Originally posted by JPT If Ricoh can sell a 36mp K-1 at $1,800, for $1,400 they can certainly make a more modest 24mp camera
Can they?
One very important thing:
the K-1 is not a $1800 camera. The K-1 is a camera designed to sell at $1800 (€2,000, etc.) in certain volumes (no more than 7,000 units per month), for a certain time, with an estimated downwards price and volume evolution - and make a profit for the company.
What's the required volume for a $1400 MSRP camera? A good guess is similar to the K-1's (though lower margin products tend to need higher volumes). Where would they get this volume? From the K-1's? That's no good, it might make the K-1 from profitable into a money-losing product.
Products are not made in a vacuum; they're made to be sold, and make a profit. Making a competitor for the K-1, right now, could be the worst thing they could do.
We are a limited resource.
My guess is that people saying they would only buy a cheaper Pentax FF DSLR wouldn't get such a $1400 camera; they would find something else to complain about - e.g. lenses. And people willing to buy (as opposed to just saying) either already have a K-1, or will have one.
As I said on another thread, perhaps the cheaper Pentax FF DSLR is the K-1, some 2 years since its launch. By the way, the D610's launch price was
higher than the K-1's.