Focus on imaging show

I think you are being too pessimistic.

Used *ist DSs are still selling for £100 to £200, and used K10Ds are still selling for nearly the price of new ones.

New and used K20Ds are bound to remain unaffordable to many people for more than a couple of years, therefore the next best - K10D - will still be very desirable for more than a couple of years.

If you buy a new K10D from the UK now, and sell in three years time, the net cost to you may be less than £200, perhaps less than £150. Surely you would pay fifty quid a year to use such a camera? You would have spent more than that on film and processing if it was a film camera.

Get one from the UK right now, is my advice, and enjoy the sunshine. I predict that you won't regret a penny once you experience how brilliant the camera is - and that will be within minutes of using it for the first time. That's how I felt on Saturday!

It is nothing in real terms compared to what high-end cameras cost 20 years ago, etc.

SRS and Argos (!!) have the best UK prices. Argos's price with the kit lens is £449.

I doubt you'd save very much more than £50 by buying from the States once the extra charges are taken into account, and more risk will be involved.

Hi Pete,...thanks for your message, however I can't share either your view or your logic unfortunately,...I only wish I could.

"........If you buy a new K10D from the UK now, and sell in three years time, the net cost to you may be less than £200, perhaps less than £150.."

In three years time K10D will be a piece of valuless junk,...and, sadly it will HAVE TO BE, if Pentax is to survive. At the moment there are only two model levels but that must change if Pentax are only to keep level with other mnakes notably Sony. K10 is already obsolete, so just pause for a moment and consider it's commercial appeal in three years time when there has been a K30 (2009), K40 (2010) and we have arrived at the 'K50D' with 30 mil pixels, fully articulated 100mm electronic viewfinder and super enhanced exposure/contrast control,.....??

Plus, by then there will have to be pentax models in several market slots, all with up,market features to tempt the punters.......any k10's still working will still take as good pix as now, but they will be unwanted (and valuless) junk.

Remember there will be much more market saturation in three years time than now and makers MUST keep selling new models each year just to survive.

In addition, your point about the cost/value of "high end cameras 20 years ago", is frankly nonsense,...most of them retained there value more or less indefinately over the next 15 or so years as I know well, since I was a user (and buyer) of medium formate systems during that period.

Viewfinder, no one is forcing you to buy the next super duper new model every year. People didn't do that with analogue cameras so why should you with digital. If you are happy with your camera why change it just because the next model offers a few more Mp? So what if it offers liveview or an electronic viewfinder (a device from hell if you ask me which I hope they never incorporate).

I would stick to my Ds but I really would like the weatherproofing offered by the newer models. I may yet decide not to buy a new camera, and just get better lenses. I don't really need, or want more megapixels. Nor do I need or want the extra weight of the newer cameras. I don't care that the Ds is not worth very much, it works, does (almost) everything I want it to, and will hopefully continue to do so for a few years yet. Just because it is now several models old doesn't make it a bad camera, or mean it will die a death in the next month to force me to get the next big thing.

I agree with you that the pricing system is unfair, that the US always has lower prices, cashback deals and the like which are never available in the UK or Europe, but that is life. It applies to lots of things, not just cameras - Levi's for one. Now that the dollar is no longer such a strong currency maybe things will get easier in Europe, but I doubt it.

Hi Gwyn,.....

"........Viewfinder, no one is forcing you to buy the next super duper new model every year. People didn't do that with analogue cameras so why should you with digital. If you are happy with your camera why change it just because the next model offers a few more Mp?...."

I DON'T want to buy a new model every year........with respect, that's what I have been trying to say..... But, neither do I want to have a camera which is not only valuless for resale but also not worth repairing.

I would expect to be quite happy with k10D,..that's why I;m interested in aquiring one,.....but, I'm unwilling to pay thru the nose to get tommorows valuless junk, should i wish to trade it in, or more likely, need to get it repaired.

