[Rondec]

Wrong way...
No. K-3 is mid-range. Is K-3 higher than D7500 or D500?

Ricoh has no high-end and andvanced APS-C cameras

For Nikon

Professional D5
High-end D850 D750
Advanced D500, D610

Mid-range D7500
Upper-entry D5600
Entry-level D3400

At the point at which it was released, the K3 matched up pretty well versus the D7200 and even the 7D, which were the top APS-C cameras from Nikon and Canon respectively. Since then there are D500 and 7D II cameras which leave it in the dust, but those are more recent developments.

[monochrome]

The problem is that Sony basically controls the CMOS chip market. What ever happened to the RGBW CMOS chip that Sony was supposed to be making? That chip was supposed to improve dynamic range and reduce noise levels at higher isos. That is why I was hopeful that Samsung would increase chip production and offer another alternative to Sony. Without competition, innovation stagnates.

It isn’t quite that simple.

Corporate ‘Know How’ is an asset. How much corporate Know How (corporate investment) does Ricoh have optimizing Sony CMOS sensor output? They’re supposedly the best at it, and have designed a proprietary substrate to enhance their data handling.

What would it cost to throw that all away and start over?

[monochrome]

To get back on topic, the quote of an article published today by Digital Photography Review:


CP+ 2018 interviews: The reign of the DSLR is almost over...: Digital Photography Review

Given beholders3’s interesting polynomial analysis of dSLR / MILC sales trends over a long=term (not just cherry-picking the steep parts of the curves) perhaps Ricoh will get lucky and dSLR : MILC sales ratio will settle at 2:1. Maybe they’ve known all along they don’t have the capital an experience to ‘gear up’ for a mirrorless offering and they’re just trying to stay afloat long enough to get there.

Or maybe Ricoh will pull a typical Pentax rabbit out of the hat with the ‘evolved’ K-3 series or the next 645.

[Vantage-Point]

Sony tends to give Pentax the "technological scraps" , chips that are usually 6 to 12 months (or older in the case of the K-1) after they are released. These chips are usually the standard version of the chip unlike Nikon who gets custom versions of the same chip. Pentax knows how to adapt them and tries to get the most out of them. If Pentax was dealing with Samsung, they could probably get CMOS chips that were more state of the art that they could probably get more performance out of. What if together they could come up with a solution to have on board PDAF without banding? Sony is developing new technology (global shutter) but seems slow to share it with Pentax.

[surfar]

dSLR : MILC sales ratio will settle at 2:1.

Thats possible considering that 2017 figures for M/L were well above other years.However, with CaNik getting ready to attack $$$ony and try to claim some clients back, my guess is we will see a reasonable uptake of the FF M/Ls that gets announced later this year.2019 figures will give us some indication.

maybe Ricoh will pull a typical Pentax rabbit out of the hat with the ‘evolved’ K-3 series or the next 645.

In 645 territory they need more than a RABBIT!...Fuji is expanding rapidly,a cheeeep body coming soon(U$3500-4500is rumoured) and the 100mp ten$k GFX in 2019.The next Pentax Apsc will be interesting and RI need to be a bit more informative about it,otherwise theres lots of other options.

---------- Post added 04-09-18 at 09:02 AM ----------

If Pentax was dealing with Samsung, Yes and will they deal with them???

[Fcsnt54]

Thats possible considering that 2017 figures for M/L were well above other years.However, with CaNik getting ready to attack $$$ony and try to claim some clients back, my guess is we will see a reasonable uptake of the FF M/Ls that gets announced later this year.2019 figures will give us some indication.

In 645 territory they need more than a RABBIT!...Fuji is expanding rapidly,a cheeeep body coming soon(U$3500-4500is rumoured) and the 100mp ten$k GFX in 2019.The next Pentax Apsc will be interesting and RI need to be a bit more informative about it,otherwise theres lots of other options.

I was compairing the lens lineup between pentax 645 and fuji g mounts, the one thing that stood out was fuji was pushing heavy for this format, and well pentax is lagging a little bit. Main page pentax was only advertising 5 lenses, also when looking at all of pentax offerings in only the 645 mount, they placed k mount lenses in there. Fuji is quickly picking up steam in the medium format section, their rumored lenses look very intriguing that they will be coming out with in the next year or two, with those cheap bodies, they should be gaining more segments, especially if they improve the autofocus from the gfx 50s and improve the evf. Also although some might frown upon it, but the use of full frame lenses (fully af canon lenses), is a nice touch as well.

I will say though, ricoh is positioning themselves pretty well not getting tangled up in the mirrorless wars. I mean pretty much they will be the last dslr commited company, which should grab some more people from the other groups. Especially with the improvements that people have reported with the update of the k-1.

