On Wed, 5 Mar 2003, Bruce Rubenstein wrote: > Pentax really got wacked when AF, built in flash, auto everything P&S > cameras came along and devoured that segment of the SLR market.
Perhaps history will repeat itself. Konica came out with the first compact camera with AE and a built-in flash in 1975, and then with an autofocus version in 1977, so Pentax may have been hurting then. Pentax responded (probably ineffectively) with the Auto 110 system in 1978/79. Then, in 1986, Pentax came out with the first ever auto-everything compact camera with a built-in zoom lens, and they've more or less dominated the market ever since then. chris