Originally posted by rawr However it's quite possible they may be planning to release a sequence of FF's, to offer a more tiered product line, just like they do in APS-C, and just like everyone else is doing in FF. Maybe a 6D/D610 level FF first, then a 5D3/D810 tier camera shortly afterwards. Or the other way around. It could happen.
Originally posted by Pål Jensen I don't believe Pentax have the marketshare to support a line of FF bodies. Not enough customers for each one of them and a certain risk of cannibalization.
Having one body mean that Pentax can put all goodies into it without have to "cripple" it in order not to collide with other bodies in the line-up.
I can't deduce whether Ricoh will eventually have more than 1 Pentax FF camera at a time. I can see arguments either way. But
I don't think they will have more than 2 at a time. They have a smaller number of APS-C cameras at a time than their major competitors, and I think that will be true for Pentax FF cameras.
If there are to be 2 of them, I expect them to launch the high-specification one first, for reasons I've already stated elsewhere. And it won't be cheap if they intend to bring out a lower-specification one later.
But before they can make a success of a lower-specification FF camera, they surely need a corresponding range of
lower-specification and lower-price zoom FF lenses at the same time or earlier. They can't expect such a camera to be supported by primes plus the higher-specification zoom lenses we are seeing so far. Ricoh will want their own range of lower-specification FF lenses, and not rely on 3rd parties.
There are enthusiasts who prefer primes, but the sort of people who want lower-specification cameras appear to be the sort of people who will want perhaps 2 or 3 zooms, and perhaps no primes at all. I'll bet most of the people who buy the lower-level Pentax APS-C cameras tend to use them with zooms, not primes.
There is a "D FA Standard zoom" on the roadmap. Perhaps that is the first of a 2nd tier range of FF lenses?
(I realise that there some people who want a lower-price FF camera mainly to use with their
existing FF primes, but there is little profit in that for Ricoh).