----- Original Message ----- From: "Joseph Tainter" Subject: Has Pentax missed again?
> The November Pop Photo arrived today, complete with an article on > Canon's new dSLR selling for $899. Yep, $899. It lacks a bunch of > features, but otherwise has the same sensor as the 10D and apparently > takes marvelous photos. Seen the Rebel. It's Ok. The ist is nicer, even the Rebel owner that I know thinks so. Canon has a very real advantage over Pentax, that being mature manufacturing of DSLRs. They've been doing it long enough now that they have paid for a lot of development costs. The Rebel is nothing new, its a stripped 10D in a cheap plastic body. > > The issue is gaining market share. Newcomers are more frequently swayed > by price. It is not until they are more experienced that they realize > they will need those extra-cost features. Newcomers will buy this Canon, > not the starkistdee. Pentax will fail to gain (and probably continue to > lose) market share unless it comes out with something comparably priced. Umm, how can they lose market share in the DSLR market? If they sell any product, they gain market share. What is the alternative? I guess that would be to stay out of the DSLR market. How long do you think Pentax would keep making SLRs and lenses if they did this? Photography is going digital. There is no doubt in my mind that this is so. It offers too many advantages over film, with few disadvantages. All the new photolab technology is geared towards digital. Noritsu is marketing 13 minilabs on their website right now. Only 4 are optical printers. The state of technology at the moment gives digital a quality edge over film when both are printed on the same machine. This is not likely to change. We already complain all the time about how hard it is to get quality printing from film, and it is going to get harder, quite a bit harder. Unless you have a digital camera. If you have one of those, and use it at an appropriate file size setting, it gives very nice prints. Nicer than those from film, in fact. So, the choice a camera maker has is to get into the market, or eventually close up shop completely. Pentax would become the next Olympus if they stay out of the game. Do you want a Pentax SLR or not? They have to be on the shelf for you to be able to make that choice. Canon is a Goliath at the moment, and is throwing their weight around pretty good. That makes it tough to compete, but the alternative is to go home. If Pentax does that, we all lose, film SLRs are on their way out. Of this I am sure. Personally, I think the ist D is worth the extra coin. It is a nicer camera. William Robb
