[Uluru]

Too much quality doesn't sell and for most, cannot be seen.

Ricoh has good pricing.

Oh yes, it does. Ricoh would rather burn in hell than issue a second-rate product like Fuji or Nikon would do without second thought.
If it's not rock solid and excellent, they won't be interested in doing it at all. That is why it takes them so long to make something new, and are an oddity among camera manufacturers.
Just observe the 645 z in the following week.

[cali92rs]

Oh yes, it does. Ricoh would rather burn in hell than issue a second-rate product like Fuji or Nikon would do without second thought.

They still sell lenses with SDM.
Yes, they were designed before Ricoh, but I am sure Ricoh collects the check.

[Uluru]

They still sell lenses with SDM.
Yes, they were designed before Ricoh, but I am sure Ricoh collects the check.

Statistically speaking, SDM is fine and is reliable or unreliable as any other lens type motor from other manufacturers.
Another problem is amplification and inflation of the problem beyond scale during the last several years, by Pentax users in online forums.
For that matter, a small brand like Pentax should invest time in taking an other approach, and deliver technology with updated specs, and a name. Coincidentally, the transition overlaps with transition to the new coating technology, and will be done at once.

[cali92rs]

Statistically speaking, SDM is fine and is reliable or unreliable as any other lens type motor from other manufacturers.
Another problem is amplification and inflation of the problem beyond scale during the last several years, by Pentax users in online forums.
For that matter, a small brand like Pentax should invest time in taking an other approach, and deliver technology with updated specs, and a name. Coincidentally, the transition overlaps with transition to the new coating technology, and will be done at once.

Statistically speaking? Where is the data? Do you have any written evidence? Have you had to return a lens multiple times only to have it fail yet again, like many users on this very board?

I really dislike posts like this because you make yourself sound so authoritative, yet you are just pulling this "statistically speaking" line right out of thin air with no proof.

If a brand as large as nikon or canon sold a lens that had the same failure rate as SDM there would be a class action suit like what happened with the D600.
.