet. I visit there every couple of weeks, slowly chipping away at their patience trying to get a discount on their lowest-of-the-low prices. They treat me as a friend, and allow me unguarded access to their display shelves - perhaps because I have already bought 4 dslrs and 9 or 10 lenses from them. Probably tomorrow I am going there to buy a K3, and I am expecting to get it for 4000 renminbi - 645 dollars, or 410 pounds. If I don't get the 150 rmb discount I want, I expect they will throw in a cheapish CPL or spare battery or something, they usually do. I have to demand a discount or my Chinese wife gets exasperated with me! I might try to get a new camera bag, which also exasperates He Ying, because I already have 3 or 4, but there's no such thing as too many camera bags, is there?


I was pondering getting a K-S2, but the K3 is such a bargain nowadays at the same price as the K-S2, and my Dragon Lady has wanted me to buy a K3 since the day they went on sale. So my plan now is to buy a K3 now, wait till the K-S2 is cheaper, at Christmas for example, buy it then and give her the K3, leaving me with a K-S2 and a K-S1, and her with a K3 plus her choice from our K5 and K30. Of course, the biggest bargain they sell at the moment is the K-S1, at 370 dollars or 236 pounds - but I already have one, so it's a lot less fun to buy.