On 2/4/2015 3:28 PM, Malcolm Smith wrote:
Igor wrote:
Yep, agree. The lack of Pentax brand at the camera stores is not
helping. ... but!...
1. There are very few "true" camera stores remaining. For many people,
especially in smaller cities, the only places selling cameras are
BestBuy, Walmart and Target.
So, if people are advanced enough to want a DSLR (and especially a FF
DSLR), they are likely to know (or bound to find out about) B&H,
Adorama, Amazon, etc.
It the entry level cameras that need to be at the local stores (to
"lure"
people toward the brand).
2. More and more shopping is done online.
Even outside of photography, having lived for the several years in a
town (technically speaking two towns grown into each other) with the
(combined) population of 170K, I can attest that majority of purchases
(besides of groceries, water and gasoline) are made online. Even my
little daughter knows that you choose things "on the computer", and
they get delivered a few days later. Because there are very few good
stores (if at
all) for kids' clothes or toys in town (Target, Walmart and even Toys-
R-US are not among them).
3. Even back in 1996-1997, when I was choosing my second (aka
"advanced") film DSLR, I bought it via mail-order (I was choosing
between B&H, Adorama, and CWO - Camera World of Oregon - the only three
shops I considered reputable).
That was when specialized camera stores couldn't forsee their soon-
coming extinction.
Back then, I went to the local specialized camera store (relatively
decent, but the only one in a 100K-population college-town in
Illinois).
Since by that time I had had Kiev-19 for some 4-5 years, I was
naturally considering a Nikon body. I spent about two hours trying a
couple of Nikon bodies, shooting a couple of rolls of film around the
store. N-70 (F-70) was at the top of I could afford, but I didn't like
its ergonomics. N-90 (F-90) was very nice ergonomically (and
performance-wise), but beyond my reach (pun intended).
Struggling with the choice, I've read about Pentax ZX-5n (MZ-5n) that
just came out, replacing ZX-5 (MZ-5), and bought it unseen. I liked it
ergonomics, but neither ZX-5, nor ZX-5n was available at the store.
I don't quite remember if (P)Z-1P was available at the store or not.
I was happy with my choice (despite the fact that, as it turned out,
ZX-5n was missing continuous AF, and in general the AF was not as good
as that of the Nikon's bodies).
Loads of common ground Igor. Even in the few years since I bought the K7,
most of the local camera shops have gone out of business. So, I agree that
it is a challenge to find a store now. I was lucky in film days that I
worked in the centre of a major city which had a very good camera store with
everything (including Pentax!) on display.
It's also true that so much is done on line, which must in part be
responsible for the demise of the shop, although local business rates and
parking issues for passing trade has done as much damage.
To buy a new camera (particularly brand), you are going to want to hold it
and try it first. I have owned a Pentax of one type or another for more
years than I'd now care to admit, and I know that I would be happy to buy a
new Pentax body unseen. I would certainly want to try any other
manufacturers product out, simply because I'm not familiar with it.
If I was into Canon or Nikon, this would not be an issue, as I can still
fairly locally get new lenses for their ranges of products. I just wish it
could be as easy to get Pentax products. I often try to see what
photographers are using when I'm out, and it rarely is a Pentax. Which is a
great shame.
Malcolm
Raleigh has TWO good independent camera stores and one of them is once
again an "Honest To God" stocking Pentax dealer with a good selection of
new and used Pentax stuff (it's where I found my 31Ltd & 77Ltd lenses).
--
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