[alohadave]

Pentax does do marketing well, but it is by no means unknown. On another board I'm on, there is a large contingent of Pentax shooters.

I just joined a local camera club, and 5 of us have Pentax. I've never seen that many in one place before.

[whatever7]

I am a Pentax user (but I also own Canon rangefinder and Fuji digicams.) Personally I don't recommand Pentax to my friends. If they are meant to be Pentax users they will have to discover it themselves.

[lesmore49]

I am a Pentax user (but I also own Canon rangefinder and Fuji digicams.) Personally I don't recommand Pentax to my friends. If they are meant to be Pentax users they will have to discover it themselves.

Why would you not recommend Pentax assuming you find the camera a good photography tool ?

[whatever7]

Why would you not recommend Pentax assuming you find the camera a good photography tool ?

Becuase beginners change their minds all the time (true be told a SLR is probable not the best tool for a person's need anyway.) Buying into a C or N body a person would likely spend less time to regret over his decision.

Also Canon's lens system is kind of simpler. The more expensive the lenses, the faster, heavier, better IQ and better built they are. Pentax's strength IMO is the color, and the prime lenses. They are pretty much the opposite of what beginners want, superzooms.

[vinzer]

Becuase beginners change their minds all the time (true be told a SLR is probable not the best tool for a person's need anyway.) Buying into a C or N body a person would likely spend less time to regret over his decision.

Also Canon's lens system is kind of simpler. The more expensive the lenses, the faster, heavier, better IQ and better built they are. Pentax's strength IMO is the color, and the prime lenses. They are pretty much the opposite of what beginners want, superzooms.

I agree. I also subscribe to the notion that if I point my friends who want to try photography to Canon and Nikon (which I do), they'll have a mindset that they own a camera from one of the top two companies, so if they don't get good shots, they blame themselves and not the camera/system.

On the flip side, had I goaded them to go Pentax (which I can do with relative ease), should they encounter limitations (mostly their own shortcomings as a newbie), they'd blame the low-selling, unpopular, non-top-two brand Pentax instead of their own mistakes.

But if ever they do ask about Pentax and why I use it instead of the brands I push them towards (which some do), I give them the straight low-down of the pros and cons of Pentax vis-a-vis the camera system I'm pushing them towards.

[Erik]

I agree. I also subscribe to the notion that if I point my friends who want to try photography to Canon and Nikon (which I do), they'll have a mindset that they own a camera from one of the top two companies, so if they don't get good shots, they blame themselves and not the camera/system.

I'm not sure that's how it works either. From my experience, a beginner with a D40 or EOS1000D who isn't satisfied with his/her pictures will be very quick to conclude that they need a D90 or 5D Mark II instead, or that latest VR 2.8 zoom, or...

[VaSA]

I was looking for some binoculars on Amazon, and one of brand names came out to be Pentax Whitetail. Well I clicked the link and one of the reviewers was saying how crappy the binoculars is and that its not a Pentax. So I searched Pentax and found out that they make good cameras, and that's how I got my K200D. Prior to this, I have NEVER heard of Pentax. So its either poor advertisement, or the fact that when I go to BestBuy or Microcenter, they have Sony/Canon/Olympus/Nikon but they don't have Petnax.

[Votesh]

I think store presence really would help out Pentax a lot. My friend got a Nikon D80 a while ago and I was absolutely amazed at how plasticy and cheap it felt, and that was at a few hundred bucks more than my K10D cost. The zoom that came with his kit also didn't compare to the Pentax kit lens and he got the 24-105mm IS lens upgrade.

[FunkyMonk]

I think store presence really would help out Pentax a lot. My friend got a Nikon D80 a while ago and I was absolutely amazed at how plasticy and cheap it felt, and that was at a few hundred bucks more than my K10D cost. The zoom that came with his kit also didn't compare to the Pentax kit lens and he got the 24-105mm IS lens upgrade.

