Pal wrote:
>My guess is that the MZ-S will sell very well the
>first year. Then I think it will settle as a steady
>long term seller but in relatively small
>volumes.
Part of me hopes that you're right, Pal. A larger
part of me hopes that you're wrong and that Pentax is
forced to drop the price into my range. Don't get me
wrong, I like most of what I've heard about the
camera. Just don't want to part with that much
money.
I still worry about Pentax's marketing. Retailers
I've spoken to about the MZ-S (in Charlottesville and
and Abby and Penn in DC) think of Pentax as a maker of
P&S and cheap SLRs (and high quality lenses that are
too often difficult to find). To them the LX and MX
are ancient history. They're going to steer anyone
with nearly a grand to spend towards Nikon and Canon.
How is Pentax going to overcome this prejudice?
More on marketing... Wouldn't producing a silver
version would be a mistake? (Yes, I know, matches the
limited lenses.) But Nikon and Canon have trained
consumers to see silver SLRs as low end. Pro cameras,
the thinking goes, are black, unless they're high end
rangefinders.
A silver MZ-S, if it is actually manufactured, would
reinforce people's impression that the camera not in
the same class as, say, the F100. And overpriced as
well. I'm not saying that black=pro, silver=entry
level amateur makes sense. But is does seem to be the
way the market operates.
Or is all of this going in the wrong direction? Does
Pentax simply accept that the MZ-S will sell in very
small numbers and largely to Pentax fanatics? Is
their model for the MZ-S the LX--a superb camera that
failed in the marketplace, but has achieved cult
status?
=====
John Edwin Mason
Charlottesville, Virginia
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Alt Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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