[elicius]

Tell me if I am wrong but pentax got into the DSLR market quiet late. They had a great history of Film SLR cameras so why did they completely drop it?

They should have kept one SLR that gets maybe over time updated from time to time to work with their newer lenses…

As the brand pentax will exist for a century in november it would be a good surprise to release a modern updated commemorative Film SLR in a nice looking old style .

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Last edited by elicius; 03-13-2019 at 03:43 AM.

[MarkJerling]

Tell me if I am wrong but pentax got into the DSLR market quiet late. They had a great history of SLR cameras so why did they completely drop it?

They should have kept one SLR that gets maybe over time updated from time to time to work with their newer lenses…

As the brand pentax will exist for a century it would be a good surprise to release a modern updated SLR

The market for new (film) SLR's is very nearly dead. Companies make products that return a profit.

[nickthetasmaniac]

They had a great history of SLR cameras so why did they completely drop it?

Do you mean 35mm (film) SLR's?

[elicius]

Do you mean 35mm (film) SLR's?

Yes

The market for new (film) SLR's is very nearly dead. Companies make products that return a profit.

Well I guess you are right with that but competition still offers some Film SLRs so it must still be a little profitable.

[eddie1960]

Yes

Well I guess you are right with that but competition still offers some Film SLRs so it must still be a little profitable.

well actually only nikon does the fm10 and the f6. the plant that made those 2 was wiped out in fukashima so the stock out there is quite likely new old stock from the last run. i dont imagine there is a lineup of pros willing to pay 2500 us for the f 6 given the price for say d810. or d750. the fm10 was a fpod starter camera but given how many truly great slrs can be had used including a cla at that price also not a huge market (i paid 200 less for my gw690 texas leica...) i could be wrong of course nikon may have paid the huge cost of retooling but why then did they not do it with an updated model line (an f6 with the most modern af for instance) fm10 i think was a co branded cosina model that cosina no longer offers (was also marketed as vivitar)

[nickthetasmaniac]

OK...

They had a great history of Film SLR cameras so why did they completely drop it?

Because the market (at a mass production scale anyway) no longer existed.

[TomB_tx]

Leica dropped SLRs completely in the early 2000s, but still makes some rangefinder film cameras (M-A without meter and MP with), but I’ve heard they only have one person doing final assembly on them. But Leica has been a niche marketer for some time, so a low volume high-price line is feasible, perhaps just to remind folk that they started the 35mm camera market. But even their meterless film model sells for about $4500.

[eddie1960]

Leica dropped SLRs completely in the early 2000s, but still makes some rangefinder film cameras (M-A without meter and MP with), but I’ve heard they only have one person doing final assembly on them. But Leica has been a niche marketer for some time, so a low volume high-price line is feasible, perhaps just to remind folk that they started the 35mm camera market. But even their meterless film model sells for about $4500.

leica are in a unique position .... leica people will pay that

[jddwoods]

A quick look at B&H website indicates it is really slim pickings for someone who wants a new film SLR. The only choice is a refurbished Nikon F6 with new Nikon F6 on backorder. That is it for film SLR options! Beyond SLR cameras there are a few very expensive Leica rangefinder cameras and a few very cheap (possibly disposable) Ansco cameras with nothing in between. It is clear that photography has gone almost completely to digital.

[eddie1960]

A quick look at B&H website indicates it is really slim pickings for someone who wants a new film SLR. The only choice is a refurbished Nikon F6 with new Nikon F6 on backorder. That is it for film SLR options! Beyond SLR cameras there are a few very expensive Leica rangefinder cameras and a few very cheap (possibly disposable) Ansco cameras with nothing in between. It is clear that photography has gone almost completely to digital.

i would be amazed to see the f6 ever ship new again. as i mentioned the plant was in fukashima. it is still in a no go zone (and nobody will want a radioactive camera for obvious reasons) there is no chance it makes any sense to retool for it when the bread and. butter dslr business is already retracting rapidly and the point and shoot business is a ghost of its former self

[steephill]

Not sure why you think Pentax were quite late in entering the DSLR market, the *istD was introduced in Feb 2003. Delivery was delayed a few months because of sensor supply problems (Sony preferentially supplying Nikon was the story at the time). Contemporary cameras from Nikon and Canon were the D100 and D60 respectively and the *istD reviewed well against these at the time. Pentax might have been quicker to the market if they hadn't tried to develop the ill-fated MZ-D but dumping that probably saved them as the same full frame sensor killed off Contax.

