[Thareen]

Have you guys ever seen a Pentax K10D Made in Japan?

My friend is about to buy a slightly used (as they say) K10D which they claim Made in Japan via eBay.

As I know all Penatx DSLRs made (or assembled) in Philippines. So we are just wondering whether their claim is true.

Your help much appreciated.

[mazdamazda]

Nope... AFAIK all recent Pentax DSLRs are being made here in the Philippines.

Though I've read before that the ones being sold in China doesn't have that information stamped underneath (maybe he concluded that it's "Made in Japan").

[Ash]

eBay sellers are not all accurate in their listings.
I'd get them to confirm every detail you're not sure about that is important to you.

[noblepa]

I think that the seller doesn't really know what he/she is talking about. He probably simply knows that Pentax is a Japanese company, or perhaps he had a K1000 in 1979 and assumes that they're still made in Japan.

[adamkean]

i think some prototypes were made in japan but no production models. probably just mistyped it

[reeftool]

Pentax is a Japanese company so it's most likely the seller is assuming the camera is made in Japan.

[Mike Cash]

Add to this the fact that laws regarding labelling products can be odd things.

If the parts and components are manufactured in Japan and then assembled in another country, in which country should we say the camera was "made"?

One of the companies we sometimes haul goods for is a Japanese pickle company which has moved a large portion of its production to China. They import pickles from Chine in wooden boxes each containing about 500 pounds. They then repackage the pickles into smaller packets bound for supermarket shelves.

The simple act of repackaging is enough to enable them, legally, to say the pickles are "Made In Japan".

In short, don't go putting too much dependence on labels indicating country of origin. There is just too much going on behind the scenes to arrive at any sort of reliable and meaningful conclusion.