[Tony Belding]

Seriously? Fujifilm and Sony? Innovation is not the same as hype.

Maybe things will be different for Pentax going forward under the Ricoh banner. Ricoh made the Theta and they made the GXR system, both of which weren't like anything else out there. So... Maybe we'll see more adventurous concepts. I hope so.

As for Fujifilm. . . They've been thinking outside the box for decades. They built 6X9 format rangefinders; they built 645 format point-and-shoot cameras; they built the TX-1 panoramic 35mm camera (AKA Hasselblad XPan). In the digital era they've come up with the X-Trans sensor, the Real 3D W1 and W3 stereo cameras, and advanced mirrorless cameras like the X-T1. Compared with that track record, Pentax looks timid.

Sony haven't been around that long, but they've experimented with a wide range of designs. Sometimes it just seems like they're throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks. (I think the A7 series will stick.)

[Kunzite]

Theta is innovative, but a gadget - not a photographic tool.

You should specify a timeline, but if it's from the beginning of Earth, "Pentax" is anything but timid. They basically invented the Japanese SLR, and many other goodies we now take for granted. They were present with 2 medium format SLRs (one format surviving the transition to digital). And even now, they're surely innovating, many things being built around the SR technology. And they have interesting cameras like the 645z, K-3, Q.
Compared to them, Fujifilm has an interesting camera now and then, but most of the X-series cameras are so similar that it's boring.

[fuent104]

Theta is innovative, but a gadget - not a photographic tool.

You should specify a timeline, but if it's from the beginning of Earth, "Pentax" is anything but timid. They basically invented the Japanese SLR, and many other goodies we now take for granted. They were present with 2 medium format SLRs (one format surviving the transition to digital). And even now, they're surely innovating, many things being built around the SR technology. And they have interesting cameras like the 645z, K-3, Q.
Compared to them, Fujifilm has an interesting camera now and then, but most of the X-series cameras are so similar that it's boring.

Theta, as a camera, is obviously a photographic tool. It may have limitations, but it is innovative.

[Kunzite]

A gadgety photographic tool, perhaps?
Yep, innovative, I said it in the previous post - I'm not bashing the Theta, it just seems to me more suited to casual photography/videography. And while I call it a gadget, I don't mean it in a bad way; actually it would help Ricoh Imaging to have one or two successful gadgets on the market.
The yo-yo prototype was also interesting; but the final product is amazingly small.

[Tony Belding]

And I was just thinking about Lomography, who've been pretty innovative -- at least within their own special niche of super-cheap plastic toy cameras. So I went to look at their website, and I found something new:

Fuji Instax Wide 300 ? Lomography Shop

Well, there's something you don't see every day! And it's a Fuji.

[boriscleto]

Time for this thread to be boriscleto'd.

[sungibr]

I'm all in for full buit-in wireless flash control and WI-FI connection.

I still can't understand why camera companies didn't have those features incorporated in cameras in 2015.

[kenspo]

The full frame and new lenses, are aimed at the pro-marked. So the features will be there after. With a little special Pentax touch on it. But dont dream too much about crazy stuff included.

[rod_grant]

Sony haven't been around that long

Sony have a huge history with Minolta and Konica antecedents. (Unless they stupidly bought the brand without the R&D dept).

[Poit]

I have to laugh. Pentax is a stodgy, conservative company that produces mainstream camera products. (Albeit, in funky colors.)

I'm not saying they bust boundaries these days, but simple things like DNG Raw files, TAv mode, Astro-tracer (ok that last one isn't so simple). Stuff that's not over-the-top ground breaking, but that many photogs would be keen on using day to day.

I personally like the idea of 30+ second exposures, and in-built wireless radio flash trigger. Not that hard to achieve, I wouldn't have thought...

[Cynog Ap Brychan]

I think that cameras have far too many "features" already.