Pentax Users...

Yesterday morning, I was walking to the shops and noticed a group of people, probably three generations of a family, walking towards me. And the oldest bloke had a Pentax (a totally white one!) hanging round his neck.

"Good grief, a Pentax user, " I said with a bit of a smile, "that makes two of us!"

His reply, also with a smile, was "Probably the last two in the world."

Does the fact that he had an American accent imply Pentax are not that popular the other side of the pond?

Having an American accent only implies he was raised in the US.
Doubt Pentax cameras popularity is different than UK/EU/Australia/NZ on a per capita basis...

Pentax is essentially non existent in NZ. We (Fleur and I) went that way after picking up a Pentax film camera back in the days before digital. Then that merged into the K100d which we picked up in Australia and shared the lenses between both bodies.

Since then Pentax has disappeared from Camera shops. Well to be more specific most camera shops have disappeared and most cameras are now purchased via chain electronic and home appliance/consumer electronic types shops here. Pentax doesn't feature in them, and is only available in NZ via a few select dedicated camera shops in a few cities. Can't say what it's like elsewhere in the world, but you have to go very very far out of your way to even acquire a Pentax, and most have never really heard of it, other than from the 'My Dad had a Pentax' type conversations.

Well, I HAD meant this to be a mildly humorous thread, about the scarcity of Pentaxians, that’s why I added the smiley. Oh well.



Interesting. And got me thinking.

I had a leaf through my collection of photo-magazines. Not a Pentax advert in any of them. Canon, Nikon, Olympus etc all advertise. Pentax get mentioned in listing adverts (Wex. Park etc) but don’t seem to do any advertising of their own.

A general check in Smiths and on the web finds that there are bookazines/magazines specifically for Canon/Nikon. None for Pentax. A couple of the magazines have articles of the type “How to do X with your Nikon/Canon/Olympus/Sony/whatever”. No mention of Pentax.

Don’t Ricoh UK have a marketing/PR/whatever department to push the product? Combined with stories on this forum and others about the lack of support from Ricoh, I get the impression that they don’t actually care about the Pentax brand in this country and wouldn’t be bothered if it went the same way as in NZ.

At some point in the near future, I am probably going to have to decide, for time reasons, whether to concentrate on my MFT system (currently Panasonic) or my Pentax system. I like my Pentax kit, but...

Sorry if this seems overly pessimistic; contradictory evidence would be welcome.

The thing I've never understood is why marketing matters as to whether we continue to use Pentax or not. We like the products, so we use them. If we don't like them there are plenty of others around.

Supply is actually very good these days, although it's probable that we have to deal with a mail order company as physical camera shops seem a bit thin on the ground. We are very lucky to have SRS in particular in the UK, but there are plenty of other sources as well.

As for promotion in the UK, I'm sure that the PR company and Ricoh want very much to meet their targets, otherwise they wouldn't be doing the job. Like all other things though there will be a finite budget and within that they will pursue what they see as most effective. Pentax is on the up, so I deduce they are doing a good job.

Ricoh Pentax's customer care seems to be totally reliant their pro dealers. I certainly would have jumped ship by now if it were not for SRS

I have mentioned before for Pentax to raise their profile in consumer photo mags: how many potential dslr buyers walk into a photo shop and ask to see a Pentax? I can tell you, none according to my local LCE. Ricoh is doing a great job with reviving the brand with class-leading products and that is getting picked up in reviews but surely a PR team should know that their product is to be featured in an article and so get an ad strategically placed. And how many people even know about the medium format range? We all know that once you buy into a system you are more likely to stay loyal for economic reasons if nothing else, so getting that initial sale is crucial to expanding the market which is good for Pentax and therefore for us as well.

Ok, the likes of Leica and Hasselblad don't either but their core market is likely to be more informed anyway.

Ps I noticed that in the current Outdoor Photographer magazine, four out of twelve shots in a macro feature were shot with Pentax, all with the 100mm macro lens, so well done if any participants are reading!

It doesn't change the success though. The 645Z was being made in quantities that couldn't keep up with demand. The K-1 is flying off the shelves. The Q cameras were a must-have in Japan in particular, and there are quite a few Q system users on here.

I'm sure that expansion needs to be managed and over-stretching can lead to disaster as well. One step at a time.

I went into my local LCE and asked to see a Pentax lens, "We don't have any Pentax gear" I was told by the 'salesman', when I asked why, he said "we don't sell enough" I told him he won't sell any if they don't stock any at which point he just walked off! I went round the corner to Camera Solutions and got exactly what I was looking for, and at a good price. On my previous trip to LCE (about 4 years ago) I was told by the staff that nikon and canon buy up all the shelf space so they don't have room for any other makes

LCE have made their Worcester store a Pentax centre to serve the region so all enquiries get deferred there now.

Camera mags.. Who buys camera mags, these days ? Or shops in high street stores for that matter.. The internet is the place to be..!! But Pentax arn't there either. Even the great review Tony Northrop gave the K1. He had to lone the camera from a friend. I'm sorry. But I agree Pentax/Ricoh are doing very little to tempt new users. The only people buying the K1 are existing users that want to go full frame.. Poor sales also means no third party equipment back up.

I do. When I was thinking about a dslr I did what most people probably do, found looking in a mag totally bewildering and asked advice in a local camera shop. I was shown Canon and Nikon basic models which didn't impress so as there was a small Pentax display I asked about them. The salesman was knowledgeable, showed me a K50 so I said I fancied a white one; he said he would check and call but didn't so I ordered one online. That was LCE but they don't have a display any more and it's no wonder they don't sell any.

Oh well indeed. That's the internet for ya..
[pedant]
But to be accurate, you used a 'surprised/shock' emoticon.
An actual smiley is =
[/pedant]

Regarding scarcity of Pentaxians: I've had seven Pentax cameras over the years - six now sold to various people, which means there are six additional Pentaxians in Australia

I have met a few Pentaxians in the US. They were always friendly and ready for a chat. With the notable exception of the shop in Albuquerque where I bought my very first Pentax most shops, even two years go, were convinced Pentax was going out of business.

I have also been on the Hurtigruten three times and every time there was at least one other Pentax user besides me, and His Nibs.

A lot of top brands do very little in terms of advertising like top of the range cars, watches, phones, computers ect as they know that if people want the best they know where to go, maybe Pentax are in that group!!!!!!!!!!