[causey]

There is no such thing as worry free in-lens motor. Cannot be. No one has it yet, why should Pentax be the first to have it?

I didn't mean an absolutely worry free SDM, but a reasonably worry free SDM system. There's no such thing as a reasonable customer who expects Pentax to provide an absolutely worry free SDM system. Could you suggest another term?

AF is good enough in the K-5 already, on par with comparable Canon or Nikon bodies (60D or D90, I do understand that more points in D7000 is something desirable)

Some say AF is not quite on par with equivalent Canon-Nikon cameras. And I'm not talking about K-5 only. It's a general talk: AF in general.

And I do not have problem with flashes.

Nor do I have a problem with your not having a problem with flashes.

Pentax needs skilled users that know how to use it's advantages to get great photos. What they have so far is (mosty) herd of geeks dedicated to find every possible problem in their cameras. I'm sorry for this impression but it is sad.

Opinion. Canikon has their own herds, and I believe there are quite a few good Pentax shooters. All systems have pros and cons, but this doesn't make it weird to talk of what Pentax could improve.

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Last edited by causey; 11-15-2011 at 12:40 PM.

[RonHendriks1966]

Pentax needs skilled users that know how to use it's advantages to get great photos. What they have so far is (mosty) herd of geeks dedicated to find every possible problem in their cameras. I'm sorry for this impression but it is sad.

I do make pictures and sometimes even a great one

[elho_cid]

There's no such thing as a reasonable customer who expects Pentax to provide an absolutely worry free SDM system. Could you suggest another term?

I'd like them to drop the screw drive backward comaptibility from DA* sometimes soon. And perhaps to include the faster drive of new SDM lenses (DA*300, DA*60-250) also to the old ones (50-135). But I do not have the impression that failure rate of DA* is higher than with other brands. Look at lensrentals or others statistics. I know that the failure rate was horrible with first SDM generation, in the first year or two of production. But it is okay now - and by OK I mean around 5% failures a year, like the others. I agree it is high number, but that's life.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/125371-whats-d...ml#post1297436

[riff]

Be careful what you wish for, big companies are rarely innovators.

I think backward compatibility is Pentax's ace in the hole, never lose that.

[Frogfish]

Pentax called it DC motor, isn't it ? If they could put it in all lense, it would be sooooo nice, and become cheaper btw.

The Piezo DC motor is not a replacement for SDM. It is a smaller, less powerful motor.

[eddie1960]

Well that is a good figure I think.

For 2007: 'Big two' continue to dominate Japan: Digital Photography Review it was 6,3 %

I think 2008/9 where lower. Getting over 10 % is a good goal for 2013 I think.

that means they showed a 15.87% increase in their share since 208/9 not bad in the greater scheme of things. guess those robot cameras helped build the brand after all

[causey]

I'd like them to drop the screw drive backward comaptibility from DA* sometimes soon. And perhaps to include the faster drive of new SDM lenses (DA*300, DA*60-250) also to the old ones (50-135). But I do not have the impression that failure rate of DA* is higher than with other brands. Look at lensrentals or others statistics. I know that the failure rate was horrible with first SDM generation, in the first year or two of production. But it is okay now - and by OK I mean around 5% failures a year, like the others. I agree it is high number, but that's life.
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-slr-lens-discussion/125371-whats-d...ml#post1297436

That's very good to know! (Might get a 16-50mm is SDM is ok now.) Now the question is whether there will be general agreement concerning the fact that SDM should no longer be on the list of priorities.

[RonHendriks1966]

Does it say in that report anything about the size off that dslr market? I have no idea wheater the dslr market is growing, or shrinking due the the upcoming systmecamera's like NEX. Or are they just taking marketshare away from compactcamera's?

I guess that K-5 is the big sellar for Pentax, at least here in the Netherlands they sell more K-5's then K-r's.

[gazonk]

Does it say in that report anything about the size off that dslr market? I have no idea wheater the dslr market is growing, or shrinking due the the upcoming systmecamera's like NEX. Or are they just taking marketshare away from compactcamera's?

I guess that K-5 is the big sellar for Pentax, at least here in the Netherlnads they sell more K-5's then K-r's.

The K-r a very capable camera and addresses the most important complaint about the K-x (the focus point confirmation points), but its more K-5 like design missed the target audience, it should have stayed "cute" like the K-x.

[pingflood]

There is no such thing as worry free in-lens motor. Cannot be. No one has it yet, why should Pentax be the first to have it?

While I am sure problems do exist, in three years of shooting brand C I have not had any problems, known anyone who ever has had problems, or even read any forum posts about problems with the USM AF motors. To me that is practically "worry free".

[aurele]

The Piezo DC motor is not a replacement for SDM. It is a smaller, less powerful motor.

the DC motor isn't smaller ! it's like the USM of Canon, it's a ring motor. And with this principile it's very easy to make it more or less powerfull, and so far i've never read any problem report with DC motor.

ROTARY ACTUATOR

[falconeye]

DSLR market share :

Canon : 43.7%
Nikon : 41.4%
Pentax : 7.3%
Other 7.6%

Thanks for the report.

I agree that other must include SLT as otherwise, who would be the 7.6%? So, it's probably 7% SLT/Alpha and a few Fuji etc.

Interestingly, it's about 1/3 for Olympus, Panasonic and Sony in the Mirrorless segment. So, this is a current battle field.

7.3% for Pentax is a good figure (even for Japan) and I guess it is due to the success of the K-5 which has won many major tests and is a wonderful camera indeed. The K-5 isn't cheap, so 7.3% means something ...

However, it won't be easy for Pentax to duplicate K-5's success story. It needed years of body development (the K-7) and a break-thru sensor design (integrated on-chip A/Ds with very good full well capacity).

[Adam]

A little more and there will be more Pentax users than all other brands combined except for canon and nikon- I think that would be a worthy goal for them going forward.

[aurele]

I think that would be a worthy goal for them going forward

indeed !

And, BTW, have you seen that Ricoh release a new compact camera, with a very fast AF (0.1 sec) ? Sounds like Ricoh have some assets to put in a Pentax body

[fs999]

One question : who owns these patents now ? Hoya, Pentax or Ricoh ?