Some simple arithmetic

I think we need to wait and see out the price settles in a few months time.

Pentax are undoubtably testing the water at the moment with the K7 and the much hyped rise in lens prices. Whilst there is no denying the effects of currency movements the prices quoted in some recent articles and posts I see as hard to justify. (You cannot claim the cost advantages of in body stabilisation on one hand and then change in lens stabilised prices on the other) Neither do I buy into the claim that we have had it good over the last few years. Prices in the UK have been consistently higher in the UK than NA for as long as I can remember. I would also bet that no US Pentax owner is treated in the same way as Tel was with his K20

For example in the early part of 2008 I made a couple of trips to the US. On my first trip I ordered mail order from B&H a FA 50 1.4. The price delivered was £95 (UK approx £150 at that time). During my second visit I ordered a FA 35 2.0 again from B&H. The price delivered £140 (UK approx £250 at that time). On both occasions I had no problems transferring my warranty.

I accept that the cost in the UK is always likely to be higher due to the cost of doing business over here. I remember clearly Chris @ SRS stating that some retailors in the US were selling at prices below his cost and that is the point that is so infuriating. Pentax may be no worse than Canon or Nikon in this respect, but to be quite honest I don't care about what others are doing. My question to Pentax is when will they stop fleecing the UK and other European markets to subsidise the US? They tried it in Canada and people voted with their wallets and simply bought from the US. Prices have since come down.

I agree totally with Peter's comment. I have read a lot about Pentax targetting the mid range market, which makes the suggested RRP of the K7 laughable. In my opinion they have not got a snowball's chance of selling significant volumes with a 4 figure price tag. Couple with that with the fact that they have no significant high street presence, no disrespect to Chris and SRS but they are limited geographically (BTW Chris if you are thinking of opening a shop in Leicester I am open to offers :lol.
How many people are willing to spend over £1000 on a camera that they cannot touch and try out with a variety of lenses before they buy? Pentax need to remember that we are talking discretional spend consumer electronics here, that they hope buyers will upgrade again in 12-18 months.

The key competitive advantage that Pentax have always enjoyed and provided is value. The mix of features and IQ that might not have been at times as advanced as some rivals, but which provided 95% of the benefit for 75% of the price. It was what attracted me to the brand when I purchased my first slr nearly 30 years ago and if I am honest and money had not been an issue I would have probably purchased a Nikon. The point I am making here is that Pentax are in danger of losing this competitive advantage.

I will not be buying a K7 unless it comes down to current K20 prices and shows a marked improvement in AF, AE and noise control. The extra features are not just not something that need or am willing to pay for.

Alternatively if a K30? comes along with the aforementioned improvements and a K20 price tag then I will be in the queue.

There is another altenative, but I don't want to contemplate that yet.

Steve

As others have said you haven't allowed for import duty, also the price being bandied about as the recomended retial price (£1199) includes the 18-55 WR kit lens so you also need to knock off (say) £50 for a fair comparison.

By my calculation its then about £50 in favour of buying from B&H but you may end up waiting longer than for ordering from UK Pro-dealer - and theres the warranty risk too...

So does a camcorder. What matters is whether it can act as a recorder - it was the Video-In socket on better camcorders that landed them with paying the higher duty that applies to video recorders.

G

That was allso the reason why on early digital camcorders the firewire connection was only an output. I was able to buy a cable to enable the firewire input on my parents Digital8 camcorder just before those cables were made illegal.
A nice side effect of this software tweak was that allso the analog video connection could be used as an input.
I converted a couple of VHS tapes to DVD using the camcorder as a analog to digital converter with better results then using a TV card in the PC.

Park Cameras don't see it that way. I thought that "Lens sold separately" was another way of saying "Body only".

Scroll down further and you'll see that most of their 'kits' don't include lenses in the price either. The one kit that does have a lens includes the 17-70mm.

My mistake if thats common - I thought another thread on here quoted £1199 including lens...

To be honest Bob, I think all of the pro dealers have hurriedly added the K-7 to their sites and, unlike SRS who simply show 'Deposits Taken', have used default prices. Chances are they may not even know their buy price yet. It is Pentax UK they are dealing with don't forget.

Also, 'street price' might be significantly cheaper when they are actually available.

I was told this morning that the street price for body and lens is going to be £1199.99. That's from a dealer who is considering dropping Pentax stock because of the price rises at the end of this month.

As a side he said that Olympus, panasonic and Samsung prices were staying mostly untouched!

Oly E520 any one?

I know what you mean...

Pentax-UK web site had non of the teasers that other Pentax sites had

nothing about K-7 on launch day (at least I couldn't see anything).

Now their K-7 page has a picture of K20D on it!

if you try to download the pdf lens catalogue its not worked for months

I've signed up for the Pentax newsletter several times but have yet to recieve one - you would think that with X70, E70, P70 and k-7 this year there would have been at least one newsletter.

The Pentax-UK website is the worst maintained of all the Pentax sites I've looked at and If I want to know specs I go to the PENTAX USA site.

I'm a loyal Pentax user with a kit list (if I put it all in my sig.) as long as yours, but Pentax UK need to up their marketing if the brand is going to compete in UK

Not for me, just sold one, Oly lens prices are very very expensive,they are good but very limited in range.

Never had a news letter got a voucher to use at my named retailer (SRS)
£7 off if I spend between £70 and £149
£15 " " " " " £150 and £349
£35 " " " " " over £350

Came last week a bit late now.....
Mind you if Chris will let anyone on here use it(It has my name on it)then the first person to say Canon are cool can have it

i said it first so can i have it terry,

Write it here and send me a pm with your address.

Canon are c . c . c . c . c . . . No, I can't do it.

Nikon are cool ...
nope
Olympus are cool ...
nope
Sony are cool ...
nope
Hang on, working up to it..

Canon are c***


Voucher please ...