Pentax has pretty much dominated the p&s market, at least in Canada. They've done the most to push the focal-length boundaries of any company. They were the first to come out with a 160mm zoom lens, then the only company AFAIK to come out with a 200mm, and they followed that up by coming out with very small and light 150mm and 170mm zooms. At the other end, Pentax has traditionally offered 2 or 3 p&s zooms with a 28mm wide-angle, where other companies have had maybe one. Now Pentax has come out with a 24-105mm zoom, again a first for any company. Pentax has 2 Class-5 weather resistant cameras out there... others have none.
Variety in itself doesn't mean everything, but Pentax p&s's tend to very good value for the money. All the good ones are fully SMC'd, and they're small and light, often with a thin metal shell. chris On Wed, 5 Mar 2003, Bruce Rubenstein wrote: > Pentax wasn't the only company that got hurt. The fixed lens > rangefinder cameras disappeared. SLR sales dropped 30% in two years. > Around here, I don't see where Pentax made much of a name for > themselves in P&S cameras. They're JAJC, "Just Another Japanese > Camera". > > BR > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > >Again, that's my point. Canon came out with the fixed focal length Sure > >Shot around 1980, I think. Pentax didn't have anything much to compete > >with, and I'm sure they were losing market share like crazy. That's > >pretty much the position we're in now with DSLR's. Then Pentax finally > >got in gear in 1986 when they came out with the first zoom compact camera, > >and they dominated the market. Even today, Pentax has the best p&s lineup > >of any manufacturer. > > > > >
