K5 sales very strong, Pentax image weak.

My K5 arrives tomorrow courtesy of srs.
Talking to the guys there it seems they are selling as fast as they arrive. Good news for Pentax.
Hopefully by now the "issues" will be sorted.
A colleague has just bought his frst dslr; Canon 550D, against my advice, I recommended a KR, but he was put off by stories of poor Pentax QC.
Perhaps Pentax need to release a new faultless model, if only to improve the brand image.

Davex.

I was in LCE Guildford last w/e and astonished to see a 645d in the window. I asked the guy and they sold one only last week. His explanation was that affluent area means people come in and buy nice shineys.

Yep when you consider some women spend £8K or more on a handbag, a 645D is an easily justifiable purchase in some households. Wish I was in that situation!

I had a look at the Jessops store in the Trafford Centre and they had K-5, K-7, K-r, 50mm f1.4, 35mm f2.4, 17-70mm and 100mm WR on display.

Is that because they were too expensive, John?

Not sure what you mean, I think it was probably because they hoped to sell some....just like the canon and Nikon displays. The prices were not bad at all. :

I just meant that, perhaps, the Jessop's prices were well above what you could get the items at elsewhere. Simply put, the places where they sold out were the cheapest, maybe?

I don't think Pentax spend half as much on promoting there product as other major manufacturers.

To be fair, there's been more advertising than ever before this year, and not only in the photographic press. Outdoor magazines have been a target as has Facebook, plus perhaps other areas I don't normally look at.

But they are so ubiquitous that they make me want to throw something. Every ad break it seems there is that flippin' tune again and yet another baby staggering and Robbie Williams flashing.
I am heartily sick of them.

I for one am glad Pentax aren't pursuing such a campaign.

Have you seen the Nikon section in the Argos catalogue? All the products are like this -

'I AM a Nikon 49mm UV filter. I will protect your lens and remove unwanted glare from photographs, preserving your precious moments just as you remember them'...

... patronising much?

I think Pentax is far enough down the 'irritating' path with 'Pix your life'. The facebook tie-in was quite clever though.

I would say that if sales are good the brand can't be that weak. They go hand in hand to some extent.

If customers are buying Pentax from Jessops that means they like the camera and are seeing through the marketing of Nikon and Canon.

I do think a link up with Robbie Williams is very questionable for Nikon.
I don't think I am the only one to think he is a bit of a twit.

Any company or business are only there to make money for the shareholders (a stark fact), the only place for said company to make this money is from their customers, (a stark fact), which means that a companies advertising budget, is provided by their customers within the price of their product or service.

Therefore I am glad that “Pentax”, probably has a smaller advertising budget than their competition, and hopefully has a better value for money product.


Take care, and remember that all money inwards to a company comes from you the customer.

True, but less advertising = less market share = less volume; which means they'll need to take more profit margin per camera or lens.

I bought a 200mm f2.8 in Jessops Oxford Street recently at the lowest price I had ever seem for one. It was the last one they had, no surprise the rest had gone so quickly.

I never rule anywhere out when I'm looking to buy - and Jessops, like PC World, have some great - if unexpected - bargains at times.