Originally posted by Serkevan Absolutely agree: the funniest thing is that "built like a tank" implies heavy and metal, but if we get modern, fighting vehicles use polymeric (read, plastics, but advanced, well-engineered ones) and ceramic materials even more than steel. In general back in the 70s and 80s metal stuff was better machined, but nowadays...
The main problem would be that VERY good plastics are not necessarily cheap.
Right. But for cameras it has to be considered that they are more and more connected devices. This means they need antennas, for BT, Wifi and GPS reception, the electronic compass for astrotracer etc... You cant host all that in a Faraday cage, thus the K1 and KP having polycarbonate upper parts.
And I would not underestimate the advantage of -cleverly used - not metal materials. Beside the weight advantage they might also offer protection, a metal part would transfer impact power in the case of a fall to inner parts of the camera that might bend. A polycarbonate cover might break, but can be replaced and might have damped all the stress.
Nevertheless, the GPS prism housing could be made of carbon fibre, but this might be just over the top.