[lesmore49]

This is decidedly aggressive product releasing from Ricoh.
Hopefully they aren't just doing this because they know their base is made up of people in God's waiting room and they want to cash in on us before we cash in our chips.

Ohh geez....but then I looked at my birth certificate. Maybe you do have a point.

One of the absolutely best cars I ever had, was our late, lamented (traded in this year) big, 2007, 6 passenger sedan Buick. Going to the Buick dealer, yes I will admit many of the customers awaiting their Buicks to be serviced...were in the older demographic. Much like probably many Pentaxians.

Sad to say as we had it for 13 years, no rust, reliable, durable, comfortable, quiet in the extreme and that big Buick ( 90 degree 3.8 liter V6) could really move...and I'm a guy who used to race at the drag strip many moons ago.

Same deal, whether Pentax or Buick...they have this non cool image, while in reality being some of the best products in their categories.

[Kunzite]

I guess the question in my mind isn't whether the K-New competes with Fuji or Oly. Or even Sony, as their A9 is clearly targeted way up market.

It's more can it compete with the D500? This is a 4 yr old high end APS-C DSLR. Basically exactly what Pentax seems to be aiming for. The D500 is regarded as the best focusing camera short of the A9s and the pro-level Nikons and Canons. And well built, good lens selection, and a tilt screen.

Seems like if the K-New can't at least equal the D500 capabilities, pretty much the market will be limited to existing Pentax people upgrading. People wanting to go mirrorless will go mirrorless, but I'd think if one is looking for a high-end APSC sports/wildlife DSLR body, the D500 is the obvious alternative, and should be the benchmark.

Competing isn't the same as at least equaling another product's strong points. Competing isn't the same as offering the best AF system on the market.
Pentax managed to compete with the K-1. They will manage to compete - on different terms - with the K-new.
I'd say, soon after they will release it, Ricoh Imaging will apologize for not being able to meet the "unexpectedly high demand".

[luftfluss]

I guess the question in my mind isn't whether the K-New competes with Fuji or Oly. Or even Sony, as their A9 is clearly targeted way up market.

It's more can it compete with the D500? This is a 4 yr old high end APS-C DSLR. Basically exactly what Pentax seems to be aiming for. The D500 is regarded as the best focusing camera short of the A9s and the pro-level Nikons and Canons. And well built, good lens selection, and a tilt screen.

Seems like if the K-New can't at least equal the D500 capabilities, pretty much the market will be limited to existing Pentax people upgrading. People wanting to go mirrorless will go mirrorless, but I'd think if one is looking for a high-end APSC sports/wildlife DSLR body, the D500 is the obvious alternative, and should be the benchmark.

Competing isn't the same as at least equaling another product's strong points. Competing isn't the same as offering the best AF system on the market.
Pentax managed to compete with the K-1. They will manage to compete - on different terms - with the K-new.
I'd say, soon after they will release it, Ricoh Imaging will apologize for not being able to meet the "unexpectedly high demand".

Even if the K-New has superior AF, we'd likely not know because unlike Canikon there are no K-mount lenses truly optimized for high-performance AF, except maybe the 55-300 PLM.

The D500, great as it is, fails to match lower-priced Pentaxes in numerous features. If the K-New's AF is even in the same ballpark as the D500, the camera will be a huge win because of the all the other (assumed) features it will have, making it a better all-around shooter than the Nikon.

[Wheatfield]

Competing isn't the same as at least equaling another product's strong points. Competing isn't the same as offering the best AF system on the market.
Pentax managed to compete with the K-1. They will manage to compete - on different terms - with the K-new.
I'd say, soon after they will release it, Ricoh Imaging will apologize for not being able to meet the "unexpectedly high demand".

Competing often means carving out a niche and then servicing it. Look at who Leica was competing with from about 1960 onwards.
Oh wait, no one. They had their niche market, and they did an excellent job of serving it. They made high quality rangefinders when everyone else was making SLRs.
Interestingly, their SLRs, while very good, were pretty much a flop.
We'll see what happens with Nikon and Canon. They are definitely not niche market, the question for me is will they continue to service their present market. I have a feeling that the EF mount is going to be history very soon, with Canon pushing users towards the RF mount, whether they want to go there or not. They will have their extension tube adaptor, but for a Canon user who wants a DSLR experience, I'm thinking in a few years they won't be able to buy a new OVF camera from Canon.
I'm not so sure about whether Nikon will go the same way, they have a better history at backwards compatibility than anyone except Pentax.

---------- Post added May 20th, 2020 at 12:52 PM ----------

Since when was the KP and K-70 full frame...?

See the post from Mike about not drinking and posting.

[repaap]

---------- Post added May 20th, 2020 at 12:52 PM ----------

[/COLOR]

See the post from Mike about not drinking and posting.

What! I thought it was no drugs and writing. My apologizzees.

[SteveinSLC]

I'd agree with you Wheatfield, it will be interesting to see what Nikon does.

As far as competing, well, they are a consumer products company. Competing means having consumers choose to buy their products based on either marketing or quantitative criteria. Back when the K-1 arrived, I was looking for an FF camera to use for landscape photography. I looked at options from a variety of manufacturers. From a competitive standpoint, the K-1 was not only the best from value standpoint, in terms of image quality, dynamic range and weatherproofing, it was pretty much the top option period, particularly when you threw pixel-shift into the mix. So Pentax won that competition and I bought a K-1. Many existing Pentax users had been hoping for an FF option, so there was a built-in market there as well.

