"Tom Rittenhouse" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >I sure agree with you Mark. Now the real question, are Pentax marketing >droids as smart as you and I?
I think they'd have to be blind and deaf not to see the writing on the wall and hear the fat lady, well, warming up, at least. By next year, lack of a digital camera to convince the public of the Pentax line's long-term viability will start to hurt sales of the MZ-S. It may be hurting sales already. I probably wouldn't have committed myself to Pentax's lens line to the extent I have this past year if I hand't thought my gear would be compatible with an upcoming digital body. I certainly wouldn't have spent a thousand dollars on a new body (MZ-S) to go with my existing lenses if I thought I'd have to replace them soon to go with a different brand digital SLR. I just bought Ed Mathews 43/1.9 Limited but that's going to be my last Pentax lens or body purchase until I'm confident that there'll be a compatible digital body in the near future. I can't afford to go down a dead end path. (I don't think I am, by the way; I'm just being cautious.) 2002 will be the crunch year. Any camera manufacturer without a digital body for it's 35mm lens line will be getting out of the 35mm SLR business whether they want to or not. It'll be interesting to see what happens with Minolta. I haven't heard anything about them producing a digital body for their system. Will they be content with point-and-shoot film cameras and high-end all-in-one digicams? Might not be a bad way to go from a profit standpoint. But because of this uncertainty, right now I wouldn't even *think* of buying a high-end Minolta body unless I already had a huge investment in Minolta lenses. Even then, I'd think very hard first. I think the main market for the Contax digital SLR isn't people just getting into a high end 35mm system or even the people who already have the Contax N1: I'll bet it's the professionals now working with the Contax 645. It's a relatively inexpensive (compared to a medium format digital back!) way for them to add digital to their repertoir because it will accept all the Contax 645 lenses they already own. >----- Original Message ----- >From: Mark Roberts <[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> This is also why Pentax needs the digital SLR fast. -- Mark Roberts www.robertstech.com - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
