K-x Lollipops

Photo by Dirk Rösler

The Pentax K-x is out in Japan, prompting lollipop displays like this one. The camera is being marketed primarily to women and girls in Japan.

Mike
(Thanks to Dirk)

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Featured Comment by MuTaka: "Well, You You may find this South Korean version more interesting—via dc.watch:

Featured Comment by Colleen: "Well, my 14-year-old daughter just GASPED with the 'NEED' for one...and since I am a Pentax user already...she may get her wish!"

Featured Comment by David: "I think this is such a neat trend. To all the naysayers, Pentax is not going to stop making black cameras.  Just because they are offering 100 color combinations (in Japan, no less), does not mean that they are throwing away black plastic.

"All this publicity is nothing but good for Pentax, and I say the more the merrier.

"The funny thing about being an underdog is that you can do things like this that can really shake up the market if it takes off, and if it doesn't, the experiment ends.

"I would totally buy the South Korean multicolored version.

"I'd also say that Pentax could take this one step further and make the body panels modular. That way they (or authorized third parties) could sell kits with different combos or special designs. UK version red white and blue with a union jack, FashionWeek version with Louis Vuitton marques, Corporate branded skins for in-house photo centers (Think Walmart or Sears), Special edition skin for The Online Photographer's 10th anniversary. The possibilities really are endless."

Comments

[Wiesmier]

Its a great idea to get more people buying cameras. Whether they get used and whether the planet can withstand our overuse of resources is another matter!

[Iñaki]

That is a very cool way to advertise a camera!!!!

If we admit that specs are not everything for a product [and a camera is a product]

[Zach]

Seriously untapped market spotted.

[john robison]

Blister package for a DSLR! It can't be too long before we'll see them at big box stores for $49.99

[charlie]

I love that

[Paul Watson]

That's just as cool as the ad for the Honda Civic from a couple of years ago. (different coloured wings, trunk, hood /etc. to a catchy tune)

[Mark Roberts]

As a former resident of western Pennsylvania I can assure you that if they import the yellow-body-with-black-grip version they won't be able to make enough of them to keep them in stock in Pittsburgh!

[MikeF]

My bet: if the girls really do take up the camera then we'll see a lot of good photos, unimpeded by concerns about whether they used the "right" lens or not. If their husbands/boyfriends or brothers/fathers (or saleswomen or girlfriends) give just a little useful advice we may see a whole crop of good photographers arise from this. Photographers much more concerned with actual photographs, and not much concerned with what was used to take 'em.

...Mike

[Iñaki]

Is the shutter actuated by licking it?
Strawberry flavoured, or peppermint?

[Carl Leonardi]

Great idea-- the M&M camera-- a very personal look-- you can also add a few more tags or colors to it with a magic marker. You say some one took your camera--"what did it look like" well it was red, green, blue & yellow with a funny face on it. OK. This would be the first camera I would pull out of the camera bag on a big $$$ pro job-- as the clients jaw dropped.

[Lorenzo]

Um, well, it's fun and it's cool sure, but does it even need to be said that "we" wish Pentax would put as much energy into refining their cameras as well? Or is the Japanese school-girl market really have that much buying power? ;^)

[Danny Chatham]

What a concept,multicolored Pentaxes!Will they sell? absolutely,they should be wildly popular with kids and clowns.However right or wrong one considers these cameras to be,one thing remainds certain those who take photography seriously will not take these cameras seriously and this move by Pentax may make them a few bucks but cripple their already shakey appeal with serious shooters.WAKE UP PENTAX before its to late.Put your money in the pro line and the amatures will follow.

[Daniel Fealko]

-- Mike
"... good photos, unimpeded ..."

My first reaction was similar to others; getting a new crop of users interested in photography. I hadn't thought of it from your angle, but I think that actually gets me more excited. We see some of this now with camera phones, but these cameras shout "take me out and have some fun!"

[Alex Vesey]

I do not think it is just for the "Japanese school girl market," but yes, that demographic does have buying power. This product is well placed to meet that group's interests, provided it is light.

And, if you get younger people hooked on Pentax, then they become the ones who buy the more expensive items later. Remember the first iMac? People laughed at the Blondi blue, but it put Apple back in the game.

[Ken N]

Tie dye

[Ray]

those who take photography seriously will not take these cameras seriously and this move by Pentax may make them a few bucks but cripple their already shakey appeal with serious shooters
I'm really hoping this comment is high level satire.

Absolutely, Pentax should give up a product that will sell as fast as they can make it, for a capitol intensive and tiny margin "pro" market. Because it's common knowledge that majority of camera buyers are working professional photographers, and that no one has ever taken a good picture, or been introduced to photography with a less than top of the line model. Just look at what a failure the K1000 was.

