In a move suggesting Pentax are serious long-term players in the DSLR market Pentax are encouraging photography students to use their equipment as they learn.
This month Pentax introduces a new scheme to capture budding professional photographers with offers of rebates for cameras and accessories to U.S. students enrolled in bona fide photography courses. With relative newcomers to the SLR world, Nikon and Canon, now dominating the market, Pentax are hoping to rekindle some of the magic created in the 1970s when many photographers learnt their craft using the K1000 film SLR.
The Nikon and Canon domination of the DSLR market is partly due to the hero effect of professional photographers using their top end cameras and lenses. This suggests to many first time DSLR buyers that entry level cameras from Nikon and Canon will magically produce top quality professional looking images. By enticing full time students with equipment at reduced prices Pentax hope to create a generation of professional photographers who will consider Pentax equipment first when making new equipment choices. For DSLR users the logical choice is to stay with their current system for expansion and upgrades.
Pentax said their photography equipment offers value, quality, ease-of-use, durability, and affordability, and Pentax takes great pride in the commitment to countless users who have learned and taught the art of photography with a Pentax camera
Pentax are offering the Student Photography discounts only to full-time students at accredited institutions (high schools, colleges and universities), as well as full-time photography educators in the United States, for Pentax equipment bought in the United States. See the Pentax site here for more details and application forms.
This perhaps reveals a major problem with Pentax equipment and support; in many countries local importers do the marketing. This limits the scope of initiatives such as this program to a particular country, while their competitors have a more coherent global marketing strategy.
