Originally posted by Photos-by-Chas I'm wondering if Ricoh/Pentax's decision to hold on the mirrorless transition has affected, in any way, the continued loyalty. Personally, I will be staying with the DSLR and not switching to MILCs for a variety of reasons: familiarity with SLR, it is what I am used to; cost, I cannot justify paying for more expensive camera when my current kit is working so well; and I do not feel there will be any improvement in my photography with a different camera.
Your reasoning is just.
I have both Pentax and Fuji X systems, so believe I am in a position to make fair comparisons between the two. For me the big differences are to do with size and the colour science. The latter, being purely down to taste, is to be parked to one side. My X-T 1 is as capable as my KP, in a smaller, lighter body and with a greater variety of lenses,available. The XE and XT 10 line of cameras are even more compact, and if you don't mind the slight inconveniences in ergonomics, well worth looking at if size and weight bothers you. For certain uses I prefer the Fujis (general walk about, street, B&W, playin gwith adapted lenses) for other uses I prefer my K3, KP and K1 ii cameras (close up, landscape, still life, anything where I am going to use a flash, when I want vibrant colours). For anything else I just grab whatever the mood takes me. Some people struggle with EVF, though I don't see that much difference, but I do prefer an OVF for slow studied shots, which is why I prefer the Pentax's for the aforementioned purposes.
The elephant in the room though is that over time most mirrorless cameras have grown in size. Consider the X-T1 and its current descendant the X-T4 or Sony's original A7 and its current iteration for example. Thus negating much of the advantages the original marketing of the systems highlighted. Small "travel" type cameras like the XE or XT10 make sense when attached to small lenses but otherwise.....The cynic in me thinks its all just marketing to cover up the manufacturers' desires to cut costs. For example if Pentax were to make a KP without image stabilisation or an inbuilt flash it would be almost the same size as my X-T1, if quite a bit heavier due to the pentaprism.