They have them on the shelves at Wolf and Ritz camera and I think Walmart sells them online but the main thing that I think slows down the sale of the camera is that you can't find anything else with the Pentax name on it. They carry the flash on the shelf at Wolf and Ritz and a couple of lens and that's it. If they had some nice weatherproof backpacks or camera bags or even some online commercials I think they would be a lot more popular. They don't have much visibility in the marketplace. I show my camera to Canon and Nikon users all the time and they are always impressed with it. If they don't know you exist then they don't know to look for you.

[Ratmagiclady]

They have them on the shelves at Wolf and Ritz camera and I think Walmart sells them online but the main thing that I think slows down the sale of the camera is that you can't find anything else with the Pentax name on it. They carry the flash on the shelf at Wolf and Ritz and a couple of lens and that's it. If they had some nice weatherproof backpacks or camera bags or even some online commercials I think they would be a lot more popular. They don't have much visibility in the marketplace. I show my camera to Canon and Nikon users all the time and they are always impressed with it. If they don't know you exist then they don't know to look for you.

I think a lot of it is, this isn't about impressing Canon and Nikon users on the Internet, so much as impressing photographers and potential photographers. Fact is, a lot of people buy Canon and Nikon without knowing *why,* except it seems a safe bet, and they know the names. They might even go to Wal-Mart, buy an entry level DSLR from a year or three ago, have no idea what they're doing with it, and determine the camera must suck. Canon and Nikon can afford to dump their old kits there and have the brand names absorb any bad experiences, ...if the first impression people have of Pentax is an old K110d or something, all they can see is the brand name. Wal-mart shoppers just aren't the demographic to lean on, basically.


It's not like I influence millions out there, but when I turn up with a piece of gear with a funny name, people tend to *assume* it must be something good, even if it's an aging Lumix bridge camera wearing whatever hood I stuck on there and a little Bogen flex head screwed on for me to hang onto.

I think anyone over, maybe 35, that's known from cameras in the first place still does know the Pentax name. Pentax just needs to a) be sure to live up to it, and b) get the word out they're living up to it.

All the novelty about digital photography and buying these things like cell phones is going to wear off, eventually. In terms of consumer convenience, sooner or later, there'll be a better mousetrap, like all consumer conveniences, and there a bloated DSLR marketshare won't be an asset. There's always going to be that one in a hundred, though, who gets interested in the *process,* and I think they'll still be buying cameras, be they a hobbyist, artist, or would-be-pro.

Sure, more sales are needed, I'm sure, but I don't think Pentax wants to be the off-brand version of the big two. Or like Hyundai, ..they got name recognition, but not a good one, ...and they're still saddled with a cheap image and relying on selling volume of a lot of cheap products, ....Pentax, I think, wants to be like Subaru. A little odd, a little maybe idealistic, but with a following.

[skeuos]

So yes, young folks still buy Pentax... Just not young and clueless people.

So very true. I shot an old Minolta SRT-101 for film, so I was orphaned when switching to dSLR. Cross-shopped the D40 and K100D Super, and the superior product won out. At the time, I was still under 30

[Ratmagiclady]

So very true. I shot an old Minolta SRT-101 for film, so I was orphaned when switching to dSLR. Cross-shopped the D40 and K100D Super, and the superior product won out. At the time, I was still under 30

Yeah, Minolta kind of... went interesting directions, however innovative. And I was never *so* 'old-school' as an SRT-101, but, these are *instruments,* not appliances. Is a musician gonna buy a guitar that does tricks and records directly to CD-Rom if it doesn't stay in tune and have decent action, and all? Do teachers wanna hand someone a fancy guitar that tunes itself... sometimes, usually pretty good?

Basics.

[Bophoto]

I´m not shore now, but before i recommend Pentax. For some weeks ago prices rice app. 50% on Pentax lenses in Sweden. So now prices often are more than twise here in Sweden compare to US!!!!!

So no more lenses for me at this prices.

[Ratmagiclady]

Well, I don't know what you mean there, but the only certainty n this all is that everything about the world economy and exchange rates is pretty much in flux right now.

As for marketing strategies, Pentax really needs to throw us a fact. In this time of abysmal consumer confidence. *ahem.*

[Supernaut]

Yes, it's not pentax fault. The yen has became stronger while the swedish krona has lost compared to many currencies.
Luckily, we don't live on Iceland though...