Originally posted by MMVIII btw.
I don't know if this has been posted here, but here are some slides from the presentation which show some considerations and analyses by the manufacturer of the cam, just for comparison to "analyses" here
- if someone can read japanese it would be probably helpful -
dc.watch translated page Thanks a lot - that site has some really interesting photos of slides from a presentation.
I can't quite make out all the characters as the pics are a bit blurry, but this slide explains the market that Pentax is trying to address:
According to this, 71% of the people surveyed about their views of digital cameras say they want to be able to take beautiful pictures, but 35% say they find an SLR too big and too heavy, and 32% hard to carry (the two bars outlined in blue). The bottom bar is about something (usage?) being "difficult"
There's another slide that shows compact camera sales flattening out, so it seems Pentax is trying to address people who want to upgrade from a compact camera but find a traditional DSLR "too heavy", "too big", "too difficult to carry" and "too difficult to use."
There's another slide which I can't read properly that shows 67% are happy to take pictures using an LCD screen as viewfinder, a massive 60% want the ability to swap lenses, 61% want the ability to control camera parameters, and only 47% want very high quality lenses.
There's another slide after that which is even harder to read but it's about secondary issues like appearance, colour, individuality, ...
Sounds like Pentax have done the marketing research well, and are designing a camera to what they perceive to be a gap in the market.
Well, I clearly am in the target market segment - I want to step up from my iPhone and Canon compact, but I find the K-5 too big, too heavy, too cumbersome to carry. I want the ability to swap lens and camera controls, and willing to sacrifice image and lens quality. I do care about a camera that looks elegant, and reflects my personality.
There's also some interesting slides that show that Pentax is positioning the Q as a "miniaturised" K-r - at 1/3 the weight and halving of some dimensions.
There are also some slides comparing image quality with three "competitor" cameras - I would love to know what Competitors A, B, C are but I wouldn't be surprised if A was NEX, B was Panasonic and C was Olympus. I noticed Pentax are claiming superior quality to B and C and didn't compare with A.