K-S1 Black Body , price drop

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com $431.90

Discounted by 42% after approx. 3 months of availability.

This says a lot about its sales in North America at least.

You feel sorry for folks who bought 3 months ago.

Pentax made a large mistake bringing the camera out at it's initial price-point, you can do that with a flagship model because people will pay for the extra for the best, but to ask top dollar for a DSLR that is little better/lesser featured than it's counter-parts will lead to what's happened here, the camera is already a controversial flop. Like the K01/ DA 560mm etc.

Pentax always think they can ask a cheeky price at launch and then shoot themselves in the foot!

--
Dave's clichés

Pretty good. Then the K-50 jumps in and steals the thunder - $366 with free flash and shipping. http://www.adorama.com/IPXK50BK.html

Or $497 at Adorama, includes free FLUcard ($99 value):

DAVID MANZE said:

Pentax made a large mistake bringing the camera out at it's initial price-point, you can do that with a flagship model because people will pay for the extra for the best, but to ask top dollar for a DSLR that is little better/lesser featured than it's counter-parts will lead to what's happened here, the camera is already a controversial flop. Like the K01/ DA 560mm etc.

Pentax always think they can ask a cheeky price at launch and then shoot themselves in the foot!

--
Dave's clichés

Click to expand...

You have mentioned products delivered and marketed and priced under Ricoh. I think it is truly dangerous mode of working of Pentax brand under Ricoh's management. Yet we see it again, and again: since the first Q camera, then in K-01, now in K-S1. This forms a pattern not characteristic of Pentax, but of Ricoh.

A serious company would not allow to deliver a product that is (A) built around enormous elasticity in pricing, and (B) position it in the first place at a price level way above its real market category and real value.

There are several problems with it:

1. Artificially inflates the price. That infuriates first round of buyers who feel cheated after 2 months.
2. Artificially positions product in a wrong market category. People rightfully ask for hardware features which competitors offer in that price range, but for Pentax they are not there.
3. Quickly reduces value of the product. Buying a system camera should be a long term investment and a guarantee of value, not almost immediate frustration.

Both (A) and (B) are terrible decisions that alienate users. Users feel cheated and disappointed with the brand. After a few stunts like that, people notice the pattern, and they will not buy a camera initially (resulting in poor initial sales) because they know it will sharply drop in price (hunting for bargains).

K-S1 has the quality of build, the materials and crucial features of the entry level camera, but the pricing of the upper end of a medium level DSLR. That is wrong. Add to it a rather disappointing advertising campaign about it, no wonder it's below people's radars.

Ricoh manages to systematically destroy the value proposition of Pentax branded cameras. I do not understand why they do that and I do not believe it is the only way for them.

So what is the real solution? Stick to honesty. Deliver a real value, real product, competently marketed and priced for the category it really deserves to be in.

--
Madamina, il catalogo è questo; Delle belle che amò il padron mio; un catalogo egli è che ho fatt'io; Osservate, leggete con me.

When I first read this post I thought you were talking about American car manufactures who hype and over price a new vehicle, then offer 0% financing and huge rebates to buyers after the first buying wave and then force large depreciation of value by marketing new vehicles year after year. Are we sure this isn't just how business does business?

Ended up pulling the trigger on a k-s1 today - went for the Midnight Black just to have something a little different which is the whole point of the k-s1 anyway, at $596 with kit lens and free Flu card it's still a good deal... Icing on the cake was being able to upgrade to the 20-40 Limited zoom (black) for an extra $100 off the already special $300 off this month and the 15mm Limited (silver) for an extra $50 off the already. $100 off in the special bundles that Adorama has going (I've missed both those lenses since I sold my k-5 some time ago - simply so much fun to shoot with and hopefully with the k-s1 be even more portable...). May have to add a 70 or 77 limited next year to complete the package...

I had also been pondering a Sony a7II but just couldn't rationalize the lack of lens choices - in the end I've always found that I prefer to buy cameras based on the lenses which is ultimately where the bigger money goes anyway! Maybe someday Zeiss will have enough Loxia's to temp me to the A7 series (25/40/85 would be especially nice) but by then Pentax may actually have a full-framer...

I knew that the price of K-S1 had to start coming down. People started realizing what a great camera the K-01 was only after the price started dropping.

prime instinct said:

Pretty good. Then the K-50 jumps in and steals the thunder - $366 with free flash and shipping. http://www.adorama.com/IPXK50BK.html

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Thank you for the heads up. K-50 is the better camera at lower price. If Ricoh wants KS1 to sell, they need to price it below the $366 K-50.

I say a $299 KS-1 + 18-55 lens would stimulate me to buy one in spite of its Christmas-lights LED

Ricoh are looking to prove me right faster than even I expected:

http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/54280307

4 months ago: "You'll see this one going for under 400 within a year. Just like the K-01."

Matt

We all knew this big a price drop was coming, but I bet not one of us expected it this soon.