[JPT]

I feel that Pentax’s marketing has been misleading about the “KF”

OK. But consider that the first Pentax themselves said about the camera was the announcement, which revealed the specs up front. There was not ambiguous teasing from Pentax themselves.

We only knew about it in advance because retailers get some information in advance and an employee somewhere along the line breached that confidence by leaking it online. People applied their imaginations to get their hopes up. That's the effect of reading rumors.

It seems that Pentax were briefing news sites that this was necessitated by component shortages. They were hardly guilty of teasing or hype in this case.

[MMVIII]

OK. But consider that the first Pentax themselves said about the camera was the announcement, which revealed the specs up front. There was not ambiguous teasing from Pentax themselves.

We only knew about it in advance because retailers get some information in advance and an employee somewhere along the line breached that confidence by leaking it online. People applied their imaginations to get their hopes up. That's the effect of reading rumors.

It seems that Pentax were briefing news sites that this was necessitated by component shortages. They were hardly guilty of teasing or hype in this case.

The only good thing about this is, that the announcement was quick after the rumours. The name would have boosted many hopes quite high, I assume. And I can't say I would not have been in the group with hopes for a KP update...

[Oxygenum]

New matrix, AF system and 4K movies ;-)

[Rondec]

New matrix, AF system and 4K movies ;-)

That would probably entail raising the price to 900 or 950 MSRP with a street pricing of 850. This camera releases at 800 and will likely have a street price of 600 to 650.

New matrix, AF system and sensor capable of 4K video plus the hardware necessary to do 4K video aren't going to come in cheaply.

[Not a Number]

Component shortages or unavailability was the reason given for OF-GPS2 as well.

There's a company that makes tiny DVR cameras that are popular with the RC airplane crowd. They had to redesign one of the cameras because some of the chips are no longer available. The redesign uses the same case but a different camera model and some improved specs. They added an "S" to the model name. So it's not just Ricoh that re-design/releases products due to component availability.

[Lloyd_Christmas]

So, does the KF portend anything for Pentax's future? Some folks on DPR seem to think so, and not in a good way.

Pentax epitaph is put out constantly, for years. No surprise here.
All I can say is I hope they are wrong. I like my Pentax gear.

[gatorguy]

New matrix, AF system and 4K movies ;-)

Ah, the K3III

[Rondec]

Why is it surprising that a K-70 with some new parts costs more than a K-70 did when it was first released? If you built a house in 2016, I guarantee you cannot build the same house today for the same price -- even if nothing changes at all. Inflation calculators show a 24 percent increase from 2016 compared to 2022. This inflation hits all of the components that you used to make cameras.

I get a little aggravated when people come up with a list of new features that they think should be instituted on the KF, all while raising prices negligibly. That wasn't ever in the cards. The KF will be a solid photographic tool capable of capturing very nice still images, just like the K-70 was. If there are no aperture block issues, then I would have no issue recommending it to a beginning photographer.

[reh321]

OK. But consider that the first Pentax themselves said about the camera was the announcement, which revealed the specs up front. There was not ambiguous teasing from Pentax themselves.

We only knew about it in advance because retailers get some information in advance and an employee somewhere along the line breached that confidence by leaking it online. People applied their imaginations to get their hopes up. That's the effect of reading rumors.

It seems that Pentax were briefing news sites that this was necessitated by component shortages. They were hardly guilty of teasing or hype in this case.

OK, you have lured me into one more comment.

The name “K-70s” might have been appropriate for a revamp.
The name “K-70ii” would have said ‘New Camera’, new design.
The name “KF” shouted that.

Ricoh/Pentax began their announcement with the words

RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. is pleased to announce the launch of the PENTAX KF digital SLR camera.

That is a new camera ANNOUNCEMENT - especially the word “launch”. As far as I am aware, Pentax has never presented an old design with such fanfare.

I have no issue with their charging more for an old design - inflation has occurred since then - but it is an old design, which should be recognized.

[Rondec]

OK, you have lured me into one more comment.

The name “K-70ii” would have said ‘New Camera’;
The name “KF” shouted that.

Ricoh/Pentax began their announcement with the words
. That is a new camera ANNOUNCEMENT - especially the word “launch”.
As far as I am aware, Pentax has never presented an old design with such fanfare.

Do you remember the Kx to Kr? Or the K-30 to K-50? Pentax has not typically used the whole Mark II signifier to indicate a modification of an older camera. They did with the K5 and K3, but even there, the K3 III is not simply a tweak of the K3 II as the name would imply. On the other hand, there is almost no difference between the K-30 and K-50 except for some cosmetic changes.

I really don't think naming is that important and Pentax has been pretty haphazard in the past with regard to their naming conventions.

[BarneyL]

Pentax has been pretty haphazard in the past with regard to their naming conventions.