I love how a few years ago, an all manual film camera with a spot meter and full manual controls was a serious photographer's camera. And now a autofocus camera, with multiple metering modes, full manual controls, selectable focus points, the ability to shoot movies, great ISO performance, and supported by a line of top notch glass is a "toy" for "school girls" (I mean what kind of girlie man would like a color other than black, or anything that weighs in under a metric ton). Ah, progress!

Imagine, all those poor people taking great photos with non-serious cameras that are deluding themselves into thinking they're photographers, or even worst "serious photographers".

[Antony Shepherd]

I saw that picture of the multi-coloured one and thought "Hey wait, when did Fisher-Price take over Pentax?"

I suspect they'll sell like hot cakes to the market they're aimed at.
And let's face it, Mr. Plod is probably less likely to think you're a terrorist if your camera is all the colours of the rainbow!

[Andre]

I find it hard to believe that Pentax had to spend much of their engineering or R&D resources figuring out how to make different colored camera bodies. If anything, this may work the other way. Maybe Japanese schoolgirls have deep enough pockets to bankroll a loss leader like the 645D.

[Carl Leonardi]

Remember the old film days--If it was up to the pros buying film--Kodak would have disappeared before it started. It's the amateurs that give the camera co. the ability and money to make pro stuff. The profit margin is much higher on this kind of camera--also if they start using the new Epson EVF panels-- out goes the mirror box and the profit will go up and price will come down.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0910/09101501epsonhtpspanel.asp
Realize that the difference in quality up to 11X14 between this camera and a "Pro" camera is probably very small.
This is a fun camera that will generate many billion's of photo's There are a lot of great pro cameras on the market I think Pentax is going in the right direction--Making photography fun and getting young people involved is going to be a winner for them.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

It's widely reported that among people being taught to shoot firearms by the military or police or civilian instructors, people with no previous experience frequently do much better; they have fewer well-practiced mistakes.

Something similar may well work for photography. As various people have said, getting a new group to try photography will get a few seriously interested, which will result in bunches of neat new pictures (and bunches of awful pictures, but there are so many of them already, what's a few more?).

Meanwhile, the cameras are pretty, and the surprise of seeing a brightly-colored camera is rather pleasant I find.

I don't imagine that making the exterior in colors really used up a lot of engineering resources that could have been spent on refining the function.

[Yuanchung Lee]

I know nothing about marketing, but blister packs for a $600 camera? Methinks that this strategy -- along with the goofy colors -- would work fine if the item at issue costs, say, $25 dollars (or, at most, $50). But a $600 camera is not (and should not be) an impulse buy made while waiting in the checkout line.

Here's my worthless prediction -- these ain't gonna sell, and will end up at the Best Buy checkout line for $50 apiece. The market targeted by the goofy colors doesn't want -- and doesn't need -- a DSLR. They want tiny, carry-everywhere camera-phone-internet-devices that take pictures they can post on Facebook and such. The segment of that market who will want to lug around a big DSLR has to be tiny.

[Chad Thompson]

I think I see a Leica R3 Safari in that bunch.

[Dave Karp]

". . . 'we' wish Pentax would put as much energy into refining their cameras as well . . . ."

Oh, you mean like introducing a smaller, lighter, rugged, water resistant camera with some really nice pancake primes and other features that experienced photographers have been clamoring for?

[Nancy D.]

I like the colors ... I like the fun factor!
Women do buy based on color - ask any product developer. That doesn't mean we are so stupid we don't look at what's under the color!
Good move Pentax for a market that likes a bit of fun in their life.
Does not take much R & D to drop different pigments into the plastic, lego has been doing this for years!

[robert p]

I seem to remember Hasselblad did the same thing with the 503 five or ten years ago. You could get them in red, green. blue and yellow.

I think these Pentaxes are the coolest cameras I've seen in a while.

rdp

[Joshua Dearing]

Any way I can get people to smile is a plus for me, I shoot a lot with the Cheki camera from Japan (http://img.auctiva.com/imgdata/1/0/7/8/5/2/6/webimg/254366987_o.jpg), I have shot with it for 7 years and always get the best expressions from it. After hanging out with Yasumasa Yonehara (http://www.yuhmm.com/instant-cex-yasumasa-yonehara-aka-yone/ NSFW) and becoming friends with him I totally admire what a non serious looking camera can get out of subjects, people just love it.

