>>From: "Christian Skofteland" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Pentax needs to please SOMEBODY with its cameras and lenses, or nobody >> will buy them. I'd suggest that loyal pentax users who still own >lenses >> without A settings and cameras without AV dials would be a likely group >> for Pentax to sell future cameras and lenses to. If the stuff isn't >> backward compatible, why not just buy a Canon like everybody else?
>There are 70+ people on this list that have bought the *ist-D and that >number will grow. This INCLUDES certain people who hate the fact that it >is not compatible with their K and M lenses. But also excludes some people who have expressly said that they did not buy it because it isn't. > The action of those people as >well as ALL the other people that buy the camera, validates Pentax's >future >direction. The only fate we can make is to not purchase the camera and >show Pentax that we want something different. Mostly, but not quite. We can call Pentax and complain. I'd like to think that people calling Pentax and complaining is what produced the firmware upgrade for the *istD that most of us think should have been part of the original design. Pentax can always choose not to listen to complaints from its users, but then they are just gambling that their brilliance will take the market by storm. Power zoom, anyone? > This is clearly not happening. >Apparently they ARE pleasing LOTS of people. Lots is a relative term. I'm not tripping over *istDs in the real world the way I'm tripping over Canon and Nikon DSLRs. In fact, the ONLY *istD I have seen in the real world is the one my girlfriend owns. I honestly wonder if Pentax are selling enough even to make it worth their while to produce the camera. >> If Pentax gets it wrong and does not please somebody, they HAVE no >>future. >> The camera market is not so monopolistic yet that the companies can >>push "the future" on us willy-nilly. >Apparently they have pleased the people who are buying the D and the >people who are reviewing it. And don't think that you aren't being >pushed. Unless >you work for Pentax product development, the future is what they want it >to be, not what you want. My point was that if their vision of the future does not line up with what I want, I will not buy Pentax. Actually, this is sort of a non-issue in that I haven't bought anything NEW from Pentax since the late 1980s (since the SF-1 was NOT my vision of the future). However, those of you who DO buy new stuff from Pentax, or might but don't, ultimately have a lot of indirect say in the future of Pentax. Hopefully, this concept will get through to Nikon and Leica too, before Canon tramples them into the ground. > >I'm not hoping, wanting a DSLR (or film body) with complete backwards > >compatibility > >to M and K lenses. It would be futile. > Not if people bought it it wouldn't. >People are ALREADY buying the bodies WITHOUT full compatability!!!! Why >make anything else? Perhaps more people would buy it WITH compatability. I'd love to see the sales figures for the *istD, because I don't get the impression it is a runaway hit outside this list. I don't see what the *istD has to offer a first-time buyer that the Canon and Nikon DSLRs don't, other than a K-mount. By the end of this week both Nikon and Canon will have cheaper options, too. >How can Pentax sell new lenses if all those people with 20+ year old >lenses don't buy any new ones? Make new lenses that are smaller, better, cheaper, and fuller featured. Those M lenses aren't ever going to autofocus, and even I can't see why Pentax should try to get them to work in P mode. Forcing obsolesence to get people to buy new stuff is a poor solution, albeit a common one. Nikon has been forced to maintain backwards-compatability for its pro cameras, because the pro users have enough investment in older Nikon glass to care. If all those guys have to buy a new 600/4 EDIF anyway, they're probably just going to ditch it all and buy Canon. >Why should Pentax cater to people who will >not give them >new sales (in lenses; sure they might buy a new body, but, except for >"advanced" P&Sers, each body = several lenses). Why should the user buy Pentax unless it either has features that others don't (which it does, in some ways) or he already has some Pentax gear that he'd like to use? I tell first-time SLR buyers to get a Canon because I honestly feel that starting from scratch it is the best thing to do. If either Nikon or Pentax maintained full compatability with older lenses I would recommend them instead. I shoot Nikon and Pentax myself, but if I were starting out now I might well buy a Canon (better lens lineup, better DSLRs, better technology, and any lens that mounts will work with full functionality). Besides, they can sell a lot of current Pentax users a new flash, a new zoom, etc with their *istD. At the moment they should have an easy time selling them a new wide-angle! >For the record, I'm happy with the *ist-D and look forward to future >developments in Pentax lenses and DSLRs. >Christian For the record, I like the *istD but I'm not going to get a Pentax DSLR unless it either gets a lot cheaper (so that it is a "toy", essentially), or it gets a full-frame sensor. I'm not willing to pay real money for a camera with such major compromises given my collection of older Pentax gear. DJE