Yes, and it would be nice if they finally fixed it.

[Wheatfield]

The old adage the more we have the less satisfied we are seems relevant. Do note that the complaints start up every single time Pentax releases a new product no matter what it is.
It's too expensive: Pentax is doomed.
It doesn't have some particular obscure feature: Pentax is doomed.
They stripped some particular obscure feature from the new product: Pentax is doomed.
It doesn't have flagship features at an entry level price: Pentax is doomed and I'm jumping ship.

People have been asking for a new entry level camera for some time now. They say Pentax needs to make a new sub $1K (preferably less) camera to stay relevant in the market. An entry level price point camera is not going to be a full featured enthusiast camera. That's not a realistic expectation, it's going to be a somewhat bare bones camera using technology that has been on the shelf long enough that it can go into a low price product.

It's going to be a camera aimed at the occasional user. It's going to be a camera that spends most of it's life buried under dirty socks in the back of a closet.

People, you got your wish, you are getting your new entry level camera. I didn't think it was going to happen, I figured Pentax would abandon the entry level market for dead and concentrate on cameras that had ample separation from cell phones.

People, you got your wish, you got a budget camera made for people who still want an SLR experience.

People are calling it a rehash because it has more or less the same feature set as the camera that came before it. I've got news for you, every camera made in the last two decades has the same feature set as the one that came before it, except sometimes they drop a higher density sensor into it and do a tweak here and there because they've figured out how to make a minor improvement.

People, you got your wish. Maybe stop complaining because what you wished for is what you already had.

[Serkevan]

Why is it surprising that a K-70 with some new parts costs more than a K-70 did when it was first released?

Because, to put a "consumer electronics" example, I can buy today an Asus ROG STRIX gaming laptop for 1100 USD, and it has better specs in every single component than my $1100 Asus ROG STRIX from 2017. Heck, the 2022 model is better than any laptop I could have bought for $3000 in 2017.


They could have done any number of things to add some extra value to the K-70's renaming. Make the screen touch-enabled, increase the buffer since you can get much better electronics in there, I dunno. As-is, they might as well have kept the camera as K-70b, then say "due to component shortages and inflation we are regrettably forced to increase the price of the following product:" and it would have looked better, IMO. The product is 100% understandable, the marketing... less so.

[Not a Number]

Seems like Ricoh uses the word "launch" in nearly all their product announcements.

For example:

TOKYO, June 9, 2022, －RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. announced the launch of the PENTAX O-GPS2

TOKYO, August 27, 2020,－RICOH COMPANY, LTD. and RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. are pleased to announce the launch of the PENTAX K-1 Mark II Silver Edition.

TOKYO, August 27, 2020,－RICOH COMPANY, LTD. and RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. are pleased to announce the launch of three HD PENTAX-D FA★ Silver Edition lenses.

RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. is pleased to announce the launch of a limited-edition model of the PENTAX K-3 II (launched in May 2015) to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the foundation of Ricoh Company, Ltd.

TOKYO, January 26, 2017 －RICOH COMPANY, LTD and RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. announced the launch of the PENTAX KP digital SLR camera.

RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. is pleased to announce the launch of the PENTAX K-70 digital SLR camera.

RICOH IMAGING COMPANY, LTD. is pleased to announce the launch of the PENTAX FILM DUPLICATOR 4x5.

The silver editions are hardly new cameras or lenses with no changes in the specs that I'm aware of.

[Rondec]

Because, to put a "consumer electronics" example, I can buy today an Asus ROG STRIX gaming laptop for 1100 USD, and it has better specs in every single component than my $1100 Asus ROG STRIX from 2017. Heck, the 2022 model is better than any laptop I could have bought for $3000 in 2017.


They could have done any number of things to add some extra value to the K-70's renaming. Make the screen touch-enabled, increase the buffer since you can get much better electronics in there, I dunno. As-is, they might as well have kept the camera as K-70b, then say "due to component shortages and inflation we are regrettably forced to increase the price of the following product:" and it would have looked better, IMO. The product is 100% understandable, the marketing... less so.

Comparing camera design to computer design is not useful. You can put your computer together in any way you choose and as long as you have adequate power supply and cooling, it will probably work. A camera has to have every single part integrated in a specific way to function. For Pentax to drop a touch screen onto this camera or do something to the buffer would probably require quite a bit more investment of resources than what they want to allocate to such a project.

As I said before, I think Pentax only has resources to focus on one camera at a time and they are working on the next generation K-1 camera. Since they didn't want to drop the K-70 line but parts weren't available, they replaced the parts that needed replacing and re-released the camera. Taking resources away from another, bigger project doesn't feel helpful to me. Entry level cameras, even when they are nice, aren't really that great.