News from Le Salon de la Photographie in Paris

[rei_vilo]

Bonjour,

Le Salon de la Photographie is the annual photo fair in Paris.  


The Pentax stand is huge in black and red, with pom-pom girls showing up every 30 minutes   The K-7, K-x and K-m are the main attractions. Staff provides a warm and friendly welcome and are true photo lovers.

Now, the news!

• A full frame is on the pipe. Pro photographers are asking for a date: "End of 2010 is too late, they said, we want it at Q1 2010 or I'm going to change for a Canon or a Nikon."  
• No one knows the fate of the SDM teleconverter: canceled, postponed   ?
• The Pentax K-7 is sold at EUR 1,000 (20% VAT included), so I get one  

Best regards from Paris,

[Craig]

rei_vilo,   Thanks for the report.  It's good to hear that Pentax is putting on a class act at this photo fair.  Did you take any photos of the pom-pom girls?  That sound like fun.

Congratulation on the purchase of the K-7.  I know you will enjoy this camera very much.  Please let us know what you think of it.

Craig

[rei_vilo]

Did you take any photos of the pom-pom girls?  That sound like fun.

Yes, I did, but with the K-7 for the demo . It was a perfect opportunity to test the speed of the AF, which is noticeably faster than the K10D's one, with the same DA* SDM 16-50mm lens.

Actually, Pentax was pushing its resellers very hard to go below the EUR 1,000 price-line, which is a real frontier. 1,000 EUR VAT included is 840 EUR tax excluded, or 1,250 USD with current USD/ EUR exchange rate. Common street price is EUR 1,100 - 1,200. Just do the maths!

Please let us know what you think of it.

Sure, I will  

[Mike Pearson]

rei_vilo,

Glad you had a good time and thanks for all the information 

Congratulations on your K7 and I look forward to seeing examples from the camera. I picked up a K20D this week but have been too busy to do anything yet.

Mike

[rei_vilo]

Bonsoir,

I started my usual Pentax K-7 User Review  

Just one picture as teaser  

1/4000 f/4 iso800 250mm


Enjoy  

[Mike Pearson]

rei_vilo


Very nice shot and I enjoyed reading and viewing your review. 

I just bought a K20D a couple of weeks ago so I will have to wait until probably the next version - so far my K20D is superb 

Mike

[rei_vilo]

Bonsoir Mike,

The K-7 makes a real difference compared with the K10D but seems too close to the K20D to justify spending extra dollars. It sports the same resolution of 14.6 M pixels as the K20D while the K10D was only 10 M pixels.

I went for the K-7 because of the huge rebate that puts the price just under EUR 1,000. I also obtained a fair price for my old K10D.

Enjoy your K20D and wait for the K-8

[rei_vilo]

Here is a first Pros and Cons and Wrap-Up about the K-7.

I've been using the K-7 for two weeks now and I think it's time to do a first wrap-up.

Pros

• Build high quality
• Compact, lightweight, dust- and water-sealed, silent camera
• Great image quality
• 100% viewfinder
• Excellent ergonomics, both hardware and software
• Many manual parameters to control almost everything
• Improved and faster AF, light metering, shake reduction, dust protectionl, live-view
• Detailed user manual

Cons

• Real learning curve due to so many manual parameters and options
• Camera grip could result too short for big hands, hence the need for the optional battery grip
• In some case, inconsistent light metering

Wrap-up

• Everytime Pentax issues a new dSLR, it's a revolution! First with the K10D, then the K20D and now the K-7, Pentax continues delivering dSLRs with incredible value.
• As always with Pentax, ergonomics and ease of use are great.
• But this comes at a price, in term of learning curve. A real work is needed before going and shooting on the fields: Which options I need? Which ones I'm going to use?
• As always and most important, image quality is there and I had a lot of fun.

Enjoy my whole Pentax K-7 User Review  

[Craig]

rei_vilo,

Thanks for the wrap-up, link, and interesting read. 

Craig

[fotaki]

rei_velo, thank you for posting your review and thoughts on the K7. Very useful.

I'm also a K10D user (GX10 to be precise) and really keen to update to the K7. I think I've persuaded my better half that it's a worthwhile purchase. To be fair, it is a sizeable sum to pay for what may be described as a 'non-essential' in these hard times. So, I'm hoping to sell off some obsolete photo gear to fund this.

A couple of points from your post -

You mention the battery grip as being useful for those with a big mit. I cannot but totally agree with you. I do have large-ish hands and currently use a 'grip' on the GX10. I can see that with an even smaller profile camera this would be almost essential. It seems a great pity that Pentax couldn't go just a step further and produce a sort of K7-BG model which would have an integrated grip. I'm sure it would be popular, especially for a camera at this price point and specification.

Question: Was the battery grip in evidence at the show and if so, what sort of price was being quoted ?

At the present time, I'm living part-time in the Euro-zone so could easily take advantage of retail outlets in either France or Germany - where I do already make a few purchases. I note from recent announcements on this site that customers may purchase directly from Pentax in Europe, with cash-back (at least that's what I think it means).

Question: Do know of any European Pentax retailers who are taking these special offers on-board or is this only special prices from Pentax ? I hear Digital River mentioned.

Thanks.

[rei_vilo]

Bonsoir,

I created a website with a large chapter devoted to my K7 user review.

Enjoy 

[rei_vilo]

Bonsoir John,
 

thank you for posting your review and thoughts on the K7. Very useful.

You welcome 

Changing my K10D for a K-7 was prompted by the sub-EUR 1,000 price tag. In the economic down-turn, one needs to indulge oneself 

Question: Was the battery grip in evidence at the show and if so, what sort of price was being quoted ?

On the Pentax stand, there were 2 K-7s: one with the grip, the other without. The representative was playing with both, promoting either the K-7 without grip as lightweight for hobbyist or the K-7 with grip as sturdy for professionals. Actually, I had both in hands: the K-7 with the grip came with a DA* 60-250mm, which is a heavyweight lens

Question: Do know of any European Pentax retailers who are taking these special offers on-board or is this only special prices from Pentax ? I hear Digital River mentioned.

I haven't read the small prints of the cash-back program, but I guess a permanent address in Europe (or in the country where the K-7 is purchased) is asked for. Have a look at http://www.pentax-cashback.com/. The cash-back is handled by Pentax, not by the reseller.

Best regards,

[rei_vilo]

Photography is back on my website!

The Pentax K-7 was a great camera but had some flaws. I' was looking for faster AF, better sensibility and reduced noise. All reviews I've read about the K-5 were positive on those points.



Combining the Pentax 100 € cash-back program, a 10% discount from the reseller and a fair price for my former K-7, I decided to update my dSLR for a Pentax K-5.

As usual and as I did for the *ist, K-10D and K-7 as well as for the SDM lenses and accessories, I'll share my  discoveries on an on-the-go basis. Stay tuned!