As doubtgul as I am, I would gladly be proven wrong for a high-end DSLR. I also hope they don't "lowball" the AF too much on the baby D. That's the market segment that will most rely on AF.
Steven Desjardins Department of Chemistry Washington and Lee University Lexington, VA 24450 (540) 458-8873 FAX: (540) 458-8878 [EMAIL PROTECTED] >>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] 05/11/04 08:25PM >>> Hi All, I'd kept quiet on what I'd heard from an Australian Pentax rep. but as it's under discussion... The rep stated matter of factly that Pentax was releasing a low end *ist D based on the MZ-60 that would have a street price of "about AU$1,600" and a brand new high end model that would come in at around AU$11,000. Release for the MZ-60 D (or whatever they call it - Maybe #ist) would be September and the high end model "before Christmas" Should I keep this email for future reference? Cheers, Simon -----Original Message----- From: Cotty [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, 12 May 2004 4:48 AM To: pentax list Subject: Re: Photokina rumour mill has started... On 11/5/04, BRUCE D, discombobulated, offered: >I tend to agree. For Pentax, selling a bit downstream into the 300D >market makes a lot of sense. There are many sales to be had. Going >upstream from the *istD, however, seems much more difficult. Two big >reasons to me. >1) Canon and Nikon have multiple models in that segment - these are >very well received and very well endowed - the best Pentax would be >able to do is a "me too" type of camera that would be selling into the >$3000-5000 range. Not many buyers and very few Pentax buyers. >2) When moving upstream to higher end bodies, the system surrounding >the camera becomes much more important. The lack of IS, USM and high >speed glass, especially in the zoom category is a big weakness for >Pentax and would need to be released about the same time or at least >shown that these things will be available shortly. This is not going >to happen. > >My guess is that you are going to see the next generation *istD rather >than an upper model (in a sense, it will be an upper model to the >current *istD spec) - probably bigger sensor (megapixels, not >necessarily size), a few new/more features, fixes to problems in existing >*istD, etc. The *ist D will slowly phase out as stock is depleted. I was going to write virtually the same thing - honest. This is my feeling exactly. Actually, if Pentax had any sense and listened to the brains on this list, the *ist D mark 2 could be a very special camera indeed....... Cheers, Cotty ___/\__ || (O) | People, Places, Pastiche ||=====| www.macads.co.uk/snaps _____________________________