[monochrome]

Sony tends to give Pentax the "technological scraps" , chips that are usually 6 to 12 months (or older in the case of the K-1) after they are released. These chips are usually the standard version of the chip unlike Nikon who gets custom versions of the same chip. Pentax knows how to adapt them and tries to get the most out of them. If Pentax was dealing with Samsung, they could probably get CMOS chips that were more state of the art that they could probably get more performance out of. What if together they could come up with a solution to have on board PDAF without banding? Sony is developing new technology (global shutter) but seems slow to share it with Pentax.

Sony will sell anything to anyone at any time with no product embargoes. For a price. Ricoh can’t pay the price and sell a FF full-featured body for $2,000. Nikon can spec a ‘custom’ sensor, add a faster shutter and some $3 peripherals and get $3,300.

.:

[surfar]

(fully af canon lenses),

Yes, theres plenty available used that do pretty good, as well as adapting to 645,they can adapt to X mount too.

So,i'm waiting to see what happens later this year.A recent firmware update created crop mode(FF 35mm) for the 50S,so the 50R will come loaded that way.Some critise Fuji for not having FF,but they have now!

[SSGGeezer]

Sony will sell anything to anyone at any time with no product embargoes. For a price. Ricoh can’t pay the price and sell a FF full-featured body for $2,000. Nikon can spec a ‘custom’ sensor, add a faster shutter and some $3 peripherals and get $3,300.

.:

I thought Nikon went to a different sensor fabrication company. I think Sony is brand agnostic if it allows full production levels at their fabs.

[monochrome]

I thought Nikon went to a different sensor fabrication company. I think Sony is brand agnostic if it allows full production levels at their fabs.

There was a rumor about Nikon but I’ve never read a certain declaration - like someone tore one down a D850 and looked.

[Clarkey]

What I gather, without C-Suite level knowledge, is that when Ricoh the parent took the empty compact camera plant away from Ricoh Imaging and transferred it to Automotive Vision, that reduced Imaging’s production capacity such that they can schedule production only for three OVF dSLR’s concurrently. This means two bodies will always be ‘in development’. Right now those two are the next 645 and the next APSc flagship. Both bodies are probably waiting for the next sensor availability.

At this time, even if Ricoh has chosen to produce a MILC and has started d velopment, it is probably years away and would probably have to replace something. It will be interesting, in that regard, to see what ‘evolution of K-3 series’ means.

I just think it would be a huge risk for Pentax to drop OVF APSc flagship bodies for a technology they probably don’t fully understand and a production process they’d need to design from a white sheet.

They’re simply not large enough to enter MILC. They don’t have the production capacity, much less the catalog of production process experience.

Unless they partially, or completely outsource production for the camera unit.I guess that possibility is low, given corporate heritage.

No mention of the Q series, which is a pity; it does seem to be truly dead.

I'm very interested to see what they update the GR with.

---------- Post added 04-08-2018 at 09:43 PM ----------

Sony tends to give Pentax the "technological scraps" , chips that are usually 6 to 12 months (or older in the case of the K-1) after they are released. These chips are usually the standard version of the chip unlike Nikon who gets custom versions of the same chip. Pentax knows how to adapt them and tries to get the most out of them. If Pentax was dealing with Samsung, they could probably get CMOS chips that were more state of the art that they could probably get more performance out of. What if together they could come up with a solution to have on board PDAF without banding? Sony is developing new technology (global shutter) but seems slow to share it with Pentax.

Lots of water under the Samsung bridge, but yes, they would be another option. It is now very unlikely to be Toshiba.

[monochrome]

Unless they partially, or completely outsource production for the camera unit.I guess that possibility is low, given corporate heritage.

No mention of the Q series, which is a pity; it does seem to be truly dead.

I think the Q lenses were made by Cosina Copal (second time I’ve made this error) and the cameras were assembled in the compact camera facility that was closed down, then declared Impaired by Ricoh and transferred to B2B.

So yes, dead.

[ogl]

At the point at which it was released, the K3 matched up pretty well versus the D7200 and even the 7D, which were the top APS-C cameras from Nikon and Canon respectively. Since then there are D500 and 7D II cameras which leave it in the dust, but those are more recent developments.

Nikon D7500 vs Pentax K-3 Detailed Comparison
K-3II can hardly compete with D7500...GPS, Pixel-shift and astrotracer are rather special advantages.

Canon 7DII is older than K-3II !!! Announced on September, 2014.
K-3II is announced on April, 23, 2015.

Nikon D500 was announced on January, 5, 2016.

[Jonathan Mac]

How often should a company make new camera models? One new model every 6 months? 1 year? 2 years? 4 years? more?

My surprise is that they're starting the process after the older model, the K-3 II, has been discontinued.

[ogl]

My surprise is that they're starting the process after the older model, the K-3 II, has been discontinued.

I think they are cunning in answers