Originally posted by TiminyCricket No, they wont. The fact is that much of the anger over the price has been due to the feature/price comparison with the Nikon D7000, which itself MSRP's for $1199.95... meaning the Nikon's street price will likely be a few hundred less as well... logically meaning the Pentax will STILL be perceived as overpriced, even though the Pentax may drop in price more in the long-run.
Pentax doesn't have the reputation. Pentax doesn't have the store presence. All Pentax had was a stellar price. And compared to the competition the prices as of late have been, in my humble opinion, not nearly as stellar (gravitating) as they have been in the past.
I agree with the point about Nikon's D7000. Overall both cameras have a few specs. that are "better" than the other. I'm not seeing any specific point where Pentax can justify a MSRP difference of $400.
That being said, I don't agree with Pentax only having price as a selling point in the past. The construction and focus on primes has been very nice. However, all we get from Pentax this week has been a plastic averagely fast prime and a slow super zoom.
If I had the reigns of Pentax I'd modify the lens range to:
High Tier (All lenses would be WR):
- Phase out the DA* lineup and drop APS-C lenses. Do not use the * (star) designator anymore.
- Take FA capable DA* lenses and call them D-FA SDM WR Limited. Make sure there is a full range of D-FA zooms available for advanced users.
- Take the FA Limiteds and DA Limiteds that are FA capable and make them WR. Call them D-FA WR Limited.
Lenses must be named with:
** D-FA SDM WR Limited **
** D-FA WR Limited **
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Middle Tier (these would all be WR):
- Get more D-FA WR lenses out the door. Use classic designs that were well regarded and give them the same treatment as the 100mm WR Macro basically. Try to keep them under the price range of D-FA Limiteds.
- Move FA capable DA Limited designs to the high tier as defined above. Cheapen APS-C limiteds to the level of the 100mm WR Macro, but add WR ability.
- Mid range zoom lenses like the new 18-135mm WR lens, however these should be fixed F4 lenses.
Lenses must be named with:
** D-FA WR **
** DA WR **
** DA SDM WR **
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Low Tier:
- Call all lenses in this range DA-L
- I think the new 35mm prime fits perfectly in this tier.
- plastic
- cheap
- somewhat decent glass
- include cheap kit zooms with plastic mounts
- APS-C only
- Phase out all lenses like the non-WR 18-55mm.
- screw drive only (unless SDM is somehow cheaper to manufacture)
- no WR
Lenses must be named with:
** DA-L **