Originally posted by Fontan K-1 II is $1,800 at BH. I get APS-C is a different market, and yes K-1 II is relatively speaking outdated. But - when the new APS-C comes out costing near $2,000, I would think that some prospective buyers of the new APS-C will stop in their tracks and ponder maybe for a fleeting moment. When I look at my files shot with my K-1, not K-1 II, I see zero need to upgrade, at all. I also get that these folks with DA lenses only without having no FF lenses and their needs - but pricing the flagship APS-C higher than the market price of existing FF model seems very counterintuitive and counterproductive.
I don't recall what I paid for my K1, but I am fairly certain the price has dropped somewhat. I think we have to get used to the fact that new cameras are going to cost more than cameras that have been on the market for several years presuming similar features and build, even if the format is one size down.
It's a fast shrinking market, camera makers have to spread their costs across a smaller number of sales now than they did a few years ago.
If they price their new APS-C flagship higher than the K1, it's because they feel they need to price it there to recoup their investment based on projected sales, and I strongly doubt that a couple of hundred dollars less on the retail end would generate sufficient sales to make up for the dollar loss suffered on a per unit basis.
I took a seminar a number of year ago from a local portrait photographer of some renown. One of the asides he came up with (the best stuff is always the off the cuff comments, it seems) was that a 10% price drop means you need a 40% volume increase to net back the money.
Do you think dropping the price of a Pentax APS-C SLR 10% will net them a 40% increase in sales of that camera? I have my doubts.
What if they drop the price 20% so it is a couple of hundred less than the K1? Will that double their sales? It would need to if they want to make some money on the camera through it's production cycle.
I've seen what happens to companies that go cheap on price when the going gets tough. I worked for one 25 years ago. It doesn't help them to do anything other than go out of business.
Pentax did it to themselves 15 years ago. Now they are a name on Ricoh's spread sheet.
It's unlikely that Ricoh will repeat that mistake.