Although mechanical film cameras will be useable for decades yet will film still be available? The giant companies of the film era are now a mere shadow of their former selves. Kodak and other sold 25 million disc cameras but film was discontinued in 1999. APS went the same way with film extinct by 2011. Who knows how long 35mm and larger will survive?

[eddie1960]

Not sure why you think Pentax were quite late in entering the DSLR market, the *istD was introduced in Feb 2003. Delivery was delayed a few months because of sensor supply problems (Sony preferentially supplying Nikon was the story at the time). Contemporary cameras from Nikon and Canon were the D100 and D60 respectively and the *istD reviewed well against these at the time. Pentax might have been quicker to the market if they hadn't tried to develop the ill-fated MZ-D but dumping that probably saved them as the same full frame sensor killed off Contax.

Although mechanical film cameras will be useable for decades yet will film still be available? The giant companies of the film era are now a mere shadow of their former selves. Kodak and other sold 25 million disc cameras but film was discontinued in 1999. APS went the same way with film extinct by 2011. Who knows how long 35mm and larger will survive?

the one thing saving the 35mm and larger in the fuji and kodak plants is the movie industry ... if directors abandon film in their process fuji and kodak will likely cease production. that said b/w film is quite viable to stay around a long time, it's already a niche product and there are a lot of small producers. it is far easier to produce than quality colour film

[ffking]

I love digital - mostly because it's so much easier to do your own post processing - but I love the look of film and misss the simplicity of the whole picture taking experience. I think that if there were any maret for 35mm film SLRs it ould be for a very simple but fun camera like the ME Super not the automated beasts of the 90s - they are much better replaced by digital - there's no way, with the cost of film and D&P thst I'd ever spend thousands on a film camera, but a cheapish one that brought back the tactile delights of early 80s cameras might just have a place

[boriscleto]

the one thing saving the 35mm and larger in the fuji and kodak plants is the movie industry ... if directors abandon film in their process fuji and kodak will likely cease production. that said b/w film is quite viable to stay around a long time, it's already a niche product and there are a lot of small producers. it is far easier to produce than quality colour film

I don't see Hollywood abandoning film anytime soon, until streaming completely kills off the theatre business anyway.

[eddie1960]

I don't see Hollywood abandoning film anytime soon until streaming completely kills off the theatre business anyway.

well pretty much every single screen in Toronto is digital projection, a very small number also have film projectors to make Quentin Tarantino happy (and we see a ton of production here, almost all the cameras out there for production rental are now digital ...Arriflex and Panavision etc) as an example in the top 200 grossing films (so also the ones who would make the most prints for projection) as of 2019 91% of films used digital in production, with some film used as well so 14% of productions used film. the alternative to 35 mm film stocks (8mm 16mm and 65/70mm) accounted for about 10% of that.
in 2012 it was 50/50 approximately .... sci-fi is almost entirely digital, it is more nostalgic pieces where they are going for a look that they shoot film (so war movies and historical pieces are more likely to shoot film )
It would be interesting to know what Bollywood and Chinese Cinema shoot most because they are both huge producers, in fact, I believe Bollywood has long surpassed Hollywood for numbers of releases
the other thing that is rapidly killing film is the tech that has been put behind achieving the film look. Fuji has aggressively developed this, and have now taken their pro edit level plugins down to products we can hope to afford. (well the XT3 but maybe the 2 cinema lenses are still out of reach....cheap by production standards though)
if you haven't seen it this was shot on the XT3 and looks pretty darn filmlike

Youtu.be

Youtu.be