kx and k7 both officially discontinued?

link

It does say 'in the Japanese market.' Still listed as current in the UK.

That's the Japanese market.

They will still be around for some time over here, if previous models are anything to go by.

Incidently, the K110d isn't listed as discontinued, so is it still available in Japan?

Last I heard, the Kx was getting difficult to find in the UK as existing stocks were running out and there was no new production.

I wonder what the thinking is? It seemed to me that the Kx was simply the best entry level around, was attracting loads of new Pentaxians and could have run for another year. To replace it would impinge upon the Kr. I suppose they could drop the price of the Kr and introduce something between it and the K5. Or is the strategy designed to just to move to higher margins as I would imagine there is a bigger margin to be made on the Kr than the Kx.

Daft idea .. Pentax were actually starting to look like a serious camera maker what with having a 5 camera lineup. Have even seens a few comments on various reviews saying as much.

I've just bought a K-x, a week ago, and can honestly say that if it didn't exist I would not be a Pentax owner, nor probably a DSLR owner. It's that which has coaxed me in and will, inevitably, cause me to spend much more money on Pentax lenses in the future.

Surely they must stay in this cheaper end?

They will. Once supplies of the K-x have dried up the K-r will drop in price (just as the K-x did when the K-m went out of production, and the K-m did when the K200D was dropped, etc). When the K-x was launched it was around the same price the K-r is now so it's not a new trend - there'll always be at least one bargain body with a Pentax badge.

I've never really seen the logic in this. Leica don't have as big a range as Pentax, nor do Hasselblad, Mamiya or PhaseOne. Yet I've never seen a review saying that these aren't serious because they don't don't have dozens of variations of the same camera (ahem, Sony) for sale.

Personally I'd rather Pentax concentrated on just having two or three good cameras at any given time. Just my $0.02

I quite agree but if you want Joe Bloggs to come off the street and buy into a brand you need it to look like its actually serious about what it's doing and has the range to keep the punters interested. Leica has the name and is a well known brand .. you mention Pentax to most people these days and they just ask if they are still making cameras.

I suspect the new "Evil" class cameras will cannibalize sales of the kx, so the kr becomes the "Entry level" d-slr, the new evil auto 110 fills the kx's gap and then the newest camera possible ff but likely it is a pentax styled (think the ie 2000) hybrid optical/evil with standard kmount and the k5's sensor.... will be more high end in in price perhaps pro level....

Didn't someone quote an interview with a Hoya exec a few months ago where they said they wanted Pentax to be a high-end brand rather than chasing the mass market?

If you look at historic models Pentax generally only had two or three different bodies available at any one time. The original K series numbered three, then the ME and MX, then ME Super and MV/MV1/MG, and so on. In all of these cases there was a premium model and a budget one, although I'm not quite sure how that fits with the KM/KX/K2 where the KX has some features that the supposedly top of the range K2 lacks!

Actually there were far more than two models during the film era. Don't forget the ME Super, MX, MG, LX, 110, 645, 67, ME-F were all available pretty much at the same time. The "Pentax Cameras" brochures I have offer a full range of models.

When I bought my SP1000 the range also included the first three K models plus the medium format cameras. The screw thread lenses also continued to be available for some years after the bayonet mount was introduced.

It should be remembered that 'discontinued' only means it is no longer being manufactured, not that it is no longer being supported or used.

If you buy second hand there is a large range of Pentax cameras on the market.

Nikon and Canon have both reported losing market share to evil class systems in Japan.
Japan is ahead of the market in the sense that what happens there usually precedes what happens everywhere else.

I suspect Sony dumping ff to pursue nex is part of that same trend.

Evil class cameras will beat out both high end compacts and entry level d-slrs.

That leaves Pentax needing a high end pro camera and and evil class camera.
a digital auto 110 with kmount adaptor and an expensive, jewel like, digital lx either d-slr or if there has been any breakthroughs with the patents on hybrid evf/pentaprism they have, there will be an optical with evf overlayed viewfinder... to keep up.
Killing off their best selling model, while it is still, technology wise, viable in any market has to be a financial based decision and since Pentax knows what they have coming next.....
We have to just wait a bit to find out!

How many years have 'Pentax' been producing class cameras? Do we all forget this?..................

I have never spoken to anyone who believes that Pentax are a 'defunct brand' or is that we keep buying them?????

If the belief is that Pentax dont make camera's any longer then why do 'we' have this forum?

Long may they keep bringing them on...............