Except that Pentax *has* been going there for a long time. Their entry-level film SLRs aren't any better built than Canon's Rebels or Nikon's F55/F75. As fun as it is to slag Canon, it's not really fair to criticize a Rebel for falling apart when used professionally day in and day out. They're simple not built for that and not marketed for that, and a Pentax MZ-60 or MZ-6 would fall apart just as quickly.
True, the Rebel Digital (300D) might fall apart under similar use, but again... it's not built for that. If you want to get a camera to use professionally, frequently or roughly, get a 10D or a D100. The Rebel Digital just isn't made for that kind of use, and to my knowledge Canon hasn't claimed otherwise. chris On Fri, 10 Oct 2003, Treena wrote: > I just wonder how happy Rebel digital customers will be. Only time will > tell, obviously, but I'd be afraid to drop any money on one. The > reporters the company sends me are usually newbies, and almost every > single one tells me they have a great! camera - a Rebel. I just smile > and nod. Then after a few weeks of regular use, they bring it to me and > ask me what's wrong with it. I open the back and pieces of plastic fall > out. Important pieces of plastic. The camera doesn't work anymore after > that. It also doesn't get fixed because they spent the little bit of > savings they had to buy it and by this time, they're thoroughly > disgusted with it anyway. > > Now to be fair, I'm sure there are Rebels out there that have held up > over time - I just haven't seen a single one of them. If a customer who > buys a camera for less than $200 that breaks in a few months, how > unhappy will they be if they sink $1000 in a digital Rebel and pieces > fall out in a few months after low to moderate use? If it's the same > quality as the film camera, I have a hard time believing it will take > market share from anything over any real amount of time, AND if this is > the case and what it takes to compete in the low-end digital slr market, > I'd just as soon Pentax didn't go there.
