Camera World No Pentax ?

I paid my weekly visit to Camera World in Chelmsford having a look at the 2nd hand gear as usual, quite a few bits there, sign of the times maybe. They had a few 2nd hand Pentax items including a 14mm prime and what I think was a bigma 150-500mm Sigma zoom ( about £350 ) if anyone is interested.

Anyway I had a look inside ( I don't always ) and I couldn't find any new Pentax gear at all. I know someone on this forum or maybe DP review was saying that Camera World weren't very happy with the new level of repair service.

Does this mean they have dropped Pentax completley ?

I was hoping to have a look at a K7 just to see how it feels. I'll ask next week if I get there.

I think the Oxford Street branch have the X70 and KM. Not much else though.

They definitely have had a K-7 in stock, and usually have some Pentax stuff (admittedly only 1 shelf of it though), and when I've badgered them about getting another K-7 in they've certainly been expecting one.

Dan

Popped in today, they'll be getting more Pentax stock in next week, including the K-7. Noticed it's down to £1039 body only.

But then SRS have them at £1025.

Still, it's nice to know my local supplier haven't dropped Pentax, despite the massive price hikes, and as long as they'll match the SRS price, I'll buy through them when the time comes...

Dan

I just love it when a salesperson tells me it will be in next week.

Hi Dan, I went in on Saturday but didn't see anything at all ! I'll check next week maybe they will get a K7 in and I'll have a play.

If I'd been able to hold on a bit longer with my Pentax stuff I think the K7 would have stopped me switching systems. It has everything I want but without the bulk. I needed to replace the DS about a year ago so had to make a decision.

Unfortunately now I've sold all the Pentax bits ( except LX & MX ) it would probably be too costly to switch back unless I could get a K7 for say £500, well you never know.

I suppose I could use the K7 as my holiday camera with a 17-70 lens and 43mm and use the Nikon for sports & macro ?

There a number of things that I miss about Pentax quite important things like colour balance and small size and the lenses 135mm F2.8, 43mm F1.9 and the 100mm macro and the af360 flash.

I went last Friday to SRS to checkout some lens and K7. K7 is a sexy camera for real and i felt the much talked about focusing improvements right away. I'm not in a market for new camera but K7 certainly has what it takes to compete with the rest.

Bought my K100d at Camera world and they always seemed positive about having Pentax in stock. They have a good choice of gear normally which is what you want in a proper camera shop.

I'm just hoping prices will start going down to sane levels towards christmas or shortly afterwards.

Well I went down to CW Chelmsford again and they have re-stocked and had one Pentax K7 with weather proof 18-55 lens. The only other Pentax they had was one compact.

I must say it was a very nice little camera and I really liked its small size and lightness. The focusing seemed pretty speedy. I might take down a memory card and take a few shots to see how they come out.

I might even consider buying one if they get a lot cheaper.

I did enjoy using one the other week, and I'm going to be in Chelmsford tomorrow (today :roll so will pop in and see them. Try to bash the price down a bit...

What's putting me off at the moment is I'd want the grip too, and that bumps the price up substantially, even using the £70 off voucher.

Incidentally, the voucher says "This voucher entitles you to purchase a PENTAX D-BG4 Battery Grip for £199.99 when you buy a Pentax K-7 camera..."

So although it shows £70 off, if the grip is priced at £225, do you get it for £199.99, or £155.00?

Dan

That's the same at SRS the grip is priced at £225.00 so do we get the £70.00 off that price or off the £270.00 normal price. CHEERS Vic.
PS I have tried looking at all of the (PENTAX PRO) shops on the list that PU sent in the news letter and most come up with CAN'T FIND YOUR REQUEST or similar answers. In other words most of them are C**P. Vic.

Popped into Cameraworld today, they've now got a few K-7s in stock, at £999.

Dan

I just spoke to Chris at SRS and the £70.00 is off of the £225.00 Price. This works out at £999.00 + £225.00 =£1224.00 - £70.00 = £1154.00. For K7 + D-BG4. CHEERS Vic.

Thanks Vic!

Dan

Getting nearer to my £1000 target price for kit and grip

Will probably hit it the day after the voucher expires pushing the price back up by £70