Dear all
I'm not working with news, media, journalism, so you pro's please have patience with and amateur. I normally write very concise but dull scientific articles.
Currently Pentax is on tour in Sweden, visiting one of the larger camera shops in each of the major cities in Sweden.
Pentax-on-tour-in-Sweden
Yesterday I visited Schöherrs photo in Stockholm when Pentax was there. First thing I saw was that they had covered the windows with 2nd hand gear with three large Pentax posters claiming that "One plus one is three" and "We invented the wheel again". Perhaps not the most inspired slogans, but since I'm not so used to see Pentax posters at all in the windows of our camera shops, it's OK.
Inside were more posters, and behind one desk, a salesman for Pentax. I managed to forget his name (me being an amateur), but he was a nice fellow. At my entrance with the K20D on my chest he stated "here is an important customer". Sorry for the tilting walls by the way, I had my 10-17 mm on, but at least it does show you that this is a serious shop, where you can do more than just processing you vacation photos.
Besides gossiping and figuring out what "Pentax on tour" meant, I wanted to get a look at the DA* 16-50 SDM
, but he did not have that lens with him, simply because they only had one copy and a long order queue for it. But I did get to test the DA 35 mm limited, and the DA*200 mm, which was fun.
When he had shown his glass and I had shown him my glass (carrying the A*135/1.8 with me), we talked Pentax, past, current and future. Of course, he is a loyal salesman. I don't expect him to say anything bad about Pentax, and in that light everything has to be viewed (just as much as I think those listening to disappointed ex-Pentax-salesmen from Canada should considering that their trauma of giving up a long loyalty will color what they say, see current thread on
Pentax Canada).
What he said was that in his eyes Pentax is looking healthy and that more is going on than before Hoya took over. When Hoya took over he was called (together with other national representatives I assume) to some workshop somewhere in Asia, managed to forget where (me being an amateur), and claimed to be amazed by the plans Pentax had (though not giving up anything I did not know before).
I asked him if they were aware of all the rumors on the web (Hoya closing Pentax, Samsung buying Pentax, full frame, etc etc) and he said, I quote "that he could not understand that people when they buy a nice camera and lenses for a lot of money, that he could not understand that they wanted to spend time in front of the computer gossiping instead of going out to take pictures", and I think he has got a point there.
Now to Pentax Scandinavia. If someone read my post on this tour you may remember that I noted that the web page of Pentax Scandinavia* had changed like if they had been less independent and closer tied to Pentax Europe. It is indeed so that the Pentax Scandinavia is no more. I've seen nothing about this in media, and I don't think it is even commented on their web page. He said that it had been discussed if they would be closed down completely and replaced with a representative traveling from Germany, but because their market share was over average (what that is in percent I do not know) this did not happen. Instead they got to keep the same office (in Uppsala Sweden), regional responsibility, service etc., but as a filial to the European main office in Germany.
Personally I am content with this until I see any reason not to be. My guess (not his saying) is that this has happened /will happen to all national/regional offices in Europe. Regional representatives that did well enough survives as filials (Pentax Scandinavia, also Pentax France as far as I understand, would be nice to hear from members in the rest of Europe, or the world for that matter if this is true), while regional representative that have not done well will be closed down and incorporated with the main office or another region. I'm not a market expert, but to me that sound like common sense. And if you live in a region where the former Pentax organization did a bad job, you might not be losing on this move. Considering the current thread on
Pentax Canada I can't help think that there must be a parallel story here showing something of the global Pentax/Hoya strategy right now.
What else? Nothing on full frame. Negative signal on digital 645 (but on the other hand, what he said was not more than what he might have been instructed to say). Lens program growing fast now to a full set (I got the feeling he was very happy with this, like the lens program a couple of years ago was not so fun to sell, but now things getting more fun - me reading between the lines of what he said). Negative: many lenses are delivered very slowly, not only the limited, for which they get a small load now and then, but also key lenses among the new ones like DA*16-50 mm. Obviously Pentax need to build some capacity there.
Got a few brochures, no t-shirt
, which would have been nice.
I can't help being optimistic.
My test of the DA*200 mm showing a car outside the window. My test of the DA 35 mm limited, showing a large pentax poster in the middle of the shop.
*For those who slept on the geography lessons: Scandinavia = Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, that is most of Northern Euope.