[ElJamoquio]

Yuppers. Prices of sensors go down, down, down. Prices of optics are tougher, some things have gone down, others have gone up. It'd be interesting to look into the decade-from-now crystal ball. APS-C for pockets and FF/MF for ILC's? We'll see.

[RonHendriks1966]

The Sony A7 + kit lens here is now £1359 and body only £1159. Not much further to go and they will be hitting the magic 999.99, or someone else will get there first. Over the next couple of years I think it is bound to happen. Someone will try it even if only for reasons of predatory pricing.

I guess it's time for a full frame K-01 at that magical price.

[Kunzite]

The Sony A7 + kit lens here is now £1359 and body only £1159. Not much further to go and they will be hitting the magic 999.99, or someone else will get there first. Over the next couple of years I think it is bound to happen. Someone will try it even if only for reasons of predatory pricing.

£1159 is $1987.

---------- Post added 15-07-14 at 09:50 PM ----------

I guess it's time for a full frame K-01 at that magical price.

Ron, there is nothing magical about that price - just people who aren't willing to pay more. I guess those would still buy the Sony, because its street price will be cheaper than your hypothetical K-01 FF MSRP.

[ElJamoquio]

Wow, so in british pounds, the $1500 is 875 lbs or so.

Hmm.

[RonHendriks1966]

Ron, there is nothing magical about that price - just people who aren't willing to pay more. I guess those would still buy the Sony, because its street price will be cheaper than your hypothetical K-01 FF MSRP.

Ow I don't know. The A7 is 1399 euro overhere, so a 999 euro camera would make a splash.

[ElJamoquio]

Hm. I'd hope that Pentax would compete on technical features, not a race to the bottom in price.

Low prices are nice but I guess my primary concern is that Pentax stay profitable.

[mecrox]

£1159 is $1987.

---------- Post added 15-07-14 at 09:50 PM ----------


Ron, there is nothing magical about that price - just people who aren't willing to pay more. I guess those would still buy the Sony, because its street price will be cheaper than your hypothetical K-01 FF MSRP.

Who cares what it is in dollars. I buy in pounds here. And I'm pretty sure that under 1000 anything is a psychological break point. If they get FF down to that here that it will mean that FF is going much more mainstream than it has been hitherto. Not saying it will happen, but it would not surprise me. Much harder to do in the USA I expect but maybe under $1250 would do? The A7 is currently US $1498 at Adorama. Bear in mind that we, consumers, have no means of knowing whether Canonikon have effectively fixed prices a little higher than they could be in a kind of unspoken agreement. Until very recently, the whole FF thing has been a cosy two-horse race.

[ElJamoquio]

Who cares what it is in dollars. I buy in pounds here. And I'm pretty sure that under 1000 anything is a psychological break point. If they get FF down to that here that it will mean that FF is going much more mainstream than it has been hitherto. Not saying it will happen, but it would not surprise me. Much harder to do in the USA I expect but maybe under $1250 would do? The A7 is currently US $1498 at Adorama. Bear in mind that we, consumers, have no means of knowing whether Canonikon have effectively fixed prices a little higher than they could be in a kind of unspoken agreement. Until very recently, the whole FF thing has been a cosy two-horse race.

I think that all round numbers are psychological break points. About $2k, about $1.5k, about $1k.

FF for under $1k is coming, it's just a matter of when. FF for $1.5K is already here in mirrorless, and it's close-to-here with a mirror too.

[Black_Wizards]

I think the price doesn't matter.
We want Pentax makes a GREAT FF! This has a cost. If I want something cheap, I buy a Sony or a D600. If I want something usable and reliable, professionnal, I buy a D3/s D4... That's what I expect from Ricoh/Pentax. Nothing less

It is not Pentax philisophy to release cheap and unfinished gear like A7. Pentax takes time to great products: the K line, the GR and the 645 line are good example. Not cheap but great value for money because of their clever design.

