Brad, I will grant you that it is an interesting and hard question. One real problem for most of us to answer is that we probably don't have a broad enough perspective to clearly see how things look. We tend to come at it from a hobbyist/prosumer point of view - high end 35mm slr and possibly medium format. What portion of the real picture that is becomes difficult to say.
One of the biggest problems that I see for Pentax in the last decade or two has been their wonderful backward compatibility. Think how many on this list alone tend to buy used equipment - many times quite old stuff. That really does nothing for Pentax - they need new sales. Think how big of a boost it was for Canon to change mounts - all new cameras and lenses. Yes they screwed some photographers but in the long run, I bet they more than made up for it in new sales. Is Pentax strong in the right areas to be a player in the long run? I wish I knew. I, like you, love this stuff and intend to keep on using it. The biggest piece of mind that I have is making the move to medium format. I no longer fret and worry so much about how well Pentax is going to compete with Nikon and Canon because Nikon and Canon don't exist in the medium format world. My images are so much improved by the move that I am really concentrating there. Of course, I worry about how Pentax will compete with Mamiya, Contax and Hasselblad now. But they don't seem to be quite so distant as in the 35mm world. I'll just keep shooting away and watch and wait. I'm happy with what I have right now. Bruce Monday, November 18, 2002, 3:32:58 PM, you wrote: >> I was in Dortmund last week. The two major department stores "Karstadt" >> and "Saturn" no longer sell Pentax. Also in two of three photo shops >> there was no more Pentax gear at stock. I talked to two shop assistants >> and they told me, that the SLR sales have dropped so dramatically that >> they have reduced their product range to the two big ones (Nikon and >> Canon). This seems to confirm the descent of conventional SLR cameras. >> On the other hand this makes niche products more promising. Hard to >> say... PG> Lots of stores here don't handle Pentax at all (some never, some not anymore PG> "they just don't sell"). For this to occur in what is supposed to be PG> Pentax's market (Europe and such), makes me wonder. How many camera PG> companies have come and gone since Pentax has been around? At Dave's Camera PG> Repair shop is a beautiful museum of great cameras long gone. Dare we count PG> the brands? Nothing lasts forever, is Pentax winding down? This new age is PG> different from the past, small stores close to bigger ones, large once PG> family owned businesses (Eaton's in Canada, to name just one of many) have PG> gone. Whatever happened recently to all those little computer stores, or PG> all those 'brand clone' computers? Big Box, mega companies. Does Pentax PG> fit the model in the camera world? New models and a DSLR as death PG> throws?<sp?> and last ditch efforts? We have rumours, little facts. What PG> is Pentax's status in Japan? Won't change my stance on Pentax, love the PG> stuff, and will use it until I can't buy a roll for less than $100 :) Then PG> go digital, with, well, hopefully Pentax and K mount. All this is a valid PG> question. Anyone here fear this? They seem like a 'loss leader' type in PG> the industry and am I wrong with them being a still distant 4th? When will PG> they publish some new material for lens, accessories, and such? Why aren't PG> they? And what's with the lack of ads? Is Asahi Optical Co. on it's last PG> leg? Could this be THE END? (sorry, dry humour there) They've had once PG> heck of a run.... PG> Or is North America a pain with trading, shipping, duties and taxes and PG> laws? Will NA just be cut out? PG> Please, this is real stuff, real questions. I've stated I love my stuff and PG> will continue to use it. But no one has ever raised the question but loves PG> to speculate on everything else. So I'm tossing it out. Be open minded. PG> Since we've all gone through withdrawal when the board was down, this topic PG> may light the fires. PG> Brad
