Pentax - a good range now

I feel Ricoh Pentax now have a good range of DSLRs if the K3 turns out to be as good as it first appears. (Except of course the FF fans unfortunately). The upgrade possibilities are quite good as well. I have been lucky so far in that I have made small to reasonable gains by upgrading with only relatively small costs of £100 or so each time after selling previous model. So far I have gone K-m, K-x, K-r and now K30 (A close run thing to the K5 but so much cheaper upgrade to K30 at time).
I now have four options - K5, K5ii, K5iis and K3. This time, if the K3 tests well, I may make a big financial leap straight to it, but if the gains become reported as not great I will have the advantage no doubt of slightly cheaper K5 ii's
Dave

Well choice is good. I wonder how the sales people in Jessops will get on explaining the differences between the various models!

Jessops:

"Well mate, the K5 - not much good so it was replaced with the Mk II. That was pretty slow so Pentax brought out the souped up version the IIs. As for the K3 - it's the third one"

The new Mark11 Jessops is an improvement over the old now defunct earlier model, at least at The MetroCentre on Tyneside. Staff are far more helpful with Pentax inquiries than at the previous now defunct model. The store is bigger and has a dedicated Ricoh Pentax section. OK it's set further back in the store than the two leading brand names but staff have a positive attitude.
On my first visit when the store had just opened a salesman wearing a Pentax t-shirt answered my queries.
I went in a couple of days ago to ask about the K3 and the salesman (Canon t-shirt) was most helpful.
David

PPG http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/artists/davidtrout

That sounds more hopeful David, good to know.

I agree, I think the range now looks very good. Just about right for an APSC lineup.

A good thread. So who will step up and pen the ideal sales pitch? You have a K5, K5II and K5 IIs on the shelf with a poster on the wall showing the K3 .

A potential sale has just walked into the shop and asks your advice on the Pentax K5 range and also adds a query about the K3.

What do you explain to the person to secure a sale?


Best regards

Most salesmen would try to sell a K-5 of some description - money now rather than the possibility of money later. They would probably say "K-3 will be released in mid November, but we may not see sufficient stocks until late November or December. You could give us a £100 deposit (non-refundable) and we will put you at the top of the wait list"

Fair enough question. I would talk to the customer and find out what sort of photography they were interested in, whether or not they were an outdoor person, whether or not they had a serious hobby tied to the photography, such as birding.

Then I would let them handle the cameras that I thought best matched what their interests and requirements were. Including the things that they hadn't thought of.

The hope would be that the final choice made would be found to be a good one for them and next time they would come back again.

The thing that pleases me the most is that CaNikon users are taking notice of the K-3 and the Pentax brand. Some are even considering jumping ship. Looking over at DP shows this. Got to be a good thing, any discussion is good. I expect to see the K-3 on the covers of UK Camera mags in the coming months.

I would give them a clear enough picture of the strengths and weaknesses of each model in the range, so they could go home and order the one they wanted cheaper from elsewhere on the Internet.

Lol. I've noticed Jessops prices are a bit more competitive these days. And each time I've been in, there's been a Pentax rep in store. I'm always fairly clear what I'm intending to look at so I cut them short in their helpful sales patter.

It looks like also Richo is doing a lot better in terms of promotion and dealing with retailers if there is space for Pentax. And if staff is more knowledgeable, Richo is investing in training, etc...

Indeed they are Giorgio!
The business model is much improved, alas my towns Jessops, is now a trendy bar called "Eaten by Monsters"!
As I have said before we now only have a Wilkinson Camera's, which has a fine selection of Pentax and a newly achieved "Pentax Pro Centre" status. Staff seem to be well trained if a little robotic in their knowledge of the brand but much much better than I have experienced in recent years. Was in there yesterday just having a bit of a crack, chuckling to myself as there was a D300s owner in there having a heated discussion with the manager about, the fact that "The new Pentax should have been a Nikon!" How "The D7100 was not a substitute" and "Where is his upgrade path?" How he "Didn't want a FF because he'd need a 600mm Lens for his wildlife shots!" and "Who the hell is going to buy one of those!" He was giving the Manager a pretty hard time actually, which was a little uncalled for because he can only sell the products he's got.
Nearly all of the current range of Pentax is in stock save for the K5IIs, which can be ordered, they've even got the GR and the MX-1.
so it's K500/K50/K5II/Q7/Q10/GR/MX-1, not bad, not bad at all...
Canon wise it's a 6D/7D/70D/Dremmel or whatever they call it! And a G15
Nikons D600/D800/D7100/D5200/J2/V2
Pretty fair really...

Just been reading rumors of one more release from Ricoh brfore the end of the year!

Any guesses?

645DII?
Lenses?
Couldn't be the convertor could it? My god that would punch a hole through the space time continuum