Originally posted by Joe Dusel Oy... Who exactly is Ricoh listening to for customer feedback?
A dozen of local customers, next door, in Japan. Being centered on Japan is not unusual for Japaneses businesses, as the Japanese culture has a long history and is also quite strong.
Technically, Pentax/Ricoh are right, photography and video are disciplines that have nothing to do with each other. Video requires fairly a different skills set. The business problem comes from marketing created expectations by other brands, video is often mentioned and requested by customers who will never have any serious use of video. Customers complain about Pentax video, although their poor results come from the lack of skills... starting with recording videos hand-held when a professional would use a gimbal.
Personally, I think Pentax staying with DSLR is a big and challenging business decision.
From a customer standpoint, the optical viewfinder has merits, no doubt about it. But from the perspective of generating revenues (sales), I believe DSLR is much more challenging option.
- First, I think DSLR is more complex to design (mirrorbox and controls , PDAF collimator lenses and PDAF sensor etc.) , more costly to assemble (requires calibration), mirrorless cameras are mechanically and optically more simple to design and make.
- Second, again, keeping the same lens mount is great for old time customers who already have lenses, since they can get a tech upgrade on the cameras without spending money on buying new lenses. Now, if customers don't need to buy new lenses, that's not helping to generate revenues for Pentax in a shrinking ILC market. OTOH, mirrorless change of lens mount trigger sales of new lenses along with the sales of new camera models, which makes it easier to run a camera business.
- Third, closing the door to mirrorless is also closing the door to customers who may want to use their Pentax glass on a mirrorless camera.
We'll see how all this turns out, so far, Pentax staying purely DSLR looks like a money saver for customers and a big business challenge for Ricoh, in my opinion. Time will tell if the decision was right.