Official K-r gone. What will replace it?

Although the k-r has been discontinued we don't know what the stock situation is. Maybe production has recently stopped or maybe production has stopped due to the floods & lack of parts.

Hi all so twittering and quoting other forum's is now 'official'.

Has anyone who runs this site actually asked Pentax UK or their main Pro Agents for a statement?

I don't doubt that models come and go but it can't be good for a brand with so few DSLR models to have such stuff banging around unsubstantiated by official sources. Can it?

The Pentax site is there for everyone to see what they have listed as current and the availablity generally is there to see on the suppliers' websites.

At the moment SRS and Park are listing various colour options for the K-r and also of course the K-5. Everything else seems to be just the reporting of assumptions and conjecture. It may be right or wrong but it doesn't appear to be "official" at this moment.

Whether it is official or not it looks like Ricoh are planning to run Pentax exactly the same way as Hoya. Basically don't tell anyone anything.

Wouldn't any other company be out there quashing the rumours or at best giving their reasons and maybe putting users minds at rest?

I dispair at times.

Apple didn't get to be top tech company by keeping ruthlessly tight lipped about its new products.

I think we need to give things a chance Mike, it's early days yet, with a damaged supply chain and no doubt a wish to remove all the Hoya-marked products from the shelves.

It may well be a matter of priorities and not telling anyone anything until The Plan can be announced properly.

I've no doubt Pentax find the speculation everywhere quite frustrating at times and have learned to let it go. Like probably every manufacturer.

That wasn't my point. It's the drip drip of dodgy sources of (the limited) products being dropped, just as we are concerned for our favourite system camera brand. Ricoh need to re-assure, NOT necessarily give away all about their next product!

If it's a phone and you don't like the next model you just switch. When you have invested hundreds (or thousands for many on here) in a system you want to know it'll remain viable before you buy more lenses, flashguns etc for Christmas and in the New Year sales! You also want to have some retailers left around selling Pentax when the dust settles (NONE here in Derbyshire despite Jessops being so called returnee to the fold). Try buying a K mount macro lens in Currys or a flashgun in Comet (ours is shut by the way)!!!!!

Finally I'm not aware Ricoh -Pentax are planning a chain of own brand stores like Apple so the analogy is a bit off don't you think?

I didn't get where I am today by being ruthlessly tight-lipped about my new products.

How about the Pentax Cj ?

Mmmmmm, A new C mount small format ICL with reasonably priced lenses called the CJ?

Is this a scoop Dr?

I didn't get where I am today without knowing a shrewd idea when I hear one.

Even if the K-R is discontinued, it wouldn't stop me buying such a fine camera.

As you are already a Pentax DSLR user I can understand that but it's the new users coming into the market that Pentax need. On other forums whenever a person asks what DSLR should I buy everyone jumps in with Canikon .. the reason being (rightly or wrongly) that they have more in the way of accessories, a bigger second hand market and a larger range of lenses.

If this rumour is true then they can add to that the fact Pentax only has ONE dslr in it's camera lineup.

If it's wrong then Pentax should be doing all it can to stamp on the rumour asap.

I would hazard a guess that the majority of slr buyers do not consult any forums & base their purchase purely on what the salesman tells them, it works for Currys & Jessops etc. Just because forum members are aware of the going on of a particular company does not mean the rest of population do.

In my local Currys & Jessops they have k-r's in stock, at the weekend I was in Manchester, Jessops there had k-r in stock, as did Jessops in Sheffield last week.

I have invested a lot of money into Pentax, I am not worried about the future. If it all goes belly up & eventually my camera stops working or something substantially better comes along then I will worry about it.

Until then I will continue to be a photographer who uses Pentax.... As will, I should think, most of the people in this forum...

OK it seems it is true, pentax tweeted it

http://photorumors.com/2011/12/02/pentax-k-r-discontinued/

What a way to run a business, I still stand with what I said above...

+1 to Mike's post from 12:38

I'm not sure if the japanese site is the official source for Pentax information; if it is, the K-r is not discontinued:

http://www.pentax.jp/english/products/index.html and click on the discontinued model list (direct link does unfortunately not work); the K-r is NOT in that list.


PS

If twitter is the official source, I agree. I refuse to use twitter so will never be able to get up-to-date and correct 'rumours'.