----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > 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.
I'm not tripping over Pentax film SLRs either.... Pentax is not big in the market for anything but P&Ses > 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. You are not Pentax's market, then are you? They don't get any money from the used market, so why should they cater to people who buy 20+ year-old bodies and lenses on eBay? > 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. In this regard, Pentax offers a lot more compatability. all you need is the little "A" thingy on the lens. That's been around since 1983. > 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). I have recommended Canon to some friends as well. One bought a RebelD the other a 10D. > > 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. So for you this whole argument is moot! for the money the ist D is comparable to the 10D (same features same pixel count and same crop - kind of). If you want a cheaper "Toy" then you'll buy the not so full featured "baby-D" as people on this list call it which I could almost guarantee would NEVER be compatible with K and M lenses. Again, Pentax is not marketing to you. They are going after me and keeping me as a Pentax user by providing a product that works for me. If the ist-D hadn't been produced, I would have sold it all and gone to Canon. Christian
