[asahi man]

645 Year is 2014,Fullframe Year is 2015.
Next Year we should see new 645 lenses,one or 2 zooms with sr,2 lenses with shutter and maybe one prime.
Than we should see 3 zooms for Fullframe,maybe one Prime.
And,the Body.
What do you think about the Display of the 645Z??? It´s possible.
The new fullframe zooms are in a pricerange between 2000 and 2500 €.

Best regards and good morning

[rawr]

645 Year is 2014,Fullframe Year is 2015.
Next Year we should see new 645 lenses,one or 2 zooms with sr,2 lenses with shutter and maybe one prime.

Good to hear more confirmation that 2015 is plausible!

But 645 still seems to be taking up a lot of their energy. Hopefully it won't totally push FF to the end of the queue, where it risks getting abandoned again.

To build confidence in their FF plans, it would be nice if Ricoh put their FF on a camera roadmap or something, and made that information public. Samsung did something like that with the NX1 months before Photokina. Not all the details of the camera were revealed, but they publicly confirmed that work was underway, and where the camera fit in their product mix, like so:

.

What do you think about the Display of the 645Z??? It´s possible.

A flippy screen like the 645Z has (and the D750 and NX1) would be an excellent feature on any Pentax FF. Very useful for tripod and walkabout shooting.

[ElJamoquio]

645 Year is 2014,Fullframe Year is 2015.
Next Year we should see new 645 lenses,one or 2 zooms with sr,2 lenses with shutter and maybe one prime.
Than we should see 3 zooms for Fullframe,maybe one Prime.
And,the Body.
What do you think about the Display of the 645Z??? It´s possible.
The new fullframe zooms are in a pricerange between 2000 and 2500 €.

Best regards and good morning

Thanks.

Hope the zoom lens' performance matches the pricetag...

[mee]

I think Pentax will come out with a half frame medium format camera, calling it the 322.5, before they introduce a 35mm FF DSLR. This is, of course, after the merger with Phillips is complete.

I like that idea.. However, the full name would be the Pentax 322.5M

[mecrox]

645 Year is 2014,Fullframe Year is 2015.
Next Year we should see new 645 lenses,one or 2 zooms with sr,2 lenses with shutter and maybe one prime.
Than we should see 3 zooms for Fullframe,maybe one Prime.
And,the Body.
What do you think about the Display of the 645Z??? It´s possible.
The new fullframe zooms are in a pricerange between 2000 and 2500 €.

Best regards and good morning

Many thanks.

Uh oh, where's the love for APS-C in here?

The price of the FF zooms if true means that they'd be going head to head against Canon's finest L series ones intended for professional users, on the assumption that three zooms to start a new FF catalogue will form a holy trinity of wide, standard and 70-200mm or so. Good luck, Mr Ricoh.

[RonHendriks1966]

The new fullframe zooms are in a pricerange between 2000 and 2500 €.

Best regards and good morning

So a Full Frame (K-1) with 24-70 and 70-200 will cost 7.500 euro

I don't see a big market.

[Winder]

So a Full Frame (K-1) with 24-70 and 70-200 will cost 7.500 euro

I don't see a big market.

The the lenses and body can actually compete with Canon and Nikon, then they will sell. Its all about performance.

[mecrox]

The the lenses and body can actually compete with Canon and Nikon, then they will sell. Its all about performance.

I rather doubt that. On one side there is professional support without which a lot of folks would think several times before any camera purchase at this level in the market. And on the other is kudos, chops, conspicuous consumption of the Leica variety. Of course performance matters but it is isn't the whole story out there on the sales floor and in the salons, and it depends on strong marketing and brand image too. Folks need to be convinced that the launch is only the start of a killer new system, for example, and that their risk in investing in the new and untried will be rewarded with a catalogue of excellent products down the line. Otherwise, there is no reason to take that risk.

[Winder]

Folks need to be convinced that the launch is only the start of a killer new system, for example, and that their risk in investing in the new and untried will be rewarded with a catalogue of excellent products down the line. Otherwise, there is no reason to take that risk.

True, and Ricoh is doing everything they can to make sure nobody is convinced of anything.

[RonHendriks1966]

The the lenses and body can actually compete with Canon and Nikon, then they will sell. Its all about performance.

Looking at D750/D810/Df since these are at that prices the camera's to compare the lenses do have the same pricelevel. I do wonder if this is the market for Pentax.

I talked about things at Photokina. There where no sportsimages in the stand from Ricoh Imaging, so who in the world is going to buy a Pentax version of D750/70-200mm/f2.8?

