Originally posted by johnmflores An innovator asks, "What can I do with this new thing?"
A Luddite asks, "What can't I do with this new thing?"
Good way to spin it, John.
"Innovator" is an attractive term, but folks who buy cameras are not innovators, they are simply... customers.
The problem here for Ricoh is that if they bring something to market that represents a clean break from K-mount yet does not match or exceed the K-5 in performance, then they've taken a step back, and every current Pentax DSLR owner will realize this. This break from K-mount will have burned a loyalty bridge, so the incentive to stay with Pentax during the initial mirrorless move wil not be there. Many will jump ship at that point. Ricoh will be left with folks moving from other brands only, or folks upgrading from lower-tier bridge cams only - and if their initial product does not beat Sony/Canon/Nikon/Panasonic/Fuji/Samsung equivalent bodies in some significant way...
Then Ricoh sees no net gain from where they stand today, and in fact because they lost existing Pentax customers because of the K-mount break - they realize a net loss in patronage.
It makes much more sense for Ricoh to work towards the future while not neglecting the main asset they bought - Pentax K-mount. There are ways to do that that have nothing to do with Luddism.
I will be a very happy mirrorless customer when I find one that meets my minimum thresholds in several areas, and I expect that to happen soon. But if it doesn't fully support K-mount natively or with an adapter, I have no incentive to give Pentax an inside lane on that race. When faced with a $1000+ body decision that also requires new lenses, folks can get pretty dang pragmatic.
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