[Eyeayen]

The main trouble I would imagine Pentax have is they are only very small compared to the other manufacturers they are competing against. Sony has a huge backing and it's statement when it started on the DSLR market of wanting to be up there as one of the top 2 or 3 DSLR brands was backed up by constant advertising. As well as this they have also got a full frame camera, this is something Pentax don't have.

When you watch any news item that has a photographer in it snapping at some celeb in a car or at a sports event I almost guarantee the pro will be using either Canon or Nikon, so if you start looking for a camera knowing nothing about the photography scene those names will already be in your head because you've seen them on the news / in the paper / wildlife documentary / in a film. It's free advertising. The fact that both those brands have enough spare cash to 'sponsor' photographers gets even more logo's out there for inclusion in the free advertising I've already mentioned.

On top of that the full frame camera's retail for a large amount of cash, I don't know what the mark up is on camera's but I don't expect them to be making a loss, therefore even more cash is coming in which in turn can be used for advertising and developing new lenses and the tech to make them.

Pentax have none of this, it was very good to see them release the 645 and I hope it does well and generates better revenue for them to put into their other classes, likewise I hope the mulitcoloured bodies also generate enough money for them to put it back into making a full frame DSLR and getting it out there to the pro's or whatever they need to do not to disappear.

The trouble is in general this country is quite narrow minded, I don't know how Pentax fair in the States or the rest of Europe for that matter but I think as has been hinted at above they are being pushed out of the market in this country because most people know Jessops and the fact they aren't stocking them doesn't help things. London Camera Exchange stock them and where I live there is a little photography shop down the road, they're a very small chain, 4 or 5 stores in the local ish area who stock Pentax. Unfortunately they seem more and more to be a fading name and unless all of us go out and start buying them now and keep buying them they will disappear.