Originally posted by leonsroar Hello, I just read an interesting interview article from Digital Camera Magazine (in Japanese) and tried to translate to repay my gratitude to my current Q7 project in market place.
Thanks a lot for the translation!
Originally posted by leonsroar It is a bit disappointing for me
as I was expecting to see a FF model to be launched sometime next year and it doesn’t seem to be actualized upon reading this…
I think you are reading too much in the inevitable need for an official statement to be vague.
I believe that "
We are going to boldly challenge the FF market." is remarkably unambiguous.
Anyone watching recent developments should come to the conclusion that if you want to continue making good money with DSLRs that you need to have an FF offering. Phone cameras have annihilated the small compact camera market and entry level DSLRs are now fighting price wars more than ever. APS-C flagship DSLRs receive pressure from FF budget cameras (Canon 6D, Nikon D600), so really if Ricoh wants to boldly challenge the FF market they'd rather do it sooner than later.
On the other hand Ricoh has demonstrated that they rather delay a product than to launch it before they are happy with it. So if they encounter any bumps in their FF development road, it may delay the introduction of their first FF offering(s). I'm including the plural because I'm starting to think they will throw both a straight and a curve ball at us.
BTW, the analogy to the HiFi industry with manufacturers competing for power is broken. Increasing power in audio equipment much more often than not implies a compromise on quality. There is no such issue with APS-C vs FF. The D800's FF sensor is basically the K-5's APS-C sensor, just bigger (and hence better); no compromise needed. If 36MP files are considered too large, you can use the same technology for an FF 24MP sensor (or whatever).
It is also does not makes sense that Murano believes that the K-3 "
never falls behind FF even after there have been a lot of comparisons between APS-C & FF. " I cannot believe he truly believes that. Bigger sensors (assuming everything else being equal) give you a superset of what smaller sensors give you. And the superset is real, i.e., there are advantages (and no disadvantages). A larger sensor can even compensate for a bit worse sensor (or lens) performance.
The K-3 is a fantastic camera and is more than sufficient for many, many people. That does not imply, however, that it doesn't make sense to stick an FF sensor into a K-3 body. It does make sense! While we are waiting for this -- or something similar -- to happen, our APS-C cameras are great tools and will tide us over easily.