K-7 price dropping already?

The professional Pentax lenses have actually always been slightly more expensive than the Nikon equivalents, certainly according to my 1970s and 1980s magazine advertisments. Not by much, but for example a 70-200mm f2.8 would be more than the Nikon.

The current price makes it a bit more than the Sigma 50mm f1.4 and I suspect may mean that continued demand has meant a new batch has been manufactured. Unfortunately this may have been with older, more expensive technology and also on a relatively limited basis, so the cost has been much higher.

Couple that to our dismal currency and you have all the ingredients for a very nasty price shock.

So, we exercise our freedom of choice and either want it and buy it at that price, or not.

Other prices which are turning my head at the moment.

FA 31 Ltd £999
FA43 Ltd £769
12-24 £949
DA* 55 £599
FA 20-35 £1249!!
10-17 £499

(New prices from either SRS or Park)

Why is is that in any other consumer electronics prices are shooting down rapidly, wether it be TV's, stereos, DVD / BluRay players, P&S cameras, consoles etc. yet SLR's and lenses are going up? All of these other products are made in the far east somewhere, so they are all affected by currency fluctuations. Does seem strange.

To put it another way is the FA43 Ltd really worth a 40" 1080P LCD TV?

What I am struggling to understand is that the 10-17, 12-24, 16-50, 100mm macro and 60-135 are all made by (or basically the same apart from coating) Tokina and their prices are nowhere near the corresponding lens.

Because new production methods and other stuff push down production cost so they become cheaper.
Lenses are still as work expensive as they were 10 years ago and the workers probable also earn 10p more every year.
A high-grade watch for example still cost the same as it did 10 years ago.

We already agreed that UK has silly Pentax prices so lets take current Dutch prices.

Nikon AF-D 50mm F/1.4 € 279,00
hmmm I'm having trouble finding a 50mm

Nikon AF-S 105mm F/2.8G iF ED VR Micro € 719,00
Pentax 100mm F/2.8 DFA SMC Macro € 509,00

Nikon AF-S 12-24mm F/4.0 G € 799,00
Pentax SMC DA 12-24mm F/4.0 € 719,00

Nikon AF-S 17-55mm F/2.8 G DX € 1065,00
Pentax DA* 16-50mm F/2.8 € 648,00

Nikon AF-S 300mm F/4.0 € 1149,00
Pentax DA* 300mm F/4 € 999,00

Nikon AF-D 180mm F/2.8 € 819,00
Pentax DA* 200mm F/2.8 € 839,00

Nikon AF-S 55-200mm DX VR F/4.0-5.6 € 195,00
Pentax DA 50-200mm F/4.0-5.6 € 143,00

Nikon AF-S 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G iF VR € 375,00
Pentax DA 55-300mm F/4.0-5.8 € 349,00

Alright quite a long list but tried to did it as fair as it can and all come from one shop www.kamera-express.nl
Like said the UK have silly Pentax prices but here things are still normal also in the rest of the world I believe.

That does look a lot more sensible Stefan but the reason a lot of users chose Pentax was because although it is a minority brand compared to the "big two" the lens prices were quite a bit cheaper in comparison.
At this moment in time Pentax need to be pulling in buyers with the K-7 but they will never do that while their lens prices are in the same price range as most people will go for the "safer" Canon or Nikon option.

But the UK prices have been very cheap in the beginning of the year and the years before that don't you agree?
We always had around this price difference and nothing has changed.

I noticed that the DAF100 is now 15% more then it was when I bought it a year ago and that seem to be the case with most Pentax lenses.

Like said the price raise in the UK is over the top but it's a UK only thing and it is talked about like everywhere in the world prices have doubled. Good most of you live in the UK so it's your center of the world but with the "free trade" we have now in the EU what is stopping you of buying abroad?

Also I'm curious were bodyheat has gotten such a low price for the Nikon 50mm f/1.4

They have been cheap in the UK ever since I bought my K10D, which is one of the reasons I chose the Pentax brand. The trouble is with the release of the K-7 now is not the time to be doubling the lens prices here if Pentax want to sell the body in any great volume. Saying that, given the choice between Pentax making no profit and going under or hanging around then maybe there was no choice.
As I said before though, here in the UK at least, it is one less reason to choose Pentax from the beginning.

LINK

It's always worth a look at Amazon - I found a 43mm for £250 there once.

And I agree on that Mike and I never spoke against that

About the nikon price, I thought it was cheaper but they are the same £239 = €279
So nikon at least have there prices right, Pentax UK really need to even the price out with the rest of Europe

George I wasn't saying it was SRS, but I gave their price as a reference since others may mark things up differently. It was just to show the differential which seems batty to me if the lenses are pretty much the same spec and presumably equally as good as each other

I beg your pardon. I misread what you wrote.

There is no doubt that Pentax will have to address this. I personally will not buy anything from a UK seller at these prices. If enough people do the same, Pentax will come to heel.

B&H in New York are selling many items at a considerably lower price in dollars than Pentax are charging in pounds. Historically prices have generally been better in the US, but never by as much as now.

I have in the past purchased two Pentax bodies from across the pond, and will do so again if necessary. It's not ideal, but the saving more than compensates for the slight risk of a defective product.

Incidentally, a UK Amazon seller is offering a lot of Pentax stuff at much lower prices. I believe they import from the States, pay the VAT, and ship to the buyer. As they are presumably paying trade prices, the VAT incurred will be lower than if a buyer imports privately.

G

We in Singapore used to do the same with the previous distributor and got our Pentax stuff from the USA. The distributor was more interested in profits and not care about our feedback.

After 3 years they gave up the ghost and we now have a new distributor who is listening to us. When the prices first appeared, we protested and they wrote to Pentax Japan asking for better pricing or risk losing the community here.

So a K-m with dual kit lens goes for SGD $830.00 which was previously $920.00

It's gone up a bit, but not too much........ considering.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pentax-SMC-43mm-f1-9-Black/dp/B000F8YEFO/ref=sr_1_69?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1247316249&sr=1-69

Take care that is Amazon market place (as opposed to Amazon direct) and the seller is a grey importer based in Hong Kong