Pentax pricing strategy seriously wrong?

I am now totally convinced that camera lenses are cheap. No two ways about it.

I have just had an eye test and bought two new pairs of glasses.

Computer glasses: £248.00
Distance glasses: £370.00

So I sent a text to Sue explaining how cheap camera lenses were, but the ploy was unsuccessful. All she said was "Ha Ha".....

They had Pentax glass in them, right?
Seriously ......why not go the multi focal route. Odds are you will probably end there, anyhow.

Martin.

John, know who made your glasses. Hoya? That would fit the pricing strategy



If so, then maybe you got a cloth with them, saying Pentax. I did.

Now you may have to sit down for this, but my main glasses have always been Carl Zeiss Umbramatic.

The technical reason is that I'm very short sighted and most photochromic lenses are "dyed in the mass" so the edges are much darker and the centre quite pale.

The Zeiss lenses are two element designs where the photochromic glass is a second layer of consistent thickness. This means they darken equally, be it at the thin centre or the thick edge of the lenses. As far as I know this is unique to the Umbramatic lenses.

I do use a Pentax microfibre cloth though!

When it gets technical like that, in English I am a bit lost.
Not your fault, me and my lack of knowledge of technical chit-chat is the sole reason.

But what I understand, is that normal multi focal glasses aren't working for you.

And for the Carl Zeiss part. You are forgiven.

Martin.

Have Pentax scored another own goal with the pricing of the k-x?

Sure it looks like a cracking camera, but as their entry level model isn't it way over priced in comparison to the competition?

SRS prices:
k-x with 18-55 - £599
Nikon D3000 with 18-55vr - £439
Olympus E450 with 14-42 - £389
(and you can get the Olympus E620 with the 14-42, grip & extra battery for £499)

Sure it will probably come down in price, but it has a way to go till it reaches that of the Olympus or Nikon cameras.

Wasn't the KM a successful camera because it competed so well on performance AND price?

£599 does seem rather high but interestingly, the Photography Blog review seems to view it it as more of a mid -range camera than an entry level one. However, if you read the comments section at the end of the review, there is an Australian guy who says it is available there for an equivalent of £405!

Dave

Perhaps it is mid-range, but I think, with the KM discontinued, Pentax really need an entry level model to compete.

Apples and Oranges really, the D3000 and E450 don't compare with the K-x specification-wise, so it's to be expected that they should be cheaper. The K-x has a higher frame rate, higher pixel count, video, HDR etc.

Absolutely agree with this!

Dan

They did this with the K-m too. When it first came out it was silly money. I had intended to buy a K-m but with the cashback offer that was on at the time it meant I could get a K20 for about £80 more! No contest really.

Pentax really do have some strange marketing ideas.....
I know it's traditional to charge RRP when a new toy hits the shops, probably to stem inital demand until production ramps up but they would sell a lot more of them and hence tie people into the k-mount if they released the product slightly later (after stockpiling the inital production run) and knocked the £150 off the RRP at the outset rather than droping it to that or offering cashback after a few months.
I know several people who were persuaded away from their perferred camera choice purely because the inital price was too high. In fact a work colleague , who already has a Pentax film camera and wanted to buy the K-x was persuaded to buy a Canon 500D last week because he could get a better deal! Pentax offer a lot more features (for the final street price) compared to the big two and if they got their launch pricing strategy right they could make serious inroads in the sales battle... ( IMHO! )

it's not just Pentax having issues with stocking retail stores only to have retailers getting bit by online sellers:
link

I don't know what prompted this thread's resurrection, but it's interesting to see the K30 and Kx release prices about the same. Pentax pricing seems to offer even more bang for the buck these days.

In accordance to my budget, if the Pentax lens I require cost more than the other brands, I have no qualms in using other maker's lens on my Pentax SLR.

Oso

Guys, this thread is three years old and doesn't reflect the current situation