Originally posted by reh321 My point was that we don't know that a "massive leap" is necessary for 'success'. I don't know how their pricing is planned, nor do I know what kind of volume will be needed to reach their goals. We have already been told that the Pentax staff is excited about this camera, so they must think it good; their base of customers seems more than ready for this camera - I just wish it would be ready about five months earlier.
I agree with that. However, I think it’s well-established that there are several areas where a significant improvement is required. Perhaps “massive leap” is overstating it, but the perception is as important as the reality in customer terms. While people talk a lot about AF performance, I personally don’t have a great issue with the K-1’s abilities there, but more and better is always good to have, and it’s important to match the best of your competition where you can.
Nonetheless, as I said elsewhere, here, having this model stand out in some way is fairly important to achieve sales sufficient to power the next body development, whichever format it might be in. That’s what I’d be counting as “success”, because it’s critical to have the cash flow to keep the brand viable. What that actually means in sales numbers and nett profit, I have no idea.