Forum: Pentax News and Rumors
09-14-2010, 07:16 PM
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Seriously?!? I bought my FA50/1.4 brand-new about 2 years ago for $199. I've been sitting back and watching Pentax raise the prices of their lenses over, and OVER again and can't help but wonder "What the HELL are they thinking?!?!?!?"
Now, I love my Pentax K10D, but let's face it... just about every single camera release from Pentax is a step, or two backwards from the "big boys" Canon, Nikon, etc. From my perspective the only real reasons to stay with Pentax have been the weathersealing and lower cost of the bodies and lenses compared to the competition. But now it seems that the competition is wising up to the whole "weather-resistant-yet-affordably-priced" concept and with Pentax now having DOUBLED the prices of some of their lenses in some cases I just can't help but feel as if Pentax has been setting itself up for failure. I belong to several, local photo clubs where I am pretty much the ONLY Pentax user and I spend a great deal of time defending the overall technology and cost-benefit of Pentax over their Canon's and Nikon's... but that task is becoming harder and harder.
Pentax seems to take twice as long as the competitors to release a newer version of a specific "level" of camera body... and again... it seems that when they do the offering falls short of the competition. The K-5 NEEDS to be priced competitively from the start and Pentax NEEDS to get it's cameras into physical store locations at BestBuy, Wal-Mart, etc where people can actually have a look at them.... and not just rely on the web sites alone trying to push the cameras.
I'm eagerly awaiting the final specs of the K-5, as well as release of the introductory price... but if it ends up being true that the Nikon comes out similarly-spec'd, yet $500 less than the Pentax, then I too think Pentax might as well just throw in the towel and sell nothing other than "designer" cameras.
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