Originally posted by Rondec It reminds me of the people who are constantly pointing out the problems with electric cars. "What if you get caught in a snowstorm in your EV car? I have here a picture of someone with a gas powered generator charging up an electric car..."
Somehow the idea that a company might release products that target anyone but me is damaging to my psyche. Pentax should only release cameras and lenses that I am interested in. Toyota should only put out vehicles that I want to buy. Anything less is a complete failure on the part of brand that doesn't even know that I exist!
That's a remarkably common thing... across a range of goods... and it drives me crazy, but sometimes those concerns are grounded in concerns that seem obvious to those of us not intimately involved in the details of an industry...
Why doesn't that car company make model XXX in my market? The real reasons may be safety/emissions or costs of having a unique platform in an untested market, but I don't know anything about details...
Why does this beer company make 47 IPAs and not make a Kölsch? Yeah, I've got no reasons for this
this may be my personal bias...
I know there are marketing reasons that make sense to someone, but it's a little frustrating sometimes to those of us on the outside... even if we are ignorant...
I'm really happy Pentax continues to support my 'antiquated', mass-market-orthogonal desire to shoot with a SLR, digital or film... and I hope the market supports this new exploration with film...
I've been thinking about the various cameras proposed in the video, and I think it is possible to get a hybrid mechanical body that works with the existing FA lenses with aperture rings without a battery and with all the DFA lenses with a battery to manage aperture control and focus on the new stuff. That would be cool if someone can still make a mechanical shutter.
I'm pretty sure "camera 3" will functionally be similar to a ZX-5/ZX-6, though I hope they add a portrait orientation half-frame mode for DA lenses. I think that would be slick as all get out and nearly unique in 35mm film cameras (can't do that with your vintage F100...). Was Konica the one who made the switchable format 35mm SLR?
But lately I've been wondering what the compacts should look like...
I think an autofocus compact is probably the way to go for the first one, even if it is a manual wind (I might prefer a manual wind).
A single focal length lens would be neat, but a short zoom is also ok if the lens is good - and it's something not all phones have.
As I recall, there was even a later version of the Espio with a 28-90 lens in the very compact body (though that makes manual wind tricky).
I think the challenge there is AF design. When was the last time someone did an IR autofocus system?
Everything these days focuses with the sensor chip...
There could be an interesting parallel with the SLR series if they make a more mechanical second compact camera to go with a more automatic first one.
Maybe making the second compact a mechanical MF rangefinder... but that is way out of their wheelhouse...
So I don't really know where the second compact will go... I personally hope they don't go all crazy like the Mirai... I don't see that part of the film market coming back...
In both cases they will have to offer something that isn't there now -- something you can't get with a LOMO LC-A, for example...
I guess my perfect film compact (and I promise I won't be offended if they don't make it
) would be something like this...
Pocketable with weather-resistant body or manual wind (with a lever, not a thumbwheel), a 28-90 lens, and a flash. Manual wind and WR would be hard, so one or the other is OK.
Autofocus with manual presets at infinity, "close" and hyperfocal distance with the focus distance showing on the display as it changes with the zoom. Close would be a portrait distance, not a macro...
Fully automatic exposure with bulb, 8-1/500s and a lens aperture with at least a four stop range.
DX coding that can be overridden, mode memory for focus and exposure bias to set a grouping with a quick button push.
Camera should display the shutter/aperture combo and allow "hyper program" shift in lieu of "modes" and a green button to get back to default
Exposure compensation +/- 2 stops at least
Provision for remote release...
If cost savings were required, I would lose the WR, zoom, and manual wind first (though a fixed lens should be f2.8, a zoom can be slower)
-Eric