Oh really? My *istD is neither junk nor valueless, and it is four years old.

From the beginning, I found it to be slow to write to the card, and that is really it's only significant drawback. The K10D solves that problem, and that is the primary reason I upgraded.

When I am not in a hurry, the *ist D continues to serve me well, especially when I am travelling, and need something light.

I expect to be still using my two K10Ds in five years time, at which stage I will consider them to have done me very well.

It may seem strange, but I buy cameras to use. Not to moan about, or agonise over, or to lie awake at night worrying about the depreciation. That's a mug's game.

But then, why let logic and facts get in the way of a good rant?

G

By the same logic, if a repair was uneconomical, you could always get a replacement secondhand body for peanuts.

I justified 'going digital' by working out how much I was saving by not buying film. I was paying about £7.50 to buy and process a roll of slides, and my initial digital investment (3 years ago) was about £1400. 4 months later, having shot about 6500 images, I decided I was quids in.

In addition to that, I'd shot subjects that I would never have seriously considered before (macro for one), and tried techniques that I wouldn't have bothered with using film.

To an extent, digital cameras are disposable. I agree with you there. They will certainly get to a point where a repair is not viable, and that will be much sooner than with a film camera. However, if nothing goes wrong with it, and it produces results that you're happy with, there's no reason why you couldn't keep one for years.

If you're not desperate to get one before the K20D comes out, I'd hang on and get yourself a secondhand K10D. I would imagine there'll be a fair few popping up in camera shops/ebay. You may yet see mine on there...

Dan

I did not expect the reaction I saw with my previous question. Anyway, right now in Montreal, the K10d is going for CAN$700.00 and the K10d with the Pentax 16-45 is going for CAN$950.00. I'm pretty sure you could "discuss" with the seller to shave another $40 or $50. So, I guess I shoul stop complaining about high prices here!

Viewfinder, Pentax may well bring out several more models during the next three years but they are unlikely to be better in every way than the K10D. For one example, they may not have a pentaprism. This will apply to the K200D, for example.

The K10D has built up enough of a reputation for it to maintain a useful proportion of its value for a few years. Of course the depreciation level is high, but not so high it will be worthless after a three years, let alone one year. Remember that the cost of K20D will be very high for a long while to come, therefore people will need to seek cheaper but high quality alternatives for a long while to come.

There are already enough Pentax models and dSLRs on the market from other makes for the older Pentax ones to have become worthless if older models were not attractive to buyers - but that is not the case. The DS is still selling for up to £200, despite the fact it is primative in some ways compared to the latest models. People know it still has some great qualities. That really should give you some reassurance. I just got £120 for my DS body - despte there being a few "issues" with the condition.

To repeat my prediction: If you buy a K10D, your cares about the value with vanish within minutes of using it. That's what happened to me, and I can assure you the price was not trivial for me. It was a major purchase for me - one I delayed for a long time.

I feel the time is right now for buying a new one. If second-hand will do, hang on until the K20D is in the shops, then more used K10Ds should be turning up on Fleabay. They won't be worth nothing, though!

OK, people don't keep their cameras as long as they used to because of the speed that technology advances now, and we are still in the dawn of the digital camera age so there will be yet much more advancement to come. However, to assume your camera will be worthless within a year is a gross exageration.

There may be much in life to be gloomy about, but cameras is not one of them. Just get one and enjoy it and stop worrying about the money, is my advice. And that's coming from someone with little money.

Just your latest in a LLOONNGG list of reasons not to buy a K10D going back to it's release date...

Of course it's up to you, but as far as the imminent change in status of the K10D from Camera to "Valueless Junk", it could be argued that, while factually technically correct, you have the time line all wrong. Yes, everything wears out eventually; but just because something is superseded doesn't mean it's junk.

Having said that, you are entitled to your opinion. BUT if you're interested in taking some pictures, you could do a lot worse (and some would say not a lot better) than a K10D, whether or not it's the latest, greatest...