Originally posted by Kunzite You mean, it's much easier to make a body and research a new mount and convert K-mount lenses to the new mount, instead of simply making a K-mount body?
And Pentax users would be absolutely delighted with this compatibility break, they would all jump to the new mount encouraged by the lack of third party lenses.
Your idea about "innovating" through "cost cutting" is one I utterly hate. You don't innovate that way, you just cut corners.
I want Ricoh/Pentax to take a strategic view of its K-mount, and not drive down a blind alley that they (and we) will regret later. And I want their next camera to be a step along that strategic route. If this makes it more expensive, I'll still buy it as long as it offers me clear advantages over my K-5IIs. Such a camera would give me confidence to remain with Pentax.
I do believe that sooner or later Ricoh/Pentax will launch an EVF camera, and may use a short registration mount. But I would expect them to provide an effective (glass-less) converter to carry existing lenses over. It needs to be part of a strategy, not a tactic to cater for (hopefully) temporary financial conditions.
If Ricoh/Pentax aims
down at a lowish price, I will not be able to get the camera I want from them. To encourage people like me to stay with them, they need to aim
up to cater for our ever-increasing requirements. (I accept that people like me are only a small part of the market. But there is nothing to stop Ricoh/Pentax offering a 2nd-tier model for cost-conscious people, as they and everyone else does at the moment. It may irritate some people that they have become part of the 2nd-tier market).