Originally posted by barefootdesigns The iconic Spotmatic taught me photography--that is, the Depth of Field (DOF) button schooled me, ..... wondering how we always hear about the K1000 over the Spotmatic, when it is only the latter camera which offers that incredible, captivating DOF button.
There were plenty of other cameras that offered a DoF preview, not least the Spotmatic's immediate successor, the KM, which was a Spotmatic with a K mount instead of a screw mount. A year later Pentax removed the DoF and self-timer from the KM for cheapness and thus created the K1000. It was a shame that the KM was then discontinued; the KM and K1000 must have used the same production line and surely Pentax could have had production runs of both, according to demand.
The Jonathan Gorse article is a good overview, although sounding a bit like a sales pitch. Certainly in the 1980's when I bought my first SLR, Pentax, Nikon, Canon, Olympus, Fuji and Minolta were "equals", and were "the big six", in general perception, sales shelf space and publicity (in the UK anyway). Gorse hits the nail on the head with :-
Quote: The Canon camera you bought with some cheap consumer lenses bore little relation to the professional grade Canon F1 that the pro's were shooting on Wimbledon centercourt at the time, but people wanted to be seen shooting what the pro's were using and in marketing terms that was enough to swing the market in Canon and Nikon's favour. Pentax were late to that particular party
It was a huge mistake for Pentax to be so tardy with a FF DSLR, missing the chance for a new start in the contest for market share.