Pentax Users...

Below is a quote from a post I wrote on the U.S. Pentax Forum last summer. Yes, Pentax cameras are few-and-far-between in the U.S. In fact, almost all are bought on line.
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Pretty sure their main customer base isn't outside Asia.

Funnily enough, when I did a similar informal head count in Devon a few weeks ago, more than 80% of the cameras I saw were Pentax.

I deduce from this that Devon is the centre of Pentax Using in the UK and perhaps their biggest market........

You weren't on holiday with the children/grandchildren about a week ago, in the Staines area, were you? Toting a white bodied K? and wearing a rather loud shirt?

Or you were at the AGM of the UK Pentax owners club?

I see very few Pentax cameras when I'm out and about including in popular areas like Barcelona etc - it does worry me. Most of the DSLRs I see are the usual Nikon/Canon with kit zoom and no lens hood fitted!

Why worry?

I agree Steve, but this is all a bit tongue-in-cheek anyway. i'm sure not many of us go round stressing about how many Pentax cameras we can spot.

If you do see a Posee of Pentax Photographers say hello, it might be me and the family.

Did you actually see this person? Or are you just describing your "typical" Yank in England?

No, it wasn't me. We're in the Ozarks (Arkansas and Missouri) this summer, where, sorry to say, it is just as hot as our home in Houston, Texas. It's not really supposed to work that way.

Just back from a week in Ontario, visited Niagara Falls, and two weeks in BC mainly in Squamish and Whistler areas. These are places that attract photographers, but not a Pentax in sight until the departure terminal Vancouver - he and his K-3 were returning to Japan . And I am always on the lookout for Pentaxians.

In some respects, it's a pity because design and development resources are the same irrespective of volume of sales. In spite of this though, Ricoh do seem to be able to produce a decent range of lenses and camera types. Looking on the positives, when I see a Canikony I muse at the percentage of the owners funds that must go towards marketing, smug in the knowledge that most of what I pay for Pentax gear goes into the product itself.

With spray from the Niagara falls and river, hiking over snow covered mountain tops, plus a good drenching in the temperate rain forests of BC, I wouldn't want to have anything other than a Pentax gear.

John Riley wrote:
I dont think in the last 5 Years, at home and during my travels, I have seen more than 2 Pentaxes.

I would say either Denton is where all the Pentax users live, or John hasn't removed that Pentax transparency stuck on his glasses.

Regards, Horst

Devon and Denton are a few miles apart, but considering the distance to Melbourne the difference is insignificant!

Just to clarify my tongue-in-cheek comment though, there was a K-1, a K-5, a K-3, a K20D and a K10D and they were travelling in a posse. Canon and Nikon users were fleeing in wild panic before us, other marques did not dare to do more than hide in the bushes. Yes, it was a Riley Family Photo Day.