For someone who isn't already a Pentax customer, what does the K-New have to offer to win that type of evaluation?

[Kunzite]

For someone who isn't already a Pentax customer, what does the K-New have to offer to win that type of evaluation?

If they're interested in performance, it makes them more likely to consider Pentax?

[Zygonyx]

Nikon will far more struggle than Canon if they want both to develop ML and stay in the DSLR market segment.

[Wheatfield]

I'd agree with you Wheatfield, it will be interesting to see what Nikon does.

As far as competing, well, they are a consumer products company. Competing means having consumers choose to buy their products based on either marketing or quantitative criteria. Back when the K-1 arrived, I was looking for an FF camera to use for landscape photography. I looked at options from a variety of manufacturers. From a competitive standpoint, the K-1 was not only the best from value standpoint, in terms of image quality, dynamic range and weatherproofing, it was pretty much the top option period, particularly when you threw pixel-shift into the mix. So Pentax won that competition and I bought a K-1. Many existing Pentax users had been hoping for an FF option, so there was a built-in market there as well.

For someone who isn't already a Pentax customer, what does the K-New have to offer to win that type of evaluation?

We won't know until it's full feature set is released, but Pentax does usually manage to cram a very useful set of features into a well thought out package. One of the things that is attractive about Pentax that is not talked up very much, especially on review sites, is ergonomics. Pentax tends to be very well laid out both physically and menuwise. They are an easy camera to pick up and use. About the only cameras I have found that are simpler to operate are the Fujis, and that is because their controls are all right on the surface, with no menu digging required.

[Serkevan]

The D500 has great AF and a very high frame rate, a tilt/touch screen, a 100%, 1.00x OVF and great build quality. The negatives are that it has roughly the same dynamic range as the KP at low iso with a lower MP count, it has neither pop-up flash nor GPS, there's no sign of IBIS and it's gi.gan.tic. It's bigger than the K-1! It's heavy, too (at 860 g ready to roll), certainly heavier than any other APS-C camera I can think of right now...

So yeah, if Pentax gets the K-new 'within spitting distance' of the D500, it will be a compelling, competitive product as long as it isn't ridiculously expensive.

[nicolpa47]

"Rather than"? This isn't the case; as you can see, you have all the expected, proper buttons and dials on the K-new.
Even with the GR III - a compact camera - you could disable the touchscreen and perfectly operate it. Some operations are more convenient with the touchscreen - this will be true with the K-new as well - but you're not forced at all to use it.

So there really isn't any downside.

While I agree - and was about to say something similar - I'm still a little concerned at the apparent loss of functions on the right hand top control dial - but that might be something they haven't finalised yet

Sorry if I have misled you. I was simply using the term "rather than" in expressing my preference for the method of control I prefer. I was not suggesting exclusivity either way. A touch screen would not be a plus for me, but neither is it a problem for me. I just wouldn't be bothered if it wasn't there. I would probably just turn off the touch facility, which seems to be possible from the comments
.

[gebco]

Quite frankly the D500 AF is the standard I will use to compare with K-new. My Dad gave me his whole Nikon system so I am waiting to see what Pentax will bring to the table. If they are close or at par I'll be all in. If not I may seriously go two systems as I already have Nikkor lenses. But honestly, I am really really really hoping Pentax pulls this off. I just don't like the UI of Nikon compared to Pentax. Everything on my K-3 seems so well placed and thought out.

I guess the question in my mind isn't whether the K-New competes with Fuji or Oly. Or even Sony, as their A9 is clearly targeted way up market.

It's more can it compete with the D500? This is a 4 yr old high end APS-C DSLR. Basically exactly what Pentax seems to be aiming for. The D500 is regarded as the best focusing camera short of the A9s and the pro-level Nikons and Canons. And well built, good lens selection, and a tilt screen.

Seems like if the K-New can't at least equal the D500 capabilities, pretty much the market will be limited to existing Pentax people upgrading. People wanting to go mirrorless will go mirrorless, but I'd think if one is looking for a high-end APSC sports/wildlife DSLR body, the D500 is the obvious alternative, and should be the benchmark.

[Larrymc]

It looks lovely, a few test pics are promising. Focus ring is meh. I like using manual focus for macro... wish my K-3 II had larger OVF

Here you go: Pentax O-ME53 Magnifying Eyecup 30150 B&H Photo Video Order one today you won't regret it. No charge for the consultation!

[MMVIII]

While I agree - and was about to say something similar - I'm still a little concerned at the apparent loss of functions on the right hand top control dial - but that might be something they haven't finalised yet

I would not be worried about that. Most likely the button beside the third wheel let's you scroll with the wheel through the options, and then you set the value with the wheel. Having them hardwired to the selection wheel was okay on the KP, where no shoulder display can show you which option your wheel is set to change, this one will most likely show it exactly there

[StiffLegged]

One of the things that is attractive about Pentax ... is ergonomics.

And has been since at least the K-7. I've only handled one other current camera make that felt as good in my hands, but it's way too much money to switch body and lenses for that. The K-new looks every bit as good ergonomically as my trusty K-7.