[philbaum]

. Bear in mind that we, consumers, have no means of knowing whether Canonikon have effectively fixed prices a little higher than they could be in a kind of unspoken agreement. Until very recently, the whole FF thing has been a cosy two-horse race.

Exactly, thats why i proposed the mirrorless FF K-mount. Pentax would join Sony in disrupting the present cosy two person horse race that Canon and Nikon presently have. And Pentax could make that mirrorless a more professional experience than Sony, but yet be able to beat Canon and Nikon on price because of the mirrorless construction.

I've watched Pentax over the years come out with some excellent cameras like the K10, K20, K5 and K3, yet it doesn't seem to have done anything for their market share.

Be Interesting Pentax! Come out with a quality mirrorless FF and shakeup the marketplace big time. One that holds out light and water

Einstein: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.

[ElJamoquio]

I've made almost exactly the same argument in the past. Pentax has made the best APS-C DSLR in the market for the past ~8 years, and they haven't really moved up the charts much.

Other things are at play...

[hjoseph7]

Read the newly added section on 645z:PENTAX 645Z Stories by Engineers / PENTAX 645Z Special site | RICOH IMAGING

especially section 03:
The highest ISO sensitivity of PENTAX 645Z is ISO 204800, which is 128 times of the sensitivity of PENTAX 645D, ISO 1600. Namely, as the competitor, we see 35-mm full frame cameras rather than medium format cameras offered by other companies. Though it is just a matter of sensitivity, we always had the stringent stance in developing the [standard sensitivity] instead of the [extended sensitivity]. Ultimately, the judge is human eyes. We see the border line between the permissible range and the impermissible range. A big chance to show our skill was found in moving this line to expand the permissible range. Consequently, we imagine that consumers will be able to shoot objects which could not be shot so far or objects of which shooting had to be given up. With this model, we expect that pictures nobody has ever seen can be taken one after another. It is right that new pictures can be taken with a high-sensitivity camera. Moreover, if such a high-sensitivity camera is used with a low-sensitivity setting, the low-sensitivity image quality is very excellent because the camera has the remaining capacity to the upper limit.

They put 645Z as a like-135 full-frame but can offer much more (of course). If you read the whole intro to the 645z maybe you feel the same. They don't bother with 135, they basically said, we have MF, why bother 135!

That's it.

They will but it is probably going to cost $4000 you might as well save up a little more and go for the 645D !

[mecrox]

Exactly, thats why i proposed the mirrorless FF K-mount. Pentax would join Sony in disrupting the present cosy two person horse race that Canon and Nikon presently have. And Pentax could make that mirrorless a more professional experience than Sony, but yet be able to beat Canon and Nikon on price because of the mirrorless construction.

I've watched Pentax over the years come out with some excellent cameras like the K10, K20, K5 and K3, yet it doesn't seem to have done anything for their market share.

Be Interesting Pentax! Come out with a quality mirrorless FF and shakeup the marketplace big time. One that holds out light and water

Einstein: Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.

Lol, then perhaps OCD is doing the same thing over and over again, for fear there might be a different result. I guess that "more of the same" in terms of standard DSLRs is that eventually there will be a different result: they just won't sell very well anymore unless supported by countless millions of marketing spend. Still, I realize that suggesting Ricoh is in thrall to collective obsessive compulsive disorder because they haven't released an FF mirrorless camera is possibly a bit strong Still, I'd be more interested in this than in a standard DSLR. Since I'd have to start again with new lenses anyway, or mostly, the mount would make little odds.

[Kunzite]

Hm. I'd hope that Pentax would compete on technical features, not a race to the bottom in price.

Same here.

[rawr]

Bear in mind that we, consumers, have no means of knowing whether Canonikon have effectively fixed prices a little higher than they could be in a kind of unspoken agreement.

That's a suspicion many have expressed about all the Japanese camera makers. I recall someone once suggesting that all of them met once a month to syncronise their work and release cycles. Has an air of truth. There seem many keiretsu overlaps between Canon, Ricoh, Nikon etc.

Hopefully this time they have all agreed to let a Pentax full-frame enter the market.