What to do?

It is very hard to get Pentax products here in South Australia. Our camera stores don't seem very keen on ordering their products. I have contemplated moving to Canon or Nikon but with the new Pentax pro lenses and K10D coming it has made it somewhat more difficult for me.
If you were going to move to Canon or Nikon yourself which would you choose and why?
I am not going to jump ship to soon, I would like to see if Pentax can get some traction here with their new products before I do that.
Thanks.

Whilst it is nice to try out new products before you buy them, there are many people in the world who live far from the big cities where this is possible. Mail order is the only option, and nowadays the seller may often be on a different continent.

One advantage of a forum like this is that you can learn from the experience of others. I bought my first *ist D without ever seeing one, based on what others had said, and found that its few shortcomings had in any case been exaggerated.

In fact, I have purchased many camera bodies over the years without seeing them. The last time I bought a new camera body in a shop was 1984, in Manila. My (P)Z1-P was shipped from New York, my first *ist D from Canada, my second from Kent, and my 12-24mm lens from Germany. Several others, second-hand, have come from America, and various bits and pieces from Hong Kong.

So in your case, I would log onto B&H in New York and buy whatever you need from them. The price, including shipping, duty etc., will almost certainly be lower than that charged by the Sigma-pushing CR Kennedy, and the likelihood of anything going wrong is very small.

And in answer to your question, if I had to choose between Canon and Nikon, I would go for Samsung!

Good luck

G

Nice idea, George, yes, go for Samsung as your backup!

Do stick with Pentax, the cameras handle much better and the ergonomics of the design is superb. Nikon viewfinders seem feeble to me by comparison, and Canon have always seemed spec-heavy but poorly made. IMHO Canon will ditch their followers at a stroke if some other technology suddenly offers a lower cost manufacturing route. They have changed mounts before...

Well I am using a IstDs at the moment and I am not as fond of its handling as much as the Nikon D70. The handle has a harsh crease in it which does not fit to my hand and I find changing ISO to be a little cumbersome. But the new model Pentax cameras look like they have improved the hand grip whereas the Nikon D80 has gotten worse. I must agree Pentax have always had the better viewfinder, but I wish so much they could have a viewfinder the size it once was in film cameras...sigh..
I do really love the way Pentax have started again from scratch with digital, this is what other companies should have done.

Well I have found a camera store which is quite willing to order Pentax products for me, and in some cases they even stock them already. Who ever would have thought a little Kodak store would be more helpful than two large professional camera stores. Next thing to do is find where to buy Gitzo tripods, closest I have found so far is Melbourne.

It seems that there are supply-chain problems in Australia. Is this partly because of the huge distances involved, or just peculiar to Pentax?

Here is the UK though patience is needed too. I waited probably 4-5 months for my Pentax 12-24mm lens. By that time it arrived I'd almost forgotten why I wanted it, but on the other hand I don't have to pay for it for another 6 months or so yet...

Stick with Pentax. I'm in Australia at present. The Australian distributor seems to want to supply Sigma Lenses with a Pentax body. Personally, now that I have purchased successfully from Canada, I'd recommend using a particular supplier from there, that was extremely professional. If you are interested I can give you details.

The distances here are not really a problem, I think its more to do with the limited market for Pentax products. In Adelaide our South Australian Capital city we have two camera stores, both of which sell Pentax cameras but will only couple them with Sigma lenses. I live a little over an hour out of Adelaide and don't venture there unless I can help it.
I am not sure if I am keen on buying from overseas stores, I have never done it so I guess it seems a bit odd to me.
I think I will pick up a K1000 film SLR on eBay yet. I like the look of that camera, unless someone can suggest a better Pentax film body.

An MX is smaller, has a self timer, better metering and a brighter viewfinder. If you can find a good one, that would be my first choice for a fully manual camera.

The explanation I've heard is that the Australian distributor for Pentax is also the Distributor for Sigma, and his overhead on the Sigma stuff is higher than on the Pentax stuff, so he pushes Sigma.

-- MW