Be Interesting... but be alone.

The other day a customer came in with hope in her eyes. She was looking to get a Pentax so that she could use the many lenses she had. She was gleaming when I mentioned the current line-up for Pentax. But then I had to break to her the terrible news: very few if any K20D/K200D were available from our stores. We had one K-m that remained.

As I had done with a few customers in the past several weeks, I checked our nationwide inventory and very few K20D/K200D remained. I found out that we would not be ordering anymore from the warehouse in the Philippines (meaning we will slowly stop carrying them in store).

So I went to check other big stores:
- L.L. Lozeau has a few K20D but no K200D for a few months
- Simons Cameras no longer lists either camera
- Forget Future Shop/Best Buy
- Photoservice.ca still has them listed

Nationwide:
- Henry's has the K20D & K-M listed
- TheCameraStore.com is the same story

I'm a big Pentaxian and I know for Pentax to continue to grow, they'll have to cut costs in these economic times in order to stay viable.

Sometimes we get smaller to get bigger

So as I see it, they are putting a lot of marketing into the fantastic K-7 to gain new market share, new and convert clients and that the profits gained will aid in new K30D/K300D down the line. But to do so, they'll have to stop or limit production of the K20D/K200D. They maybe don't have enough funds to fully promote and simultaneously run 4 different lines of cameras as the big 2 (Canon/Nikon) has.

However, if this is isn't the case, and if the K20D/K200D aren't officially discontinued, then I'm very upset at the above retailers. They would prefer to carry brands people know rather than provide all the tools they need.

Up until last week, we had the Nikon D300 & and K20D. Neither camera has sold in months yet we still have plenty in warehouse and probably would order another D300 if they sold out yet for Pentax we have few left and would will not order more should it become sold out (which it did for lucky customer last week).

This doesn't necessarily mean Pentax is on the out. By all accounts, Pentax worldwide is on the rise with their game-changer K-7, their lens line-up increasing, more people discovering and re-discovering the brand and their digital presence on the net with the ever growing www.pentaxphotogallery.com.

David Vs. Goliath
However it seems North Americans are hell bent on having competition as 1 vs. 1 mentality. BMW vs. Mercedes, Canon vs. Nikon, David vs. Goliath, evil vs. good. This I see is strongly reflected in our buyers at head office. In Asia & Europe, you can see much more brand diversity. In France, there are especially many more Pentax owners.

Pentax hopefuls are a unique breed; they love their cameras but they love the passion of photography more. And often they should alone (single Pentaxian among thousands of Canikonians).

In the last 4 weeks, I've upset a couple looking to get the K20D by not having anymore. A student asked my advice and was planning to get the K200D but could not find any in Montreal. A friend got the K-m but due to higher forces is being bullied into getting a Nikon.

And what about that photographer I started with? She can't and won't be able to find any Pentax cameras and though she was happy to see my vested interested in the brand, it ultimately was useless to convince her to stay with a brand that, although to many industry watchers is on the rise with the new K-7, seems to be interesting but alone.

*The comments and opinions are solely those of the writer and do not reflect the opinions and decisions of the above mentioned companies.