Originally posted by Rondec Pentax's release schedule, while slow, has put out real improvements with every release. The K-3 II to K-3 III move really has big differences. I expect no less of an improvement when they actually release a K-1 III. Each lens has anticipation and seems to sell well. Even though they are expensive, the DFA * lenses are excellent pieces of glass that shine in the right hands.
When companies release cameras to keep on a schedule, you get relatively minor improvements and they sell against themselves. So you get all of the cameras in Nikon's D5xxx series or now a couple of iterations already of certain Z series cameras. This drives down the price on the older gear and limits the number of sales of newer cameras. I would have thought Nikon would have learned their lens, but it actually would help them if they trimmed their camera line up down a bit.
The camera industry has sliced and diced the market into ever smaller pieces, the idea is to be all things to all people.
So, rather than beginner, advanced amateur and pro models, we have models for the rank beginner, soccer mom, soccer mom who shoots the occasional wedding, casual hobbyist, enthusiastic hobbyist, weekend warrior wannabe, part time pro, pro, pro with delusions of grandeur, etc.
Now, rather than a reasonable few models, they end up with a dozen, all slightly differentiated from each other, and all on some sort of upgrade cycle. Canon was a prime example of this, with their lineup being refreshed every few months it seemed.
Pentax was, when I was selling cameras, one of the worst offenders. I think there were, at one time, something like 9 or more film bodies selling concurrently. The problem with this is it leads to decision dissociation for the customer as there are so many models with incremental differences, and a practical guarantee of buyer's remorse.
The last is the part of the game that the companies depend on with this business model. The person who buys a product, and then once he or she is outside of the return period decides that really, the next model up is the one that should have been purchased is retail gold. If a company can latch onto that customer and then give them a constant stream of "upgrade" choices, they have latched onto a miniature profit center.
This works while an infant technology is developing, but at some point the technology matures, and sales stagnate. In the camera industry, the digital ILC technology is more or less a mature one now, and so companies have to come up with some way of making consumers think that they have to latch onto some next big thing, even if it's the same old thing that's been repackaged (hello mirrorless ILC cameras).
Change the mirror box out for a tiny little computer monitor, get it out there that "flippy mirrors" (it's important to denigrate the old stuff somehow to be really effective) are so last decade, and voila, last years camera with sensor XYZ becomes this years darling, still with sensor XYZ.
And people will fall for it over and over again.