Originally posted by Chris Mak Oh come on, like the last year has been anything other than lament over endlessly delayed primes, Pentax standing still, releasing nothing other than the KP, which went by almost unnoticed.
I know: now that CP+ is near, everyone expects great things, naturally. But after, it will be business as usual, or worse, when all the expectations have not been met. I am recalibrating my notion of what Pentax has become under Ricoh over the past years. Sorry if this raises offense with anyone.
Chris
Chris Mac - I’ve seen a number of your posts on this forum of the other in the last week or so. Your complaints about Ricoh/Pentax seem to boil down to the following.
You think the KP is intended as a top-of-the-line APS-C and it is not an acceptable successor to the K-3 ii
- The press release for the KP said in the very title that it was a “mid-class” camera. You can see it here:
PENTAX KP A mid-class digital SLR camera, featuring a new APS-C-sized image sensor and super-high-sensitivity night-scene snapshot photography at ISO 819200 in a newly designed, compact body?RICOH IMAGING
- The K-3 ii has coexisted with the KP for a whole year year. It has only just been discontinued, but remains available.
- I think it’s obvious from the marketing pages and video that the KP is targeting a different kind of photographer, and designed to be used with the smaller lenses, which are a long-standing Pentax selling point.
- The KP’s price peers are the Nikon D7500 and the Canon 80D. Comparison of those cameras shows the classic differences in build and capabilities between the brands, but I think on balance the KP is entirely competitive with them.
You think Ricoh is backing away from APS-C and focusing on full frame too much
- The last three products Ricoh released are APS-C products (K-70, 55-300PLM, KP), and of the two future lenses shown, one of them is a high-end APS-C lens.
- Pentax and the few people who seem to have some inside knowledge have stated that they will not reduce their commitment to APS-C.
- There are not many lenses on the APS-C roadmap. However, when APS-C lenses do come, they usually come without pre-announcement, because they are replacing an existing model.
- In comparison, Nikon has a very mixed history with DX format. It has formed a large part of their sales for 15 years, but they have bee pretty negligent in building a lens line-up for it. I just checked what they have and was shocked to see almost nothing but variable aperture zooms. Nikon’s line-up is notorious for frustrating APS-C users with crippled features and missing lenses to twist their arms into a full frame upgrade.
- On top of that, consider what would happen to Nikon F-mount APS-C development if a mirrorless system is announced at CP+ this year. My guess is new DX lenses development would practically dry up.
You want more communication from Ricoh about their future plans
- At least Ricoh has some kind of roadmap. You don’t see any more transparency from Canon or Nikon. They offer no indication of their future products. You only get that kind of transparency from companies when they are in a “system building” phase.
- Pentax APS-C is effectively a full system. Almost any future product that they let on to would have the potential to undermine the sales of a current one. So it doesn’t make sense to tease and leak information about new products. Full frame is a bit different, because there are some significant gaps that could deter system adoption without an indication that they will be filled in future. This is why you see more on the full frame roadmap.
- I think the issue is that the internet is just full of people who amuse themselves by trying to upset others with negative rumors. It’s not so much that Ricoh are bad at communication, as it is that the trolls are such prolific communicators - probably because they have nothing better to do than communicate. Ricoh can’t get into the business of responding to every negative supposition on the internet, because it would make the seem defensive and just fuel the discussion.
Ultimately, you seem to be building a case for yourself to switch to Nikon. It might be the best idea for you, especially if you find Sigma’s lens offerings attractive. You're unlikely to get them in K-mount. I’m not trying to convince you otherwise, but your commentaries on Ricoh are not really backed up by my observations.