Originally posted by LightBug So you are saying "Pentax is Doomed"?!
Well not if they come with a good camera priced below D750. There is a market for such a camera. Lots of hobbyist that use Pentax or people who have gone to other brands but still have some older k-mount lenses from film days at home doing nothing.
Originally posted by Rondec I would just say that Ricoh isn't dumb. They will release a camera that has the best auto focus they can muster along with every feature they can think to throw at it otherwise -- pixel shift/astro tracer/IBIS. The release price will probably be pretty expensive, but they won't hesitate to drop it pretty quickly if they need to in order to move units.
Pixel shift is a gimmick to me. The astro traceren is for a very small market segment. Yes you sell some camera's, but not many for this specificaties type of photography. IBIS is also in Sony 7 series, so it has to be really good. Maybe they can license the IBIS from Sony, that would lots cheaper then designing it themselves.
Originally posted by monochrome This is where your argument falls apart. Ricoh specifically WON'T offer comparable cameras. Why bother? We already have comparable cameras.
Pentax is an alternative - difference mix of features. If a buyer wants / needs a CaNikon, by all means go ahead and just get one.
The oddballs of Pentax like K-01 and K-S1 weren't to succesfilm in the market, even if they are great camera's. People do like some old fashion style.
Originally posted by DennisH Well, they gave it a good run. Often products need to be released (or announced) before they fail, but it's nice that we don't have to go through all that nonsens.
They presented in februari a brick looking like a normal style dslr. Wich it probably is going to be. The difference is going to be in wich sensor, wich processor and at what price, but lots of it would be like a buffed up K-3.
Originally posted by DeadJohn That doesn't make sense to me. Why did Ricoh purchase Pentax, then? I'm curious to hear your theory.
Ricoh purchases Pentax at a time that the market for camera's and dslr's was still good. Since 2011 that market has collapsed. Ricoh is a global company with over 200 different working company's. One of them is the little camera division. The camera division is the only business that is a consumer orientaded business while all others are b2b. Local Ricoh business has nothing to do with the camera branche. And also doesn't do anything with them. So if some Ricoh business hire a photographer to do a Job, it is someone working in their area and the chance of that being someone with a Pentax is minimal. And not needed, as long as the images are good for the purpose needed, who cares if it's a Nikon or Canon used.
Originally posted by Dan Rentea K-3 (and/or K-3 II which I have) it is a serious competitor to Canon 7D Mark II, or to Nikon D7100/D7200 in image quality and build quality, I do agree with you here.
It lags behind in:
- Af, but it is visible for me only with tracking subjects. If the subjects stand still, the Af is very fast and precise
- flash system (sync speed up to 1/250s on Canon and Nikon, 1/180 on Pentax K-3/K-3 II)
- triggers to control flashes in HSS and/or TTL
- lenses (SDM makes me sick on DA* lenses, and they are very slow) and screw drive is very noisy on the other lenses
- service (if camera fails on you)
Yes Pentax makes great camera's, but your list does make a big difference for lots of people, or for reviews online.