Shock News!

Found on another forum, posted by 'PeteE' from Brentwood, who signed off 'Got COMPUTERISED but thankfully NOT DIGITISED!:

"Does that mean that Jessops have sold out of all their DL2's? I was considering one."

What is the World coming to?

If you're reading this Peter, I was in Jessops in Chelmsford earlier this week, and they don't have the DL2 on show any more, they have a K110 with lens for £399. Basically the same as the DL2 I think. Cameraworld have absolutely no Pentax gear at all, so I won't be bothering them again.

Dan

There are no Pentax DSLRs listed on the Jessops web site at the moment and haven't been for at least a couple of weeks. I queried this in the Manchester shop and the response I got was that they didn't list new models (like the K100D) until they were 'in stock'. Doesn't seem to apply to the Canon 400D or Nikon D80 though so I don't know what the story is.

Hi, just thought I'd say that of the Jessops stores I've visited in the last few days, most had the K110D (the K100D without shake-reduction) selling for £399 with lens, but not the K100D itself. A couple also had the DL2 still selling for £350. Obviously the fact that it's been replaced by a virtually identical camera hasn't stopped Jessops trying to sell off the DL2, so if you're desperate to save £49 you can still shop around for one.

Meanwhile Jessops' website does not actually list the K100D or the K110D, but I found both on the site (with the K100D selling for £200 more than the K110 at £599!), by using the search function. Here's the links...
http://www.jessops.com/Store/s35904/0/Digital-SLRs/Pentax/K110D-+-18-55mm-Lens---EXCLUSIVE-TO-JESSOPS/details.aspx
http://www.jessops.com/Products/ProductDetail.aspx?SkuId=35905

I like the K110D, especially at £400, but think I'd miss the shake reduction on the K100D. But there's no way I'm prepared to pay £200 extra for that (they must be joking if they expect anyone to pay that price) and now I've gone back to waiting for that mythical beast with the 10 megapixels...

Only a week or so to wait then

I don't wish to put a damper on things, but they reckon that the camera will hit the States some time in late October. On past form, the UK will be lucky to see it before Christmas.

However, given the likely price disparity, I reckon mine be imported.

G

George you could always investigate Europe to import it - Germany tends to be cheapest, and you then don't pay import duties, VAT etc.

The general opinion here in Holland is that it will be announced next week and be on sale after Photokina, at least in the US and Germany. This includes info from someone who works in the trade. It has been they say already been shown to faoured shops....

We had the K100D a few weeks before the release in the UK, so you may want to get brushing up your German, or Dutch or French....

Gwyn,

you still pay VAT on inter-European purchases unless its a business purchase, and you are VAT registered, and you supply your VAT number at the time of purchase.

VAT in Germany however is only 16%.

I'd like to think I'll be able to get my hands on one in a week or two, but one or two months does seem more likely. I'd also like to know something about the camera - anything, in fact, beyond the fact that it's a 10-megapixel DSLR. I don't actually work in marketing so maybe I'm being naive here, but I can't really see how "You'll know all about it when it's released... and we won't even tell you when that is" is a good way of persuading consumers to wait for the Pentax instead of going for the D80, 400D or the Sony Alpha - all of which have been heavily advertised, and whose prospective buyers were informed of their specifications. Personally I have no intention of buying into a Canon or Nikon system, but I was sorely tempted to go for the KM/Sony since I already own Minolta AF lenses and could use my M42 lenses with an adapter. My mind was changed by its relatively poor performance at 800 and 1600 ISO, and the lack of 3200 ISO. But how do I know the 10mp Pentax will have 3200 ISO? Sure the *ists and K100 have it, but then so did the Sony's KM predecessors. That is of course just one of the things Pentax isn't telling us.

Maybe I'm just being impatient. Maybe I should have more faith in Pentax. But too many times I've defended Pentax on forums against those people who for some reason best known to themselves feel its necessary to tell people to "Stick with Canon or Nikon!", as though taking photographs is impossible with a Pentax or Minolta. But I'm finding it increasingly harder to make an argument for buying a Pentax other than "If you've got K-mount lenses already...". By this point I've seen the Pentax name on too many virtually identical entry-level 6mp cameras, each one slightly improving on the last one while simultaneously taking away something I liked. I know we don't desperately need ISO 100, but by now surely enough of us have said we'd quite like it to justify adding it? And scene modes - why? I've stuck with Pentax despite the 5 or 6 very similar cameras apparently all aimed at the same new-to-SLR consumer, assuming that all that time they were also working on a 'grown-up' DSLR. Now I don't know if that's the case, and have great difficulty understanding why Pentax won't release any information that would reassure me.

Rant over.

Yes but you don't pay VAT on the import duties as you do when importing from outside the EU. And VAT is not at the same level throughout the EU and you pay the VAT of the land you are ordering from, not the land you live in.