NEC Photography Show

Nice to see Pentax at the show. Obviously a bit bigger marketing budget than last year's show in London (first time I've seen them at the show) - they've got a small presentation stage.

Interestingly the stand has zero Pentax branding visible, only Ricoh. Which surprised me - last time the show was at the NEC the 17 was absolutely everywhere. Thought they might trade on the success of the camera.

They also have some freebies - hidden away. You need to tag the 17 on Instagram to get a goody bag (cloth tote, badge, lens cloth and 17 branded sunglasses). However if you look like you are tagging the 17 they hand over a bag.

I also visited the show yesterday and was both happy and disappointed. Happy Pentax were there, and they had lots of lenses in the cabinet. Disappointed by the staff on the stand - they had never heard of Pentax until that morning and were unaware that Ricoh and Pentax were part of the same group. I asked to test the 50mm 1.4, and the poor chap didn't know how to remove a lens from the body. I was even more disappointed that they weren't able to sell me any lenses and directed me to the WEX stand - who only had two DA lenses in stock. I really wanted to buy a 10-17mm directly from Pentax to support them - since they couldn't sell me one I ended up buying one from ebay when I got home.

The GR section of the stand was very busy when we were there. The Pentax 17 was also being demonstrated and was prominently displayed on the Pentax part of the stand. The KF and K-1 II were also on display, but not really part of any great push.