[Larrymc]

Not sure about the whole "truth" thing. The truth just seems to be that Pentax hasn't released cameras at a reasonable pace. As to why, it seems pretty speculative.

Maybe the release pace is reasonable to Ricoh/Pentax, to everyone in the peanut gallery it seems unreasonable.

[reh321]

Maybe the release pace is reasonable to Ricoh/Pentax, to everyone in the peanut gallery it seems unreasonable.

No Pentax {body} releases since the K-1ii certainly doesn’t feel “reasonable” in light of releases the few years before then.

added: I am also uneasy with the recent pace of releases of ‘not perfect’ lenses also.

[Larrymc]

No Pentax {body} releases since the K-1ii certainly doesn’t feel “reasonable” in light of releases the few years before then.

"Feel" reasonable to whom? Everyone who has an opinion and an internet connection??

[Rondec]

Maybe the release pace is reasonable to Ricoh/Pentax, to everyone in the peanut gallery it seems unreasonable.

I'm not really being critical. It just feels as though there is a certain pace they have to maintain to "keep up." Currently, I would have said that the K-1 II, 645Z, K-70 and K-3 II all needed to be replaced, in some order. Now, maybe the K-70 and 645Z are done and won't be replaced. Maybe we'll have the K-P and K-new and K-1 II for awhile, but everything seems to take a long time.

[Larrymc]

I'm not really being critical. It just feels as though there is a certain pace they have to maintain to "keep up." Currently, I would have said that the K-1 II, 645Z, K-70 and K-3 II all needed to be replaced, in some order. Now, maybe the K-70 and 645Z are done and won't be replaced. Maybe we'll have the K-P and K-new and K-1 II for awhile, but everything seems to take a long time.

Oh I agree, to most it seems nothing is getting done but from my short time owning Pentax DSLRs (from 2013) I think Ricoh/Pentax moves at their own pace which hardly ever gets altered by any "outsiders" complaints.

[PocketPixels]

Agreed. I think one body every year is certainly reasonable:

645 Medium format line: every four years (these seem to last a long time)
K-1 Full frame line: every two years (this is where most of the energy of the market seems to be, if we presume Ricoh won't return to the mirrorless space)
K-P/ K-3 line: Every three years
K-70 line: Every three years

That refresh rate would yield a new camera body about once per year. Anybody really think that pace seems frenetic or rushed? As a customer, even one who still loves his old K200D alongside his new(ish) K-S2, I think I'm reasonable to want a new camera every three years. I wouldn't feel profligate or trend-chasing to buy a new body every three years.

[Kunzite]

"Feel" reasonable to whom? Everyone who has an opinion and an internet connection??

Lol.

I don't think Ricoh Imaging is happy with their pace; but what can they do?
My guess (or wishful thinking) is that they were working hard on completely new cameras, while trying not to put Ricoh Imaging into red - particularly at a moment when Ricoh was analyzing all their departments.

[house]

I think the pace of bodies is much less of an issue than the pace of lenses. 5 year old cameras are still almost as good as new ones

[edri]

Except for the sensors, which have made great progress from year to year.
Fortunately, Pentax cameras had upgraded sensors for the time, they did not use outdated sensors to reduce costs, as others do.

[Serkevan]

Except for the sensors, which have made great progress from year to year.

Progress, certainly. "Great" is more debatable. APS-C sensors more or less plateaued 5 years ago after a decade of truly astounding gains. The only improvement of note between the Sony NEX-7 (2011) and the A6600 (2019) models is... ah yes, nothing. Both are 24 MP sensors. The NEX shoots 10 fps while the A6600 goes to 11 fps, but even that improvement was made in 2014 (5 years ago) with the A6000.


For full frame, it's a bit better but the K-1's 36MP sensor is still more than what most people need in sheer IQ. The only improvement made between its 2012 sensor and the Nikon D850 is the faster readout speed of the newer Nikon which gives more FPS - which admittedly is a valid need. I'm looking forward to the K-new for all our resident birders and sporty-humaners


The only sensors with truly, noticeably-in-real-life improved performance for still photography are the one in the hyper expensive A7RIV or the A9. And those are overkill for 99% of people*.

