[reh321]

Sounds like a great opportunity to do a KP-J conversion,
or maybe that should be KP-IN?

I actually thought of that - the broken piece is included in the area covered by their "hat" - but my understanding is that they'll be selling these as complete units, not as kits. Did I hear wrong?

[reh321]

Quite so. I often think that members here fail to understand that there are always new generations of young people who will buy a brand new system in their life one day. They are not a bunch of retirees who claim to have been shooting Pentax since the 70s and there's "no need to upgrade, you see". So what will Pentax offer to the newcomers if it doesn't bring out cameras and their old ones are discontinued?

Why do you think there are always new TVs and vacuum cleaners in production? It's not like I need a new TV every 6 months, but there are young people, settling in life who need a new TV for their house or apartment and a vacuum cleaner as well

I don't believe there would be nearly so much interest in this issue if the K-3ii were still on store shelves. Pentax clearly had some kind of issue that prevented their getting a new model out, and now they have nothing in the segment that gets the most interest here.

[Rondec]

Is a new camera needed? No.

I do think there are a lot of little areas that can be tweaked with current cameras to make them "better." For instance, keep the KP form factor, but shoe horn better specs with regard to buffer size, and improve auto focus a bit and give it a couple of card slots. Video isn't important to us here, but it is probably time for Pentax to start including 4K video on their cameras.

Similar kinds of improvements for the K-1 II -- a little better frame rate and buffer size, better video specs, work on hand held pixel shift to make it speedier and give it support with DCU to allow post processing after the fact.

Sometimes you just have to release something because the market expects it and gear that is several years out from release date doesn't sell as well as recently released gear.

[RonHendriks1966]

When I look at all the new models other camera makers bring out in 2019......well then there is little need to bring in a big bang from Pentax. 2019 is a slow year by all means.

[reh321]

Is a new camera needed? No.

Is a new camera needed, yes!

Right now Pentax is manufacturing two "advanced" cameras; it turns out that a needs of many customers are not met by either.
Among the needs I remember are

1. At least 24mp

2. At least 8 fps

3. 'Large' buffer

4. Top LCD

5. Two memory slots

6. 'Extended' battery life

The K-1ii in 'FF' mode misses #2, which is very important to some users.
The K-1ii in 'crop' mode seriously misses #1.

The KP misses many of these.

[JPT]

I think a lot of confusion stems from the misconception that Ricoh is replacing models or even cutting down. Ricoh seems to be realigning models and extending their lines over time.

The K-1 was not replacing anything - it was a new line. The K-S1 caused a lot of fuss when it came out, because it was assumed to be a K-50 replacement. It turned out that that line continued in the K-S1 and K-70 had been attempt at a different type of camera. The KP was not a direct replacement for the K-3 series, and neither will the new high-end APS-C camera from what I hear. The Z1 extends that line higher.

My expectation (without inside info) is that the next three cameras will be the K-70 replacement, a high-end D500-like camera, and a new 645 camera above the 645z, but with the 645z staying as an entry MF camera. Only one of these is an obvious replacement.

Then I expect whatever tech is in the “Pentax D500” to show up in a new FF camera above the K-1 about a year after.

I realize you can also point to cameras like the K-1ii, the Theta SC, the GR III and others as more obvious replacement cameras, so Ricoh does do it. However, I often see people go into “Does not compute” mode when Ricoh comes out with something a bit different to what came before, and make some rather strange assumptions about what it means.

By the way, I don’t think anyone associated with Ricoh said what the NEXT camera would or wouldn’t be at CP+. There was a fair amount of talk about the high-end APS-C camera, but the impetus to talk about that came from the questioners.

[reh321]

I do think there are a lot of little areas that can be tweaked with current cameras to make them "better." For instance, keep the KP form factor, but shoe horn better specs with regard to buffer size, and improve auto focus a bit and give it a couple of card slots.

I wonder how users would react to two micro-SD slots instead of one SD slot. I switched to them a month ago because my new laptop computer can read them only - they aren't as much of a bother as I had expected.

[Kunzite]

Is a new camera needed? No.

Needed by whom?
By you? From your own post I'd say no.
By me? What is "need"? Do I even "need" the K-1 II? What I know is that I'll upgrade it, at a point.
By Ricoh Imaging? Absolutely: they need to sell, and for that they need new products.

---------- Post added 26-06-19 at 04:10 PM ----------

I wonder how users would react to two micro-SD slots instead of one SD slot.

Badly.

[reh321]

Needed by whom?
By Ricoh Imaging? Absolutely: they need to sell, and for that they need new products.

By vocal members here.
When I first joined, I heard multiple "I need full frame so my 50mm acts like a 50mm"
Now I hear many more complaints about the vacant shelf space formerly occupied by the K-3ii.

Me, I'm happier than I have been in many years.
I am 71 years old - I may never purchase another camera.
My KP is all that I could want.
If it were to die, I have the K-30 as backup, the first time I have had a backup since the Age of Film.
If both fail, I could fall back on the Q-7, as I did four years ago when my Rebel died.

