Originally posted by bxf A few comments:
Size of KP may not appear to be different from preceding models, but body is thinner and lower in most places. It's just the maximum dimensions that are similar and lead to incorrect conclusions when comparing numbers only to other models.
Retro does not necessarily mean similar to old Pentax models. I find the KP having an outline that reminds me of Contax RTS bodies, for example.
Mirrorbox dictates the minimum size. But the Contax RTS came out in the 70s ... it just borrowed design from 20 years of predecessors (largely Contax themselves but also Pentax who 'borrowed' design from Contax very early on [see Pentax AP]).
It is interesting how the originators/innovators, it seems sometimes, are not the long term leaders in a market.
If you went to photography club, you could mention Contax and get blank stares all day. It was the companies that took designs from other companies, and further built off the previous designs, that we know today.
Originally posted by bxf We need to stop assuming that each new body is intended to satisfy the requirements/desires of enthusiasts. The only thing that seems wrong with this camera is that it may be overpriced for "common" users. Feature wise, it probably more than meets their requirements.
Well the issue, again, with this specific camera is it was relayed to us initially as THE enthusiast body.
And, again, that information has been corrected by Ricoh directly.
There wouldn't have been such a furor had that bit of early (false) info not been stated. There wasn't a big panic due to the K-70 launch, nor the K-S2, or even the K-50. Because, from the start, it was never stated by anyone that they were intended to replace the enthusiast body in the line up.
In short, the reality isn't as you make it out to be -- 'we' can accept different tiers.
The other issue was/is the price which is coming in higher than any mid-tier has in recent history thus far at launch (which also added weight to the early claims that this was the replacement enthusiast body in the line up).
However, None of our praise or criticism is going to affect it. Only our buying (or not) decision will. We will see in 6 months what the market really thought of KP.