[clackers]

"Given the overwhelmingly positive reception of the K-1, how would you compare the objectives of Pentax's full-frame line with the APS-C line?"
He wasn't explicitly asked about camera bodies.

The K-1 is a body!

Lenses weren't mentioned in the question. He understood completely and did not ask for clarification before answering.

If it's okay, I think I'll just leave it up to others, Kunzite.

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Last edited by clackers; 03-07-2018 at 05:02 AM.

[Kunzite]

The first part "given the overwhelmingly positive reception of the K-1" is the context - the reception of said camera, not the camera itself. The question follows.
The answer is about the line-up of lenses.

[mecrox]

The K-1 is a body!

Lenses weren't mentioned in the question. He understood completely and did not ask for clarification before answering.

If it's okay, I think I'll just leave it up to others, Kunzite.

I'm sure he's a very professional guy but after a question like that a smart salesman would have been right in there talking about the K1 as a superb landscape and field camera with absolutely top IQ, pixelshift and all the rest then riffed down to the same on APS-C with the added attraction of those DA Limited primes for which the KP is designed. A shameless one would have held the camera in his hand while holding forth, too. Instead his answer was rather low-key and technical. Not criticising, but I think Pentax missed a trick or two in that interview to talk up their offer over and above the technical stuff.

[clackers]

A shameless one would have held the camera in his hand while holding forth, too. Instead his answer was rather low-key and technical. Not criticising, but I think Pentax missed a trick or two in that interview to talk up their offer over and above the technical stuff.

Hiraku Kawauchi's a dignified Japanese executive, Mark, not some crude Westerner like Jason Lanier spruiking until the pay checks stop.

If you personally want to do a hyped up version of that Q&A on YouTube, a redux, sure, I'd watch you. Put a fro wig on too, that seems to work!

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Last edited by clackers; 03-07-2018 at 05:56 AM.

[monochrome]

It is possible they thought or hoped K-1 (the FF line) would be the Pentax ‘Flagship.’, KP (and like interesting, alternative designs) the ‘mid-range enthusiast’ bodies and the K-70 line the ‘entry-level’, with 645 as the true professional line. In that plan there wouldn’t”t be a full-featured APSc body.

I simply can’t believe that possibility is correct, though, given their obvious leadership in (somewhat dated) APSc lens designs.

[biz-engineer]

I'm sure he's a very professional guy but after a question like that a smart salesman would have been right in there talking about the K1 as a superb landscape and field camera with absolutely top IQ, pixelshift and all the rest then riffed down to the same on APS-C with the added attraction of those DA Limited primes for which the KP is designed.

He is staying vague , I guess it is intentional. Pentax never positioned the K1 as a landscape and field camera because their market share does not allow them to segment it further. Imagine they would say this, some customer doing sport wouldn't buy the K1 and Pentax would miss some sales. Being vague let the customer decide themselves and in case the customer is disappointed by what he bought he can only blame himself. The downside of not positionning the K1 with its strong point is that it also fail to eventually catch customers who would be motivated by IQ excellence but would not select the K1 due to ignorance.

[Snappertim]

Lets look at what was said in the interview, and as important what was not said, the Pentax Exec stated that a replacement was underway for the k3 Line, From this I take the understanding to be that the k3 is over and what comes will not be a k3 iii and the word "line" has a whole new dynamic to the situation, if the "LINE" has ended then the replacement need not be APSC, the exec at no time stated that the replacement was APSC, also careful listening he said Full Frame Converter Lenses are underway, that's Plural as in more than one, the current converter is a Kenco/Hoya product (developed from the Teleplus range) maybe the push forward in full frame lenses includes full auto focus versions of the old converters of the past the A2X- and A1.4X- both available in short and long versions.

[mecrox]

Hiraku Kawauchi's a dignified Japanese executive, Mark, not some crude Westerner like Jason Lanier spruiking until the pay checks stop.

If you personally want to do a hyped up version of that Q&A on YouTube, a redux, sure, I'd watch you. Put a fro wig on too, that seems to work!

Offer him some electric soup and get him to talk!

[biz-engineer]

It is possible they thought or hoped K-1 (the FF line) would be the Pentax ‘Flagship.’, KP (and like interesting, alternative designs) the ‘mid-range enthusiast’ bodies and the K-70 line the ‘entry-level’, with 645 as the true professional line. In that plan there wouldn’t”t be a full-featured APSc body. I simply can’t believe that possibility is correct, though, given their obvious leadership in (somewhat dated) APSc lens designs.

apsc flagship is not mandatory to have. With high resolution sensor, a full frame can cover the need. I use the K1 in crop mode for wildlife, the quality is good. The case of Nikon is interesting, a lot of occasional wildlife shooters have chosen a D850 over a D500, because the D850 in crop mode is almost as good as a D500. For someone doing wildlife only occasionally, it is more cost effective to have all in one camera such as the K1 and equivalent.

[monochrome]

apsc flagship is not mandatory to have. With high resolution sensor, a full frame can cover the need. I use the K1 in crop mode for wildlife, the quality is good. The case of Nikon is interesting, a lot of occasional wildlife shooters have chosen a D850 over a D500, because the D850 in crop mode is almost as good as a D500. For someone doing wildlife only occasionally, it is more cost effective to have all in one camera such as the K1 and equivalent.

I should then sell KP and K-1 and replace both with a K-1ll?

[clackers]

Offer him some electric soup and get him to talk!

(Laughs).

You keep putting sake down his gullet, I'll start videoing ... that is, if I knew where the video switch was on any camera.

[biz-engineer]

You keep putting sake down his gullet, I'll start videoing ... that is, if I knew where the video switch was on any camera.

I've been told in Siberia the test to know if a marketing exec is good to keep his talk straight, is after Vodka.

[clackers]

I've been told in Siberia the test to know if a marketing exec is good to keep his talk straight, is after Vodka.

In another age, the paranoid Stalin threw lots of extended parties for his staff. He didn't drink much himself, but he regarded vodka as a kind of truth serum in others.

[THoog]

It sounds as if they have been putting almost all their resources into lens development and that the K-3ii's successor may be some ways off in the future.

Would the same people work on lenses and cameras?

Not necessarily the same people, but "resources" could also be the checkbook that pays outside vendors to design & fabricate tooling (and from what I've read, injection molds aren't cheap!), or fabricate electronics or mechanical parts - anything they outsource. If they have thrown everything at FF lenses, I can see it taking funds from camera bodies, even if uses different internal staff resources. Of course, they wouldn't want to stop camera production, but they might reduce budgets for completely new products.

If they could just produce a new body that looks identical to the last one and uses the exact same moldings - oh, wait.

[Kunzite]

We know they haven't thrown everything at FF lenses - a DA* is planned for this summer.