Originally posted by deadwolfbones Give me a break. We specifically asked the guy what kind of feedback he had gotten, and he told us. That's all.
No, Pentax USA, give me a break.
If your summary was "That's all" were accurate then there would be little reason to be annoyed. But he didn't just say "From N participants I got X-times the opinion that they see no point in FF".
Instead he states that it is "
rewarding" that "
almost everybody" says "
somebody needs full frame, but it’s not for me.".
How many is "
almost everybody"?
Just check out the original Facebook thread. Is ~13% posters asking for "FF" also "almost nobody"?
Does this ratio mean anything given the sample size of ~35?
No, of course not.
How many did he speak with?
Even if he did 20 interviews then this means nothing. Nothing at all.
How can he gain any satisfaction ("
rewarding") out of a sample that is completely irrelevant?
And why the satisfaction?
What is so great about Pentax having missed the window of opportunity to be the first to offer an FF camera that doesn't come with artificial margins? There was a chance to win over some Canikions shooting APS-C without the funds to pay the old insane Canikon FF prices. This ship has sailed. Catch up time again. I'm sorry, but I find this sad, not "
rewarding". Pentax can continue playing the APS-C only game for a while but not for much longer.
Finally, he concludes from all this (in other words from nothing) that Pentaxians are saying "
Just keep doing what you’re doing." . This could not be further from the truth. According to him no one apparently ever asked for an improved SDM, an option to use screw drive when SDM fails, an uncrippled K-mount, smaller AF areas, more AF areas, competitive continuous AF, better movie control, and most of all affordable lenses. And almost nobody ever asked for a Pentax FF, right?
Many of these issues make Pentaxians leave the brand every day, but he needs to conduct further research to understand why. Given his current analysis, I don't have high hopes that this is going to lead anywhere.
N.B., I think Pentax still has the potential for a great future. But I don't understand how anyone thinks they can build that great future by throwing cold water on a significant proportion of their user base. Without being forced to.
Luckily, as others have pointed out, he is not really that important and the impact that Ricoh will have on Pentax is yet to come. There is a lot of reason to be hopeful about Pentax.
@deadwolfbones: Please read
this post by a Pentax veteran and tell me that Jim Malcolm's phraseology did not cause damage.