From: Rick Womer <[email protected]>
Notice the trend of so many to say what they have is 'good enough'?
Pentax loses. Notice the trend of so many to wait a year or more until
there's massive price cuts on the newest model Pentax camera? Pentax
loses. Notice the trend of so many to purchase used gear as opposed to
new? Pentax loses. Then there's those that put there money elsewhere
because they're not getting what they want from Pentax. Pentax loses.
There's nothing wrong with any of those actions and all are
justifiable. Still - Pentax loses.
IMO - every other camera manufacturer has to deal with those exact same
issues, and to be honest I don't think that they are limiting factors. I
just checked on ebay - there are over twice as many used Nikon and Canon
lenses there then Pentax. I didn't check bodies but I assume there are a
lot more used DSLR's of those brands simply because there has been a
more active upgrade path. The more people upgrade the more used bodies
there are for the bargain hunters. And Pentax (sadly) does not have to
deal with the "problem" of Sigma, Tamron, and TOkina making lenses that
compete with them - though I wish Sigma would kick out a few of their
macro lenses in the K Mount.
A robust used market is the sign of a healthy brand, IMO. But a brand
that tries to live off its used market is in trouble. Back in the 90's
the buzzword with Pentax was that there was this huge vast reserve of
used lenses and since there was great backwards compatibility with
Pentax you could tap into those old lenses. It was a bargain hunter's
brand. It was a great argument at the time given that Canon and Nikon
had respectively scrapped or significantly modified their lens mount a
few years earlier. And even though I supect that at this very moment
some dim-witted blogger cum photo gear reviewer is repeating that line
about Pentax, Pentax's legacy glass advantage has largely faded. Canon
and Nikon have a couple decades of used gear compatible with their
systems now, and their used market is better than Pentax's, and if you
are a bargain hunter you would be better off trolling in their waters
and not Pentax's.
I don't know how the Pentax brand will be resurrected but I keep hoping
that Ricoh has a plan...
Mark
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