following a )initially tongue-in-cheek) short discussion on a thread here, i'm curious how many of us would actually be attracted by such an idea. here's the scenario:
pentax forks the dslr system in a new direction: manual focus (effectively smc-a).
- weather sealed bodies, proper mf focusing screen from factory (katzeye style: focusing aid, dof preview friendly, etc).
- new range of lenses, perhaps many based on proven smc-a designs, perhaps weather sealed, nice solid no-nonsense build, no af coupling, relatively cheap, mostly primes, aperture ring. the few zooms would include aperture ring (?) but also contacts to report focal length (to simplify using SR)
initially bodies might include a focusing motor for screwdrive af, for the transition, but let's assume we're talking about the full deal: no motor, no compromise, fully mf camera and lenses. also let's assume it would be aps-c (don't want "false" results from the "full frame freaks" here
).
for simplicity sake, let's assume something like a k7 or k20d for reference.
would you "commit" to such a system if:
1. body would be slightly cheaper (say 75% or reference), lenses would be considerably cheaper (slightly pricyer than the smc-a on the s-h market: say 200usd for the new smc-a 50/1.4); full lineup from ultrawide to mid tele (135 in apsc), in fast primes, 1500 "whatevers" instead of 3000 "whatevers" (12/4, 16/2.8, 28/1.8, 50/1.4, 85/1.4. 135/1.8
, joking, 135/2.8, let's say)
2. body "promotionaly cheaper", say 50% of reference, lenses slightly cheaper than af counterparts. say 2000 whatevers for lineup in fast primes, instead of 3000 whatevers.
3. i don't care, i won't touch such nonsense, want my AF!
of course, if something to add to your choice (as in: "2, but only if it comes in pink with blue stripes") do post.