Who knows? Pentax is effectively a bigger company now, or at least as long as Hoya is willing to put some money into the Imaging division. Hoya may smell some profit in Pentax lenses, especially since they can supply the blanks at cost.
In the old film days, you could lag behind in technology as long as the basic features were done well, i.e., good optics, shutters, etc. A fancy new segmented meter was nice but you could get away without it. Film was the common piece of technology and everyone had to use it. Leica was an even more extreme example of this approach than Pentax. It's harder now. What is a "basic" DSLR? Digital is so much more tied to technology because of the sensors. And, of course, there's AF which is a much more difficult and variable feature than AE and one in which Pentax really fell behind. The big issue here is again the lenses, as the new DA* lenses will bring AF speed much closer to the market leaders. Here again, Hoya can make some money. Canon (and Nikon, but especially Canon) will always be ahead of Pentax in feature-rich body design since they have so much more R&D money. The real question is convergence. At what point will all DSLR bodies be good enough to make extra features irrelevant to all but the very top end? I suspect that AF will evolve the longest, rather than sensor design. >>> "Tom C" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 10/16/2007 12:10 AM >>> LOL. You're not breaking it to me. I was being kind. :-) Pentax has a slim chance yet to recover. If they blow it in the next 6 - 12 months though, I susect they are done for. Tom C. >From: "Mark Erickson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Reply-To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <[email protected]> >To: "pdml" <[email protected]> >Subject: Next move from Pentax: anyone in the know (even under NDA) ? >Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 20:59:17 -0400 > >I hate to break it to you, but in the USA, Pentax *is* a "2nd tier camera >company". The company hasn't released a truly professional system camera >here (or anywhere, actually) since the LX. The current high-end Pentax >lens >selection is miniscule compared to Canon and Nikon. Pentax does not >provide >the kind of professional support that Canon and Nikon do at major sporting >events. Pentax products lack presence on store shelves in the USA. Etc. > >Tom C wrote: > > > >>----- Original Message ----- > >>From: "John Sessoms" > >>Subject: Re: Next move from Pentax: anyone in the know (even under NDA) >? > >> > >> > If memory serves the other two are an over-priced Nissan and an > >> > over-priced Honda. > >> > > >> > >>I guess that depends on what your personal comfort is worth. > >> > >>William Robb > >> > > > >My analogy was not about price, it was about image, prestige, > >perception in the market place. Sure a FF DSLR will cost more > >than one with an APS-C size sensor. If the Canons, Nikon's, > >Sony's of the world offer FF DSLR's, then Pentax must also. > >If they do not, they will relegate themselves to a 2nd > >tier camera company, and it doesn't matter who loves their > >camera, or how much it satisfies their current needs. > > > >Tom C. > >-- >PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List >[email protected] >http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net >to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and >follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. !SIG:47143b5960531152253610! -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
