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 -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
