> From: pdml-boun...@pdml.net [mailto:pdml-boun...@pdml.net] On Behalf Of > Larry Colen [...] > > I have no idea how other brands fare as student cameras, but > consistent multiple failures is a serious issue. Is there anyone at > Pentax I could point him to? At the very least, they might find his > class a good source of "torture testing", as the cameras probably get a > lot more usage than the vast majority of entry level cameras. His > problems are kind of a shame, because I think that a big part of the > reason that the K1000 was such an iconic student camera was its > robustness. >
there's a story, probably apocryphal, about Henry Ford asking which part of the Model Z, or whatever, lasted longest. On being told that it was the widget flange he ordered the engineers to make it weaker, and therefore cheaper, since it was a waste to have one part outlive the rest of the car. Something similar likely applies to entry-level cameras. They are no doubt designed to be exactly as robust as needed for the target market, who are not likely to be using the camera much or subjecting it to rough treatment. Making it robust enough to be a student camera would probably make it too expensive to be a student camera. I think the colleges should be buying used Olympus E-1s, which are as cheap as chips these days, and built to survive everything except superglue on the OK button, ahem. B -- 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.
