On 9/27/2010 5:50 AM, William Robb wrote:
From: "P N Stenquist"
Subject: Re: Photokina observations...
I wouldn't describe Pentax is stalled. The upgrades have been
continuous. There have never been any official rumors of a larger
sensor in a Pentax compact DSLR body. (What's full? Al sensors are
full size if they're not nicked or chipped.) The K5 is substantially
improved over the K7. But let the whining begin:-)
People seem not to realize that the competition has followed pretty much
chain of upgrades, albeit a couple of years ago.
It's quite a balancing act producing new cameras I'll bet, especially
when you are quite far behind the performance curve of the very best.
One has to improve things enough with new a model to entice the user
base of it's predecessor to buy, and also to entice people who didn't
buy last time to buy this time.
Don't put enough on and too many people wait it out and the camera dies
in it's crib, put too much on and you have wasted a future opportunity
of making sales on a future camera.
I'd like to see Pentax making bigger steps, especially with the AF, but
I'll buy the K5 for the sensor, if nothing else.
William Robb
Here is my take at the situation right now.
I should agree with Paul here. Pentax did not stall. Well, Pentax seemed
stalled between *istDS and *istDL2 when they came up with the multitude
of cameras that could be used for "find 10 differences on these two
pictures" kind of game. But since K10D this has changed and Pentax is
not stalled any more.
I am also thinking that Pentax marketing has become more active and more
involved and even advanced or developed by a good margin. I should say
that I am impressed by the manner they handled the sequence of
introductions for this Photokina. They really seem to have done quite
excellently. From the marketing and competing point of view. Well, likes
of Fuji X100 may have stolen the show for us, the enthusiasts, but
Pentax really did well splitting their announcements, etc. At least in
my view.
However, it also /seems/ to me that along with more marketing
involvement came the price. It /seems/ to me that Pentax puts different
accents on its /projected/ customer base. I see 645D for 'serious'
people and likes of K-x and K-r in multiple colors for the rest.
Unfortunately, personally, I see nothing in between, and exactly there I
stand. I will skip upgrading to K-5 because K10D was enough for me and
K-7 is more than enough. I am slowly but probably very surely coming to
realize that I don't /really need/ these FA limited lenses in my
arsenal. And even more, it seems that modern low-mid level gear is
absolutely sufficient for everything I am doing. A3 sized prints from
K10D looked great. Doubtless, they will look even better from K-7. K-7
gives me fully usable ISO 1600 and I don't /really/ need anything more
than that. K10D has lasted 4 years this far and it shows no signs of
age. If K-7 lasts just as long, I am covered for the next 3 years or so.
This is eternity in modern terms.
It is therefore my conclusion that I should divest (is it the right term
as opposed to invest?) myself of most of my gear and keep the investment
to the absolute minimum as least as long as the times are a-changing...
Sorry for the rant.
Boris
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