I suspect that about 3 people didn't buy an istF because of it. It wasn't
exactly marketed to the advanced photographer.
It was a perhaps too subtle signal about their intent.
The A style lens only bodies were completely ignored by this group.
istF? Pentax, the camera company that makes you clench your fist. :-)
DSLRs are an expensive gamble for any company to take on, it helps when you
have in house fabs and a corporate mindset that is willing to wholesale buy
an entire market.
Every one of the manufacturers but Canon is struggling to keep the market
someplace where they can see it, and Canon has the mainstream consumer and
high end pro type markets pretty well covered.
I do find it amusing that we still wail that Pentax isn't "as good" as the
competition.
They haven't been "as good" as the competition for about the last 4
decades, yet we all bought into their cameras.
Are we really that slow to catch on?
Yes. I am. Isn't 4 decades exaggerating it a bit? With film cameras there
was always a BIG upgrade path to a 645 or 67, regardless of what Pentax did
with 35mm. That was the #1 way to better image quality (quantitatively) at
the time. I figured I'd always stay with Pentax because of that.
The other factor is, we grow with our experience, and needs or wants may
change likewise. So throughout a given period we acquire more gear and it's
only at some point in time that we may reach a level of dissatisfaction that
is more than a little annoyance. For me at least, I became a little
disappointed with Pentax when they brought out the MZ-S. After having the
*ist D and no upgrade for 2 years it's also annoying. I don't care a huge
amount about lens compatibility as I don't have a huge investment in older
lenses (and the ones I do have came cheap). The green button solution is
fine with me. I was really hoping for a FF digital body from Pentax but as
we know that's quite unlikely.
I'm happy to see a 10MP body coming but I think it's far too late. I don't
plan on purchasing it at this point, and I'd rather spend the money on a FF
system.
Tom C.