Originally posted by ZaphodB Slim enough for me to put it well out of my mind and hope they just continue improving and expanding the non-FF system.
If God (or evolution) is used as a good designer to benchmark against, then the design goal for a sensor on an exchangeable lens camera will be as big as the back of a human eyeball, or maybe even an eagle's eyeball. Anything bigger than that reveals that technology is not yet as advanced as it could be. That's why I don't think FF makes any sense at all except to fill marketing demand that a large manufacturer with a large line of cameras can fill, but would be a niche, dead-end product and a regressive step that Pentax will avoid - even long-term, regardless of cost or selling price. I expect technology (ESPECIALLY silicon) to move towards smaller and lighter, not backwards to an old format. Pentax/Hoya wants to sell more glass, not have people use old lenses. They can't announce FF is dead because they still have alot of manufacturing equipment and designs in FF that people are buying so what capitalist is going to cut that business off?
If they ever want, or can afford to do a niche camera for the same market that buys Hummers to go to shopping, then the 'ace-in-the-hole' they have that will cater to the same demographic as FFer's is the 645D where they can compete on their terms, not C&N's. But, I would expect that a better way to spend R&D funds would be towards making cameras, lenses and sensors; and the resulting complete 'package' smaller, not bigger.
I really doubt that ancient (relatively) FF designs are going to out-perform any newly-design and manufactured lens in ANY future vapour-ware dream camera, even if it is FF. Any 'new' FF camera will come with its own set of new lenses. In the digital age, believing that 'good glass lasts a lifetime' is just folly. Sell your FF lenses now, because when (if, some would say) Pentax releases no new FF cameras, the market price for those old lenses is going to drop immediately. You have approx. 60 days... Or, if the cameras are amazing and still support K-Mount, then the demand and prices may temporarily go up, but buying any new lens because of FF capability is IMHO illogical.
When they released Windows 95 I thought it would be a flop because the MacOS was so much better. But, it was cheaper. Same with APS-C vs. FF. Because it's smaller, it will always be cheaper to make lenses - where the real money is.
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