Originally posted by Another dyemention I really don't understand why ricoh is wasting any time and money at all on a FF. ... why not work on something like a stellar mirrorless camera that wirelessly tethers with a tab?
The question you ask is legit. But the response is clear.
Pentax survived the odds of Hoya only because of its extremely loyal user base, the Pentaxians. Pentax is small, a "few thousand" are making a significant difference. And what makes a real difference are the Pentax genes, e.g., the fantastic ergonomics and cameras which actually make fun. Not the difference a mirror makes.
You are right that it is too late now for a Pentax FF. Pentax now has to play catch up one way or another.
But there is no shortcut by jumping, e.g., from APSC DSLR to FF/MF mirrorless. In doing so, Pentax would loose what remained as their user base. They already lost much of its user base to competing FF cameras anyway.
It is true that Nikon, e.g., is seeing users migrating over to Sony FE. Just like Pentax has seen users migrate to Nikon F, and now Sony E / FE.
But the answer isn't to abandon your home base. Not for Nikon and not for Pentax. Whenever you want to conquer the world, you first have to secure your home base. Which is the K mount for Pentax.
Or look at Leica and their new SL. Only became feasible after securing the digital M mount.
Many years ago, I wrote that Pentax will move APSC->FF when the rest of the industry moves DSLR->mirrorless. It all makes sense and 2016 will be the year. It will be ok for Pentax to later follow the mirrorless trend when mirrorless is a bit less painful to use.
Last edited by falconeye; 11-16-2015 at 12:21 PM.