Save big on Pentax SLR and mirrorless cameras, even medium format!
posted Friday, August 31, 2012 at 5:37 PM EDT
Fancy picking up a new camera or lens from Pentax, and live in the United States? If so, you're in luck! The company has just announced a series of price cuts and instant rebates that will stretch your buying dollars quite a bit further, whether you're buying pro gear or an entry-level model. All told, there are savings of up to US$2,600 on offer; in the real-world it'd be fairly easy to save several hundred dollars between a camera and one or two lens purchases, and perhaps quite a lot more.
Starting with the adjusted pricing, Pentax Ricoh Imaging Americas Corp. says that it has reduced pricing for both the tiny Pentax Q compact system camera, and the medium-format Pentax 645D digital SLR.
Photo provided by Pentax Ricoh Imaging.
List pricing for Pentax Q kits has been reduced by anywhere from US$150 to US$200, depending on the specific kit you choose. That takes the kit with 8.5mm f/1.9 prime lens (47mm equivalent) down to just US$400 or thereabouts, while even the twin-lens kit which adds a 5-15mm f/2.8-4.5 zoom lens (27.5-83mm equivalent) now lists for just US$650. A kit including only the zoom lens falls somewhere in between. The price adjustment makes the incredibly small mirrorless camera a much more attractive proposition than it was when we published our Pentax Q review last April: you can now pick up a twin-lens kit for a full hundred dollars less than the original list pricing for the prime-only kit!
The mighty Pentax 645D medium-format digital SLR, meanwhile, gets a price cut of US$1,200, taking list pricing down to about US$8,800. With the SMC Pentax D FA 645 55MM F2.8 AL (IF) SDM AW lens carrying a list price of US$1,200, that saving is effectively enough to put an extra lens in your camera bag alongside your brand new body!
Photo provided by Pentax Ricoh Imaging.
The rebates, meanwhile, kick off from tomorrow, and cover the Pentax K-30 digital SLR, the recently reviewed Pentax K-01 mirrorless camera, and six different lens models that can be used with either camera, as well as the rest of Pentax's K-mount SLR lineup.
The Pentax K-30's rebate is perhaps just a little surprising, even if the amount saved is fairly modest. The camera only started shipping in the US market eight weeks ago, and even at its list price it's uncommonly well-specified. The K-30 lists for US$850 body-only, or US$1,200 with an 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens, and includes features unheard-of at this price point, including a pentaprism viewfinder with 100% coverage, and a fully weather-sealed body. (The 18-135mm kit lens is also weather-sealed.) From September 1 to October 31, you can save an extra US$50, making the Pentax K-30 even more of a steal!
Photo provided by Pentax Ricoh Imaging.
The Pentax K-01 merits a rather more significant rebate. While we weren't terribly enamored of the chunky mirrorless camera when we reviewed it last June, it's proven quite popular with a subset of photographers who want top-notch image quality, don't use a viewfinder, and are swayed more by a good lens lineup than by a compact, camera-like body. The pricing with rebate included will make it quite a bit more interesting, and we'd wager a fair few more Pentaxians will now take the plunge and pick up the company's first APS-C mirrorless model.
If you pick the K-01 up without a lens, Pentax is offering a US$200 rebate, taking pricing down to around US$550 based on the body-only list price of US$750. Buy the kit with DA 40mm XS lens and you'll get a larger $300 rebate, while a kit with DA L 18-55mm and 50-200mm zooms gets a US$250 rebate. The DA 40mm XS kit in particular is something of a no-brainer--you're effectively getting the world's thinnest interchangeable lens with your K-01 for only $50 more than the body-only price!
And finally, we have the lens rebates, all of which are generously doubled if you buy the lens at the same time as a camera body. All told, there's up to $900 of savings on offer if you buy all six lenses along with a Pentax SLR body, and up to $450 even if you've already got the SLR and are just stocking up on new glass! Lenses included in the rebates (and their rebate values before doubling) are as follows:
It's worth noting that all of these are instant rebates--that is to say, there are no forms to fill in and mail, and no waiting around for a check to arrive. If you're buying from an authorized retailer, you'll get the rebate at the time of purchase, for no-fuss savings. Cool!
Photo provided by Pentax Ricoh Imaging.
"Save" image courtesy of "401(K) 2012" on Flickr, used under an Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0) license.