Video is another story, but the Panasonic GH5 is now 3 years old and still the benchmark for video, so... yeah, kinda not "great progress year to year".


*A lot of DPR readers might say they need them but we all know that "want" and "need" are completely different stuff.

[Rondec]

Lol.

I don't think Ricoh Imaging is happy with their pace; but what can they do?
My guess (or wishful thinking) is that they were working hard on completely new cameras, while trying not to put Ricoh Imaging into red - particularly at a moment when Ricoh was analyzing all their departments.

I understand that Ricoh has a "pay as you go" strategy. The problem is that sales wane pretty quickly. I'm sure that Pentax is still selling a few K70 cameras, but it is perceived as being older. Even the K-1 II is two years old and was only a refresh of an earlier design. You can't sell what you don't make.

That doesn't mean that Ricoh should emulate Nikon or Canon or Sony. Far from it. It is incumbent on them that every K mount camera makes a splash and has something special that makes it stand out. That probably means spacing between model releases, but the goal of one model a year should be reasonable, I would think.

Except for the sensors, which have made great progress from year to year.
Fortunately, Pentax cameras had upgraded sensors for the time, they did not use outdated sensors to reduce costs, as others do.

There is plenty of room for Pentax to upgrade their sensors, but I disagree about sensors making great progress from year to year. Certainly there has been some progress with regard to video performance and read out speed of sensors, but as Serkevan says, it really has plateaued. In particular, a camera like the A9 with its super-fast read out speed does significantly less well for applications that require more dynamic range. Photons to Photos shows exactly the same performance between the K-1 and D850 sensors (the K-1 II's looks better because of the accelerator, but we'll let that be).

For those of us focused on still photography, there has been way less improvement that what I could have hoped for. A few more megapixels (not enough to really print that much bigger) and higher frame rates seem to be all that they can think of to do with newer sensors and even those have likely hit a bit of a wall.

[Serkevan]

Yeah, for my needs even a 20-ish MP camera would suffice - I was "making do" with the K-7 and the resolution wasn't the reason I changed, but the noise. But then again I don't have an iota of interest in video.

[reh321]

I understand that Ricoh has a "pay as you go" strategy. The problem is that sales wane pretty quickly. I'm sure that Pentax is still selling a few K70 cameras, but it is perceived as being older. Even the K-1 II is two years old and was only a refresh of an earlier design. You can't sell what you don't make.

Even more serious than age to the K-70 is aperture control failure. I believe Pentax needs to put K-n0 naming and solenoid controlled aperture control behind them in order to put aperture control failures behind them.

[reh321]

I'm not really being critical. It just feels as though there is a certain pace they have to maintain to "keep up." Currently, I would have said that the K-1 II, 645Z, K-70 and K-3 II all needed to be replaced, in some order. Now, maybe the K-70 and 645Z are done and won't be replaced. Maybe we'll have the K-P and K-new and K-1 II for awhile, but everything seems to take a long time.

If the "K-3ii replacement" is as much of an improvement over K-3ii as implied, that might explain the two year gap in Pentax replacements - and we might see a return to the every year another new camera routine. Otherwise, we might have to get used to a slower pace.

[gatorguy]

Even more serious than age to the K-70 is aperture control failure. I believe Pentax needs to put K-n0 naming and solenoid controlled aperture control behind them in order to put aperture control failures behind them.

A serious problem. Ummm.... No.
A perception problem? Absolutely, reason enough to move beyond solenoid aperture control.

FWIW your persistent drum beat of "oh, noes, K-70 solenoid failure!" with near zero evidence that it's actually a reasonable likelihood is not helpful. Still we do agree the sooner that little piece of hardware goes away the better.

Opinions are slow to change, and dealing with claims of this or that based on... Well whatever it is. Hey it happened to someone once, proof enough for you.

Changing the hardware will be easier than changing minds.

And why is this even being discussed in a thread about the HD DFA50?? Aren't there enough discussion threads about it already without taking over another one?