So heck I may even get one and color it like the Cheki :)

[Kent Whiting]

i think the other camera manufacturers are probably sitting around the board room asking how did we miss this multicolored camera thing. I think it is good for the industry --- if a lot of point and shooters get interested in a fairly decent DSLR and really want to learn good technique with a more serious camera then the entire photo world gets rewarded with better photos and enjoyment

kman

[Rana]

As a Pentax user, anything that encourages retailers to carry Pentax accessories and lenses would be welcome.

(I still recall with scorn the saleswomen in one camera shop who dismissively asserted that there was no such thing as a digital lens for Pentax cameras when I asked if they could order one for me.)

[Ben Rosengart]

When I carry my DSLR, I'm often annoyed by how seriously people take it. A gaudy, colorful DSLR is a great way to imply, "Nothing to see here, just an ordinary schmuck with a toy camera."

[John A. Stovall]

Nobody has pointed out it's based on Optimus Prime of the Transformers.

[Mike Johnston]

"Nobody has pointed out it's based on Optimus Prime of the Transformers."

I don't even know what that means.

Mike

[Marius]

The only suprising fact is how long it took camera makers to catch up. It's hard to believe that in the days of the second coming of apple people still haven't fully understood the power of design (along with useability of course).

[Semilog]

I am in love. This is the DSLR that Piet Mondrian would have carried.

[Dirk]

Of course it is not the school girls (Freudian!). Ever seen a school girl with an (D)SLR? It's the housewives and mothers who have been using a compact camera up to now.

[Libby]

"...Here's my worthless prediction -- these ain't gonna sell..."

I would have to disagree. I know of at least 5 people who would buy this multi version right off the bat. Me being one of them just for fun.

For fun cams I am annoyed that we don't get all the color options that Asian markets get.

I recently caused quite a stir when I showed up at a function with a new Diana and the kicky flash unit (gift from my brother).

[Pros Van Heddegem]

"I know nothing about marketing, but blister packs for a $600 camera? Methinks that this strategy -- along with the goofy colors -- would work fine if the item at issue costs, say, $25 dollars (or, at most, $50). But a $600 camera is not (and should not be) an impulse buy made while waiting in the checkout line." (Yuanchung Lee)
You are absolutely right. I did not expect that such marketing errors would still have been made. Instead, that new Yashica EZ xxx could use this approach. I ordered one for my 12 years old son who wanted one for Christmas. If I were Yashica... By the way, Fisher Price used to have a very solid toy camera for young kids, but they do not make them anymore. Unfortunately.

[Andrew]

The multicolored one looks like it's ready to be entered into a bike race! Very... sporty ;)

[Player]

After years and years of not getting their just due I think Pentax has finally lost their marbles haha.

[Janne]

A nitpick: It's not a "South Korean" version. It has nothing to do with Korea (north or south), and isn't even offered for sale there AFAIK. I have no idea where the Korea angle came from.

The multicolored robot-face camera is a 100 unit limited edition designed by "Zarigani Works", a design studio that among other things made a "Korejanai-robo" ("this is not it-robot") robot toy figure. It's a goofy, multicolored robot figure that parodies the battle-robot manga and toy craze. For whatever reason their parody robot also became very popular, and now they've done a K-x design in the same vein.

[John Simon]

MuTaka: actually it's Japanese specialty version. "Koreja Nai Robot version" or somesuch.

[Danny Chatham]

Mike,Please permit me to respond to my misunderstood previous post concerning "multicolored pentaxes" Nowhere did I refer to the cameras as not serious,practically any camera employed by a serious photographer is capable of "pro" photographs.However the way these cameras are preceived is another story.Over 30 years I have owned and enjoyed numerous pentaxes and believe many of their lenses to be some of the best on the planet.
Thats where the problem comes in,you see I like and believe in PENTAX,its PENTAX that dosent believe in PENTAX.Until they take themselves serious no one else will.
Over the years I watched many young phographers come into the camera shop asking for a NIKON or CANON thinking for whatever reason they would instantly become better photographers.Were NIKON and CANON better cameras than PENTAX? absolutely not, however they were preceived to be,why? the pros used them.They were seen everywhere,furthermore they were advertised as serious tools.
The latest PENTAXES are the equal of the big boys,those limited lenses are accually superior to NIKONS or CANONS,however PENTAX apparently dosent think enough of them to hire an advertising department to promote them,instead they spend resources on multicolored low end cameras,and by so doing are diminishing their image with many who love and appreciate their products.
Now, does that mean the multicolored cameras are not capable of serious results? certainly not,but you wont likely see many
photographers show up at a wedding shoot with one,why? because like it or not preception plays a major role in public opinion.While I realize that is in reality irrevelent,the cold hard fact of the matter is the reason PENTAX dosent get the respect it deserves is they dont seem to respect themselves.