[rawr]

Folks need to be convinced that the launch is only the start of a killer new system, for example, and that their risk in investing in the new and untried will be rewarded with a catalogue of excellent products down the line. Otherwise, there is no reason to take that risk.

It doesn't need to be like that. Both the 645D and 645Z launched OK despite being Pentax.

And why assume FF users need a coast-to-coast 'pro' support network with 24x7 hand-holding? Many, if not most, FF users are not pros. Every time a FF user brings out their camera, it is not to shoot trackside at the Olympics. Most are more likely to photograph their kids at soccer, or their cat.

And even if they are paid pros, most are likely shooting weddings, where their support requirements are different from pro event shooters. Wedding shooters don't need easy access to a room full of 400mm f2.8 loaner lenses nearby from their camera company support team, for example.

Furthermore, Sony has 5 'Professional Capability' FF bodies, and a ton of pro video and other gear on offer, but I am not aware of any special 'pro' level support on offer to their camera users. Maybe their broadcast video equipment users may get a level of superior support, but not their DSLR users.

So why set the support bar so high for Pentax?

EDIT:
The current Pentax pro support service already available in Japan that has been in operation since 1999 may provide a template for what Pentax could offer in more countries:

Pentax Service Professional

What they offer, for an annual fee, is:

- Equipment repair special discounts
- Lending alternative repair equipment
- The loan of equipment, for trial purposes etc
- Sensor cleaning for free
- Viewfinder cleaning for free
- A 30% discount on the normal cost of repairs for film cameras.

[civiletti]

Coming next year:


Photokina 2018 - FF
So will that be the year?

[jpzk]

I voted NO because this rumour has been ongoing for quite enough time already.

Even if I have no need for a FF camera from Pentax - Ricoh, I'd be happy to see this come a reality for those who need/want a FF camera though.

So, best of luck !

[Poit]

NO

2015 is 'the year' (I hope I don't live to regret saying it with such certainty...)

[mecrox]

It doesn't need to be like that. Both the 645D and 645Z launched OK despite being Pentax.

And why assume FF users need a coast-to-coast 'pro' support network with 24x7 hand-holding? Many, if not most, FF users are not pros. Every time a FF user brings out their camera, it is not to shoot trackside at the Olympics. Most are more likely to photograph their kids at soccer, or their cat.

And even if they are paid pros, most are likely shooting weddings, where their support requirements are different from pro event shooters. Wedding shooters don't need easy access to a room full of 400mm f2.8 loaner lenses nearby from their camera company support team, for example.

Furthermore, Sony has 5 'Professional Capability' FF bodies, and a ton of pro video and other gear on offer, but I am not aware of any special 'pro' level support on offer to their camera users. Maybe their broadcast video equipment users may get a level of superior support, but not their DSLR users.

So why set the support bar so high for Pentax?

EDIT:
The current Pentax pro support service already available in Japan that has been in operation since 1999 may provide a template for what Pentax could offer in more countries:

Pentax Service Professional

What they offer, for an annual fee, is:

- Equipment repair special discounts
- Lending alternative repair equipment
- The loan of equipment, for trial purposes etc
- Sensor cleaning for free
- Viewfinder cleaning for free
- A 30% discount on the normal cost of repairs for film cameras.

I'm sure I put it badly. What I meant was that you have an audience for your product, but it could be the audience less those for whom pro support is an issue, less those for whom the brand on the metal hanging from their neck seems to matter far more than usual and less those for whom the price is too steep. Is there enough room in the middle once these folk are deducted? This is in the context of asahi man's suggestion that Pentax would launch with three zooms and (so far as is known) a fairly conventional K-mount body, and all at levels well above entry or (comparatively ) "cheap".

I suppose it's the old story: no one every went bust buying Canonikon. They are a known quantity but a new entrant is not. So a new entrant might have to offer something that counter-balanced the risk of not going with the "no-brainer" option. It's one thing taking a flyer on a $500 camera but quite another on $5000 or $8000 of equipment (one Pentax FF body and three new FF zooms would about come to that, from what asahi man said). What the risk-balancer might be, well we'll just have to see. Maybe quite soon. You could argue that in the A7 series Sony, for example, provided several balances against the risk of buying a new market entry with an as yet unknown system. They offered much smaller than usual; they offered being able to mount almost any lens out there via an adapter - so a buyer didn't have to worry so much about committing to a system which didn't exist anyway; and they priced their offer at a little below the going rate of the market incumbents.