[Cynog Ap Brychan]

This is just a quick example but I'm sure I can find others...

There are many. Today we have assault rifles, but people still find pleasure in shooting with bows; we have cars, lorries (trucks) and buses, but still people ride horses; we have supermarkets, but people still fish or grow their own produce in their gardens. If the enthusiasm is there, the product will be, too. Some people (myself included) just like optical viewfinders, but they may become a niche product. Who can tell?

[monochrome]

I dare say the manufacturing process behind a modern lens or dSLR - even that behind the mirror box and OVF - looks very little like rows of Japanese men sitting at assembly tables in short sleeves assembling them.

[bdery]

But the fact remains — nothing is happening.

Revamping the DA limiteds with new coatings
Releasing the long-requested 55-300 WR
Created and released the DA limited 20-40
Released the long-requested WR teleconverter.

Not to shabby in about 6 months.

I'm wondering just what new lenses people are desperately waiting for.

I wonder that too. What picture cannot currently be taken by a Pentax system?

EDIT:

For the record, Ricoh/Pentax is profitable, while for the last two years Nikon has not been. In fact Nikon are currently restructuring their company. The grass is not always greener...

[mecrox]

New technology always trumps embedded old technology eventually. It did when analog machines replaced labor in the early 20th C. It has when digital replaced analog technology. Often there is a rapid change when capital must be invested to replace amortized Plant and Equipment - there's less incentive to resist change then, less inertia.

By intuition, I believe in their own time Ricoh takes the mirrorless reins and leaves Pentax the mirrorboxes and optical viewfinders. Maybe they build out the GR line with interchangeble lenses, maybe FF GR, maybe something entirely new. Ricoh doesn't have much of a legacy to consider.

5 years is an eternity

The whole mirrorless/mirrorbox thang is skewed by the hegemony of Canon and Nikon, I would guess. They hold a lot of trump cards. Buying a standard DSLR from either of them is easy (they have the distribution), safe (tried and tested formula from a famous brand) and good value (MILCs have been costly by comparison, often very costly indeed). Imo, some of the makers of MILCs haven't made things easy for themselves by making their cameras far too complicated for most folks. "Retro" = a lot of dials and knobs = too much for a lot of folks who just want to take a picture but a better picture than a P&S will produce. At the higher end, MILCs don't or don't yet have the AF, the flash system or the lenses especially the long ones.

I guess we are all waiting for the tipping point so to speak: the point at which Canon and Nikon will have more $$$ to make by moving in than by staying out. When they make a serious move, things will rapidly change, I suppose. Some folks will always prefer an OVF which is fine, but I'd guess that so far the antipathy to MILCs in some quarters lies more in their cost and complexity than in anything else.

We know that Ricoh have been patenting designs for lenses for, perhaps, a GR-style mirrorless camera. They too are lining up the ammo. I can certainly see one opening against Fuji here: make it simple, post-retro and fair value, and, er, simple. Ricoh are also in a position to "de-mirror" the K-mount if they wish to, K-01 stylee roughly. I've no idea whether that would make sense but it's certainly an option. Fuji in contrast really have no choices at all, having already played their hand: it's the X system or bust.

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Last edited by mecrox; 05-26-2014 at 04:26 PM.

[normhead]

Revamping the DA limiteds with new coatings
Releasing the long-requested 55-300 WR
Created and released the DA limited 20-40
Released the long-requested WR teleconverter.

Not to shabby in about 6 months.



I wonder that too. What picture cannot currently be taken by a Pentax system?

EDIT:

For the record, Ricoh/Pentax is profitable, while for the last two years Nikon has not been. In fact Nikon are currently restructuring their company. The grass is not always greener...

A picture of a Pentax FF?

[Kunzite]

And what brand of camera would manage to do that?

[bdery]

My thought exactly.

And what would it change?

People who were complaining about the lack of a FF camera 2-3 years ago, saying that FF has more resolution and better noise control, can get all that from the K-3... The only agument favouring FF that I can think of is that it lets the Fa limiteds cover wider fields of view. But honestly... I don't care

[aurele]

And even if Pentax makes a FF, people will complain that there won't be enough lenses, that they won't be like the Canikon, etc ...

People loves to complain !

[normhead]

My thought exactly.

And what would it change?

People who were complaining about the lack of a FF camera 2-3 years ago, saying that FF has more resolution and better noise control, can get all that from the K-3... The only agument favouring FF that I can think of is that it lets the Fa limiteds cover wider fields of view. But honestly... I don't care

2 or 3 years ago, people were able to lie about stuff. These days for a landscape guy, I'll get almost identical results from my Sigma 8-16 as an FF guy with a D600 and 14-24, except he'll have paid twice as much for his kit. When anyone can go to Imaging Resource and see for themselves what the difference is, it makes it really hard to make out that a small difference is really a big difference.The fact that we have 24MP and 24 FF existing side by side has taken the wind out of a lot of FF sails. There will always be some for whom an FF camera is a must have piece of kit. And it's way better, now that they can see exactly what they are getting and for how much, by looking at D7100/K-3 photos compared to D600 series photos.

[monochrome]

Pentax will be far better off increasing the flash sync of the K3 (a shutter issue, mostly), further improving the AF, improving the noise handling at High ISO, fixing in-lens motors on the lens roadmap and doing a host of other little things with the APSc platform so that, if and when it ever makes sense, they can simply port the high-end APSc to a larger-sensor camera.

I'd rather they do that and introduce a D800 competitor later (and an upgraded 645) than have a D610 competitor now.

[Zygonyx]

And even if Pentax makes a FF, people will complain that there won't be enough lenses, that they won't be like the Canikon, etc ...

People loves to complain !

And french outmost

[thibs]

And french outmost

In general, yes. As for complaining about Pentax, it seems way more universal than a French thingie.
After all, France has a very nice marketshare numbers compared to a lot if not all other european countries.

[Daikokuya]

I dare say the manufacturing process behind a modern lens or dSLR - even that behind the mirror box and OVF - looks very little like rows of Japanese men sitting at assembly tables in short sleeves assembling them.

You should wear long sleeves in an assembly line to avoid unintended injury. Sweat could also interrupt machines and workflow.

[monochrome]

You should wear long sleeves in an assembly line to avoid unintended injury. Sweat could also interrupt machines and workflow.

Mark Hama assembling the Yashica Mat 124G

[goubejp]

And french outmost

Agreed