Henry wrote: > I don't believe Pentax is going to completely re-new their SLR camera > line-up in a sudden with three new camera. They haven't done anything > dramatic in the past 10 years when the SLR market then was growing. There > is no reason to expect they will do it now or in the future, especially they > are saying that they think the market is shrinking. Doing so will be a > commercial suicide. According to the original Japanese news report, Pentax > was quoted as saying to cut their current line-up of 6 cameras down to 3 > cameras. They have not said they are going to replace them with 3 new > cameras.
I'm not convinced. All MZ-series cameras are essentially the same camera with different labels. Pentax is just trying to milk the last drop off this chassis. In my opinion, the current MZ-series isn't really that competitive. What Pentax did say in they press message was that they intended to reduce the number in the line-up in order to increase the sales of each model. I can't see how this could happen with the MZ-6 and the MZ-60 as the volume models in the line-up. We have lots of conflicting messages. The fact is that Pentax near future line-up will consist of three film slr models (i have gooten this confirmed by safe sources). If the MZ-60 and the MZ-6 are two of those then the MZ-5n and MZ-3 must be discontinued without replacement or the MZ-S needs to be discontinued. However,Chris Brogden claim Pentax will replace the MZ-5n next year with a compeltely new and very different model. If this is true, either the MZ-S or the MZ-6 has to go if the MZ-60 stays. At the same time, Pentax UK claim all future Pentax slr's will be built on the same chassis: if this is to be believed there are three posibilities; 1) the MZ- chassis, 2) MZ-S chassis, 3) A cmpletely new chassis. Only the latter is likely (and what Pentax UK says) in my opinion as the MZ- chassis is not suited for anything higher end or digital. I don't agree that it is unlikely that Pentax will release a completely new series of cameras. Thats the way Pentax model policy has always worked. The Z-series was released 10 years ago; the MZ-series 7 years ago. It is time for a new generation of cameras. We know that Pentax is working on modification of the lens mount. We also know that all Pentax new lens mounts have been accompanied with new series of cameras. In all this, I put my faith in Pentax UK statements. Not because they have to be true but because it is the best we have at present. Pål
