The camera is available, it is the DA 16-45 that is backordered. This lens has been hard to get from the start. (It is, though, a fine lens and worth waiting for.)
For reasons that I am trying to understand, Pentax has suddenly lost the ability to produce enough lenses to meet demand. The DA 16-45 is assembled in Vietnam. Is all lens assembly being sent to this plant? Is that the source of the problem? The FA 77 is backordered to Asia. I wonder where the new ones are being assembled, if Pentax will still produce them. Someone else posted last week that their local store cannot get anything from Pentax. Please speculate. This list has never been reticent about doing so. Pentax might be able to sell more *ist Ds if they could produce DA 16-45s to go with them. BTW, the FA 20 f2.8 is now listed at B&H as a special order item. Mark, if you order the kit, I'd bet that the vendor would ship the camera now and the lens later. Joe
