skygzr Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 Hi Everyone � Elsewhere in this forum I�ve read unkind remarks about Pentax marketing. I�ve never paid close attention, so what exactly is so wrong with them? Do you think the balance of power in the photo world would be different if they had a savvier marketing department? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
._._z Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 I vote for evil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith_merrill Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 Pentax makes some stupid moves, recently the fiasco about compatability with the non a lenses, but, no matter what a camera company does, you should relize people are going to complain. No camera company is perfect, and not one camera company is for everyone. Pentax makes some great products and they work, without the excess weight and baggage that some other brands have. I really wish they would come out with a 35mm camera that has a 100% viewfinder and retains the same small size as say a *ist camera, with the control layout of the pz-1p, and the build quality of the lx. (oh yeah, fix the compatability with non a lenses while they are at it). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stemked Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 Growing up as a National Geographic reader, I always remember seeing the 'Nature seen by Canon' ads. I WANTED a canon lens. It had nothing to do with the quality of their lenses or camera bodies. I had a warm-and-fuzzy feeling about Canon. My Dad, however used Pentax and it was a Praticka screw body that was my first SLR camera. I got introduced into the Spotmatic and then K-mounts the long way. Even though I owned Pentax equipment I never once saw an ad that made me want them. It's just lucky that I fell into such a wonderful camera line. That isn't the way any company can survive. Pentax only seems to survive I think by word of mouth! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandeha Lynch Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 <b>�[� Z</b> ... You've been reading Dilbert again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
james_oneill Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 Kevin, I think you are starting by giving them the benefit of the doubt. The reason that Pentax marketing has not registered with you is not because you "never paid close attention", it is because it is so well camoflauged that it may as well not exist. Take the new *ist-D. Brilliant camera, small great handling, good price (though it's not in the emerging cheap d-SLR segment) if I had a product like that I would be screaming about it from the roof tops. And Pentax does what, exactly ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the tightwad Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 Have you ever visited the Canon web site then compared it to the Pentaxweb site?? One visit will show you why the marketing dept. NEEDS an overhaul. You just can't expect to be the first camera company on peoples mind unless offer them something to remember. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markw Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 Pentax Marketing: Oxymoron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hendrik Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 Yip!! For them to either be evil or useless they first have to exist......... - If Pentax would only realize that the only way to sell ice to the Eskimo is to market your ice! - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fju Posted January 29, 2004 Share Posted January 29, 2004 My first SLR was the same one I still use 5 years later, the ZX-M. I have to say that when I bought it I had never heard of Pentax and my decision was based only on the fact that I wanted something new, manual, and with automatic film handling. The manuals and literature that came with my Pentax equipment, including lenses, battery pack, etc... all appear to have been printed in the '80s! Not only do they not have much of a marketing dept... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochen_S Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 Do WE want better marketing? - I don't, I like cheap used lenses... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_katz1 Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 I don't know if I would go as far as "evil" - I think they're stuck somewhere between "apathy" and "benign neglect"... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cliff_lesergent Posted January 31, 2004 Share Posted January 31, 2004 As a professional user of Pentax medium-format cameras, I once asked Pentax Canada if they had a program similar to Canon's CPS program (Canon Professional Services). They replied that they had never heard of such a thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foto_hess Posted February 2, 2004 Share Posted February 2, 2004 I came into Pentax by accident also. I was looking for something to replace my X-700. I wanted autofocus and a fancy zoom lens, because they seemed cool. So I picked out a nice XT-si. Before I went to buy it however, I wandered into a little camera shop in a small town and guess what, he sold these remarkable cameras that I had never heard of. I ended up getting a ZX-5n and have never regretted that camera. I have been a little disappointed with Pentax's lens line-up for autofocus lenses. But, as I get more experienced I have come to realize that I don't need them. I just wish that I had a better idea of what they are making. They really need to do something to get their name out there. Pentax makes some of the greatest equipment out there. They just need to tell people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bill c. Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 Maybe it's schizophrenic. I'm a pro, and I was brought up on Pentax equipment. Back in the 1980's when I was starting out, Pentax ran an ad, featuring their 18mm rectalinear lens, and saying something to the effect of "Only 657 people will buy this lens, but Pentax is in business for those who do..." and then explaining how Pentax avidly supports their pro shooters. It was just after that that the company came out with the LX. Now, in many ways the LX was one of the greatest cameras of all time, and in some ways I wanted to throw it in the river. It would take too long to explain why. But at any rate, the camera in some ways surpassed the Nikon F3 that it was in direct competition with, and Pentax never pushed it. A few years after that ad ran, I sent a letter to Pentax U.S. about their lack of pro support and how they were letting go of their pro equipment line. They weren't showing up at conferences, either. I got a call from someone in their technical department, saying that he'd been saying the same things for years, and it was like crying in the wilderness. About six years ago I decided to move to Nikon, and I bought an N90S. Worst thing I ever did. Except for low-light autofocus, the PZ-1p beats the pants off of it. The N90s doesn't even have a mirror-lock-up, even though the guys at the store insisted it did have one with the databack (it still doesn't) The PZ-1p has one with a two-sec delay, which is fine for macro work. So I went out and got the PZ-1p for macro work. It's wonderful. But who's heard of the PZ-1p? NOBODY! It was never marketed in a serious way, and never followed up with a more advanced model. And Pentax has come so late to the party with a digital camera that it's not even funny. I fail to see how they can be so bad at this and still exist. -Bill Cornett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandeha Lynch Posted February 6, 2004 Share Posted February 6, 2004 One of life's mysteries: Atlantis, the Pyramids, the mating of black widow spiders, the survival of Pentax ... and while there's probably a reasonable answer, did you see the beauuutiful <a href="http://www.bdimitrov.de/kmp/">MZ-D prototype</a>? Enough to make you weep. <p>OTOH, since they keep their cards close to the chest, maybe they're busy right now designing a 15Mb digital LX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gene_m Posted February 13, 2004 Share Posted February 13, 2004 Just to throw my two cents in...I'm new to photography, and when I went to buy a camera I just told the sales clerk what I wanted and asked for a recommendation. He recommended the Pentax ZX-M and I thought he was trying to sell me some cheap no-name brand. Still, he was a friend of a friend, so I went home and researched what he told me. The next day I returned to buy the camera he suggested, but I still left saying, "Can you blame me? Who the heck is Pentax?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robert_s2 Posted February 17, 2004 Share Posted February 17, 2004 I simply want to say thx for the link to the mz-d prototype.... This is me crying myself to sleep...*ist D?)Why oh why?Could we dare to hope that the MZ-D is pentax's second generation of dlsr? Could we hope that pentax is just testing the waters with the *ist and is going to wow us all with a full sensor MZ-D? Hope upon Hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markku_ylilammi Posted June 24, 2004 Share Posted June 24, 2004 Bill, please could you be a bit more specific about what's wrong with Pentax LX. I am considering to buy one because it is now inexpensive.<div></div> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now