Originally posted by Pål Jensen That seem to be the smartest thing to do at this point. The competition is selling well of entry level models; ie Sonys latest sales surge is due to their entry level effords. Also, the competition is going FF and Pentax need to signalize in what direction their high-end is going.....
If they do show a FF model, it will be more of a "smoke and mirrors" gesture than anything else. The market is not going FF in any major way, it's actually a very small percentage of sales, only the rhetoric is growing!
What is actually growing is the overall D-SLR market, mainly APS-C and even 4/3rds. The fact that Canon are due to announce the 15.1MP 50D very soon
Canon 50D - Digital Camera Reviews, News and Resources | Photography Bay and also Nikon with their long awaited 12MP D90
Nikon D90 - Official Images Leaked - Digital Camera Reviews, News and Resources | Photography Bay, plus Sony's continued push at the bottom end of the APS-C market is clear evidence of this. There is no doubt that the Sony FF and also the 5D replacement will appear, but I doubt if either will be released at Photokina, I believe it will be PMA next year.
Pentax would actually do better to concentrate on their core base business with a higher end APS-C model (above D300 and E3 and also the basis for any FF model), plus upgrade the existing K20D to be at the D300 and E3 level or be nearer the 50D in terms of shutter speed/fps/flash sync etc., and the K200D with the 450D and the upcoming D90.
I have some apprehension that the upcoming KxxxxD may be too little and too late to compete at the entry point, even the cheapest models from C, N, Sony and Oly outspec the K200D in several areas. In fact the existing K200D is now behind the other entry point models in all but one or two areas, notably weather sealing.
Personally I hope that the new entry model has a CMOS sensor with LV, and that they also announce an upgrade for the K200D using the Samsung 14.6MP sensor and also upgrade the K20D to be in line with the (anticipated) 50D and D90 specs.
I believe it would be totally sensible for Pentax to use the 14.6MP sensor across the board and just vary the body designs and features for model differentiation. That would be in line with their reputed philosophy of IQ before gizmos.
However, in the true Pentax tradition of being late to the table, which is not neccessarily a wholly bad thing, I suspect that we will have to wait until the competition have been selling their new models for a few months before we see anything like this happen - C'est la Vie!