Originally posted by deejjjaaaa Kx is, K7 is not... look at the numbers (sold), not at the features.
Bingo! The commodity priced DSLR wallops the flagship. Which one sucked up more capital to develop?
Pre-digital the money made was in glass, not bodies. We are simply in a phase in the transition from film where the opportunity cost that went into the film mini-labs and emulsions is now economized into the sensor and processors you hold in your hand.
At some point those circuitry costs will drop, the bodies will be more like commodities, and the real $$$ will be made in glass which is far more design and labour-intensive to produce, CAD/CAM advances notwithstanding. It will also be be in software (buy Adobe stock).
Remember: in the West the camera requires a computer to interface, but most parts of the world the camera is the computer, and will be forever, so the processing power therein is inevitable.
The quality, "good enough" issue is moot. These companies all need tech advances to continue growth in mass markets. They're not Leica. The fidelity issue with comparison to sound is also not there because lossy audio largely replaced crappy tape which replaced crappy 45's. In the meantime, McIntosh and Paradigm kept selling their superior wares, to play music from crappy tapes and 45's! (I know, I am guilty as charged). There are numerous consumer incidences of putting lipstick on a pig. One could say that is the history of Apple!
FF makes sense because it is the largest form factor that allows for lenses that maximizes the average human handgrip at the highest quality for the lowest absolute cost through economy of scale. MF is simply too big. I predict that smaller formats will endure as low-end models (APS-C may be the 110 equivalent, and what happened to that?), but at some point, we might see just 3 factories worldwide making FF sensors as a commodity to brand spec design in a universal format the same way that film became dominated by 2 major suppliers and a few innovators on the fringes.
With Photokina coming, I wonder more and more what Canon is up to. They have the muscle to move the market. If they even hint at powering back their market share by lowering the FF price point, we will know that they see little room for innovation other than the sensor. They can sacrifice cash to make Nikon hurt. It didn't work for Sony but it might for Canon; they've done it before. If they also come out with an EVIL-like system that has an FF image circle like Sony (but still using an APS-C sensor), we'll know which direction the tide is going.
I shot a roll of film today. My next camera is a Fuji instant 'cause it looks pretty.