On Mar 9, 2010, at 11:08 PM, P. J. Alling wrote:
Only if they tried to compete at the same price. If the K... lets call it eht K2 for laughs, if the K2 FF streets for between $1500 and $1900 has K7 specifications otherwise with a 12-14mp sensor, it still undersells the D5 II by 20-25%. That's a nice niche to live in. It uses a tone of older lenses but gives you full frame. It would be very attractive. No one would expect Pentax to bring out a Canon D1 or Nikon D3 killer.
I find the 645 a wonderful bit of market aikido. Rather than investing a lot of resources in a very tough market segment Pentax is side stepping and will be the first Medium Format digital that is affordable to "serious but still nearly sane" amateurs. I'll wager that for most of the people who buy one, the sensor, or even the glass won't be the limiting factor in image quality. The 645 may have tremendous potential for making great photos, but to be honest the thing that it will be the best for is bragging rights. And bragging rights are what will sell a significant portion of the first year or two's production of 645s.
On top of that, if you look at the Pentax niche as great performance for the money, then the 645 at half the price of the competition, falls squarely in that niche.
Of the pictures that I've taken in the past year, very few would have been improved by using a 645D rather than the K20, and most of those, I'm afraid, would probably have turned out better using a D700.
I do hope, however, that by the time that I can afford a MF camera, they will have high ISOs that I want. What I expect will happen is that by then, the 24x36 format, or some variation (36x36?), will have D700 levels of performance for under $1500 for the body.
I wonder, however, what it would take for Pentax to make a mirrorless, short register, EVIL, version of the the 645D, that could use either K- mount or 645 mount lenses.
-- Larry Colen l...@red4est.com sent from i4est -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
