Pentax and the Future

[Tom Sparks]

I know it is impossible to guess what Pentax will do to develop product and market their wonderful camera gear. One can only hope. I'm currently shooting the K7 with plans to upgrade to the K5 in the Fall. I can live with the fact that Pentax is far behind in market share to Canon and Nikon, but what I am frustrated with is Pentax's seeming lack of will to get into retail stores. In Salt Lake City for example, there is a major furniture store listed as a dealer, but no product in the stores. The only other dealer is in Ogden, a 55 minute drive from my home in Salt Lake. The two major stores in Salt Lake won't carry the brand because, as the tell me, Pentax wants a huge upfront investment that they see out of whack with market share.

How am going to convince others to buy into my brand/system if they can't go to a store and hold the things in their hot little hands. I can only do so much. I fear that if Pentax does not become more proactive in marketing, the brand will become pointless and I will eventually have to switch brands to be current and relevant as a photographer. I don't want to do this, but it is seeming more and more inevitable. I need to be moving towards pro gear. Semi-pro gear is nice and has done well for me so far, but there are limits.

I cannot find friends to swap gear,, borrow lenses in an emergency etc. I also have no hope of ever shooting FF.

Sigh.

[ken1953]

Hi Tom, I feel your frustration. Madison is the closest place for us to find gear. I have no current aspirations to go pro, so the semi-pro gear is just fine. But, without a viable marketing program, I wonder how their semipro gear will survive. Even their p/s stuff is hard to find around here.
But, I'm a diehard so will stick around as long as my cameras last.

[Oldhippy]

In the past few weeks I have convinced three people to buy Pentax DSLRs.In my city there are several locations selling the k-r, k-x and k5.I have confidence that Ricoh will do their best to keep the Pentax brand alive.

I talked to several store managers that stopped carrying Pentax. They said they had strong consumer demand for the product but the Canadian Pentax marketting division was not serving them so they dropped the Pentax products. I can only speculate that marketting issues were a product of the fact that Pentax has been between owners for too long.

Ricoh has a lot to gain from preserving Pentax. Pentax has a huge following of satisfied customers that have bonded with their cameras over the past several decades. Those past patrons of Pentax will look fondly towards Ricoh if they do a better job than Hoya did.

[Transit]

.......

Ricoh has a lot to gain from preserving Pentax. Pentax has a huge following of satisfied customers that have bonded with their cameras over the past several decades. Those past patrons of Pentax will look fondly towards Ricoh if they do a better job than Hoya did.

Plus one

Pete