Originally posted by nostatic Probably, but look at the EP1. A "different" combination of style and substance can make a dent in the marketplace. It is all about differentiation.
Exactly!
Pentax can differentiate with a minimal camera that simply takes pictures very very well. And which is more compact and portable than any of their previous cameras. And which is designed to be used in the dark. For a decade. By people who love photography. We don't need to give up features that are mostly just firmware programmes -- those can stay. But we might need to give up weather sealing and top LCD for size. Plus a few buttons.
In return we get simplicity. One dial per feature. No modes. Controls you can learn with muscle memory and then naturalize completely. That is why Leica rangefinders is/was good. It was nothing to do with superior features and all to do with standardisation, reliability and simplicity. (Though they took this too far with their digital model... epic fail.)
It's not a new concept at all, it's an old one that's been forgotten. Remember when a camera was a camera? And not some crappy computer? Think big! Think outside the box! We can be heroes!
I keep meaning to write the article on the "new concept" camera but others have sort of done it already. Read
The Time Has Come for a New DSLR Paradigm and
Why There Will Never Be a Simple DSLR.
I mentioned before about fewer buttons. But how about a button we can programme ourselves? That's leveraging the best of the old (fewer thingies to twiddle) and the new (software control over everything). How about a customisable menu? So we can make it simpler -- even though everyone's simple is a different simple.
I have no interest in paying 1300 euros for a camera that will be obsolete the next time the marketing department gets a twitch in their pants. But I'll pay that much for a more basic camera built around sophisticated ideas. One that will keep me in the Pentax fold, buying accessories and lenses and proselytizing. All of which is more important than a body sale here and there.
OK, so most people will hate it. The truth is, most people are idiots. It's the entire basis of capitalism, that statement. What did Barnum say? What did Ford say? Same thing. In fact, they were banking on it -- literally. But times have changed and now a soft word in the right ear (or a rave on the right blog) and all the world thinks you're the bee's knees. (Or is that "bees' knees"? I never could figure our collective possessives that had no grounding in reality.)
Pentax, do this because you are a company for photographers. Prove you care. You can still make your do-everything-but-make-the-martinis camera. But do this one thing to put the shine back on the name that practically invented everything we care about in photography.
That's my rant for the week.