From: Artur Ledóchowski <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 21:56:12 +0100
This I know well of course:) However Pentax has changed its approach
radically. None of the previous entry level cripled-mount bodies is so >much packed with features.
It depends on how you see it. Even the MZ-60 has auto-bracketing, exposure compensation and other things that were mid market to high end only some years ago. When Minolta released the Dynax 5, it shocked everyone. 1/4000 shutter and 3 fps drive - mid market features at entry market price. Dynax 7 also shocked the market with pro-level features and performance (in some areas even better than the Dynax 9) at a mid market price.
Pentax just follows this approach. The interesting thing is that Pentax has been a bit conservative since 1995. The *ist is the first camera for some years know where Pentax leads the market in terms of features and performance. Pentax are trying to do what they once (in the 70's to the early 80's) were famous for - introducing new, exciting technology in a small and compact package.
*ist "covers" much bigger area of the market than any of those bodies, which means that it is supposed to be more significant than, say, MZ-60. So far the MZ-60/50/30 were but exceptions to the >rule;
We can also see it this way, when the filmbased *ist serie is completed - 1/3 of it will have limited K-mount compatibility, and 2/3 will have full K-mount compatibility. Nikon has it the other way around. 2/3 of the Nikon range (4/6) has limited backwards compatibility.
There will not come more models with a "crippled" lens mount from Pentax. It will not come a model below the *ist, and the models above it will have a full K-mount. I believe that the *ist is the last filmbased SLR's we'll see from Pentax. Future models will be digital. Perhaps Pentax are going to release a new entry level digital *ist, witha crippled lens mount. But I doubt that this will happen this year, or even next year. But in three years time, it may be here.
Best wishes, Roland
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