[photoptimist]

I'm surprised that camera makers don't follow the new product introduction strategies of car makers who always introduce a new model each year with minor tweaks and upgrades. With cars, everyone knows a 2019 model will appear, but no one expects it to revolutionize the automobile and obsolete all the 2018 models. 2019 cars are not must-have upgrades, they are just fresh product.

As digital camera technology has matured, the era of "gamechangers" has ended. All of today's cameras do a great job within their price categories. More megapickles, more FPS, more focus points don't really change the the image-making usability camera as much as the marketers and fanbois think. No one can claim that new images on Flickr/Instagram/500px/etc. made with the latest cameras are somehow better than the images made with 5 year-old cameras.

Even the R&D costs of the new models can be kept low with simple upgrades that don't really change the basic design or manufacturing system such as adding 20% more clock speed, 50% larger buffer, swapping white LEDs for green ones to illuminate the OVF information panel, etc. Cosmetic changes such as body color, button color, body texture are also low cost ways of creating a "fresh" model.

[biz-engineer]

By Ricoh Imaging? Absolutely: they need to sell, and for that they need new products.

More sales can be achieved without new products. Promotion to new customers, workshops, white papers , articles, all these things indirectly generate sales.
Some companies most successful and most profitable products have been designed twenty years ago.

---------- Post added 26-06-19 at 15:24 ----------

Fuji are doing it right, they help financially some pro photographers to setup workshops for beginners provided with a Fuji X kit. There is one in my area, and Fuji have been successful to build up new customers.

[reh321]

As digital camera technology has matured, the era of "gamechangers" has ended. All of today's cameras do a great job within their price categories. More megapickles, more FPS, more focus points don't really change the the image-making usability camera as much as the marketers and fanbois think. No one can claim that new images on Flickr/Instagram/500px/etc. made with the latest cameras are somehow better than the images made with 5 year-old cameras.

More sales can be achieved without new products. Promotion to new customers, workshops, white papers , articles, all these things indirectly generate sales.
Some companies most successful and most profitable products have been designed twenty years ago.

Pentax's basic issue is the empty shelf space where the K-3ii used to be, and zero explanation from them. I still believe - cannot "prove" - that their original thought had been that the K-1 and KP "spanned" {Math term} what the market wanted, but that hasn't worked out. I don't believe we would be having this discussion if they were still selling the K-3ii.

[Kunzite]

By vocal members here.
When I first joined, I heard multiple "I need full frame so my 50mm acts like a 50mm"
Now I hear many more complaints about the vacant shelf space formerly occupied by the K-3ii.

We should separate the people who need the absence of a new model (in order to complain), and those who need or simply want a new model.
OTOH the K-1 was a success - whatever the reason.

---------- Post added 26-06-19 at 04:47 PM ----------

More sales can be achieved without new products. Promotion to new customers, workshops, white papers , articles, all these things indirectly generate sales.
Some companies most successful and most profitable products have been designed twenty years ago.

---------- Post added 26-06-19 at 15:24 ----------

Fuji are doing it right, they help financially some pro photographers to setup workshops for beginners provided with a Fuji X kit. There is one in my area, and Fuji have been successful to build up new customers.

Promoting old products is a waste of money. There's no "most successful and most profitable" consumer camera which was designed 20 years ago.
And as you know, Fujifilm is launching new models all the time.

[DeadJohn]

Versus a pool of FUD? <lighthearted wordplay>

Mud, FUD, DUD: Doom, Uncertainty, & Doubt.

[Rondec]

I'm surprised that camera makers don't follow the new product introduction strategies of car makers who always introduce a new model each year with minor tweaks and upgrades. With cars, everyone knows a 2019 model will appear, but no one expects it to revolutionize the automobile and obsolete all the 2018 models. 2019 cars are not must-have upgrades, they are just fresh product.

As digital camera technology has matured, the era of "gamechangers" has ended. All of today's cameras do a great job within their price categories. More megapickles, more FPS, more focus points don't really change the the image-making usability camera as much as the marketers and fanbois think. No one can claim that new images on Flickr/Instagram/500px/etc. made with the latest cameras are somehow better than the images made with 5 year-old cameras.

Even the R&D costs of the new models can be kept low with simple upgrades that don't really change the basic design or manufacturing system such as adding 20% more clock speed, 50% larger buffer, swapping white LEDs for green ones to illuminate the OVF information panel, etc. Cosmetic changes such as body color, button color, body texture are also low cost ways of creating a "fresh" model.

I think the issue is that you don't want to release so many models that you are "selling against yourself." Nikon has enough models of 3xxx and 5xxx cameras out that are still available that it becomes both confusing to the consumers and depresses the price of newly released models.

Furthermore, it could be problematic if people buy a camera and a new one is released with features that seem more like upgraded firmware than hardware upgrades. K-1 users were upset that the K-1 II auto focus update wasn't released for the K-1 as a firmware upgrade (not sure if it was possible, but people thought it could have been ported over separate from the accelerator chip upgrade).

I think with the right upgrade cycle -- say two years for minor upgrade and four for major one, it could work, but I who really knows?