| I think most of us forget the period right before the introduction of K20D and K200D when the stock of older cameras was depleted and the factories were in process of retooling for the new ones. The simple fact is that Pentax HAS NOT THE FACILITIES to produce more cameras. They need to either invest in new factories or stay in a upper market with larger margins than the "very entry level" since they cannot make more than a certain number of units. All depends on how much Hoya wants to invest although I cannot help to think that Pentax is a very favourable position right now considering the alliance with Samsung for sensors and the rest of electronics in a camera and the fact that Hoya is arguably one of the largest optical glass producer in the world. And the Hoya input is visible IMO in the 6 different lenses launched from january. A more conclusive hint for the future may be the next lens roadmap. If there will be many additions and most of them D(F)A Ltds and D(F)A*s then it is obvious that a upper class body is next and maybe Pentax will resign to a niche market position.
Otherwise IMO to launch a K2000D as an entry level camera means automatically to upgrade the K200D to better specs especially in Mp count (12 maybe) and fps + buffer size. So we're looking at 2 new cameras not one if they are not done simultaneusly. All depends on how bad Samsung wants a biggers slice of DSLR pie and if they are so desperate to make a FF sensor only for bragging rights they better be ready to make a new CMOS 12 Mp APS-C sensor for the K200D succesor. This way Pentax could move all the K200D guts in a new smaller/lighter/simpler body and cram in the weather sealed body at very least a new sensor + a new gen Prime processor + larger buffer.
Radu |