[davidsladek]

Well, here you have it
announced on 18th
pre-order only till April
Yet, according to BCN, it already reached 75th place in the week up to 21st March
??????????????? - BCN?????????
looks like a ride

[RonHendriks1966]

That is nice. In reality not that many pre-orders, but they add up till the release date.

[Cynog Ap Brychan]

I'll probably pre-order mine a bit closer to the release date so I won't have to wait so long (if that makes any sense at all!).

[bilybianca]

I'll have an opportunity to hold and try one next Saturday on the Hässleholm Nature Photo Festival, and it's very likely I preorder mine there and then. Just want to check how easy (or not!) it is to focus my A* 85mm f1.4 with the supposedly-not-exchangeable-bright-matte-screen before making my final decision.

Kjell

[JPT]

On there kakaku.com ranking it's currently at #6.

http://s.kakaku.com/camera/digital-slr-camera/ranking_0049/

Kakaku.com is for online sales, and smaller brands like Pentax tend to rank higher than they do on BCN.

[Cyril_K5]

On there kakaku.com ranking it's currently at #6.

http://s.kakaku.com/camera/digital-slr-camera/ranking_0049/

Kakaku.com is for online sales, and smaller brands like Pentax tend to rank higher than they do on BCN.

Interesting. Are these based on Japanese sales figures or worldwide?

[Kunzite]

Japanese.

[asahi man]

Big problem for Pentax is the current number of production,it is less than half of the regular number and maybe from august Sony can produce the regular quantity.
Best regards

[Adam]

Big problem for Pentax is the current number of production,it is less than half of the regular number and maybe from august Sony can produce the regular quantity.
Best regards

Seems to still be selling out at that rate. Better availability would be nice but I'm sure they're doing everything they can (for their own good!).

[Uluru]

Seems to still be selling out at that rate. Better availability would be nice but I'm sure they're doing everything they can (for their own good!).

Asahiman's explanation doesn't hold water because that is not how Japanese manufacturing is done.
Before commencing production, Ricoh had projected a certain figure and ordered enough components for seamless production, accounting for its flagship product up to 6 months of delays from a sensor manufacturer. That means at least one whole year of production has been covered with with components ordered and ready.

Ricoh is simply too cautious to produce more than originally planned because it puts burden or other planned production, new projects, etc. If demand for K-1 is there, they will only raise production rate slowly and taking all other lines in account. Considering how insignificant number of Pentax FF cameras is sold compared to Sony and Nikon FF cameras together, that such a minute extra demand from Pentax will cause "serious issues" for Sony is not plausible.

[joergens.mi]

Do you really think, they put material for a year in stock, I think they are working on a typical just in time strategy where the suppliers are "forced" to deliver at the right time. No finance Manager will accept that much "dead money" in stock. Under normal circumstances the suppliers deliver on time.The earth quake is an "extraordinary" event Sony has to recover from,

[Uluru]

Do you really think, they put material for a year in stock, I think they are working on a typical just in time strategy where the suppliers are "forced" to deliver at the right time. No finance Manager will accept that much "dead money" in stock. Under normal circumstances the suppliers deliver on time.The earth quake is an "extraordinary" event Sony has to recover from,

Their FF production run is negligible compared to FF offers of others.
Production of K-1 was planned during the 2015. For a small manufacturer, keeping in stock 6,000 or 9,000 sensors is not much of a difference, but if demand asks for projected 15,000 units, well, that affects the entire production lines. Sensors are not the problem here, but extra pressure on production lines.

[rawr]

Sensors are not the problem here

Hmmm. Sensors seem the root of the problem.

Earthquake ... Sony sensor fabs damaged ... no sensors for a while for Pentax, Nikon, and others = JIT supply chains disrupted. Modern supply chains run very lean, after all.

Same thing has happened to other supply chains recently - eg a lot of the auto industry was disrupted world-wide after the 2011 tsunami, due to a few strategic component suppliers being washed out.

Even without disasters, everyone seems to keep minimal inventory of stuff nowadays. Anecdotally, there is evidence that Pentax repairs are caught up in this all the time - waiting for a just-in-time trickle of parts from Japan. Ditto for lenses - I remember a few years ago having to wait for about 4 months before stock became available locally for my DA*300. I got the distinct feeling at the time that Pentax only made some lenses once they got enough orders to justify making a new batch. If they had thousands of those lenses sitting around in warehouses by the docks, Pentax would surely have shipped the lens quicker.

[Uluru]

Hmmm. Sensors seem the root of the problem.

Earthquake ... Sony sensor fabs damaged ... no sensors for a while for Pentax, Nikon, and others = JIT supply chains disrupted. Modern supply chains run very lean, after all.

That is superficial excuse. Ricoh had enough sensors for projected output.

Real problem is the new demand and organising the production around that demand. For example, if the new demand is 30% higher than projected, it doesn't mean Ricoh needs 30% more sensors (they have them), but Ricoh needs to find out how to expand production capacities by 30% while keeping everything else going on smoothly! Those 30% must include shifts of other planned production. It's an operational chaos, so Ricoh is playing safe, and produces only as much as they can. If thy want to keep the same level of quality, the production cannot be hurried up (like Fujifilm did with X100, and blew the entire runs, which had to be returned back). Ricoh may, say, go 5-10% above normative, but 30% is simply too much.
In other words, they say, "Sorry, we are not Fuji to compromise on you, so you will have to wait. But if you love the K-1, the wait will be worth it."

[beholder3]

Do you really think, they put material for a year in stock,

Nobody does, not even the least bright ones. While certainly they don't do JIT either, I'd be surprised if anyone coughed up a proof of them holding stock of their single most expensive part for more then 2-3 weeks.
They do know full well that it is even more in the interest of Sony to get those sensors to them asap.