Re: Pentax Pro DSLR (WAS: RE: Spotted on another group ...)

[Herb Chong]

i reread the NIKKEI release and a couple of others. Nov-Jan sales of the D70 
was about 300K units. this is about the same as Canon's Digital Rebel sales. 
the two of them dominate the DSLR sales. Pentax is a distant third, but i 
don't know how far behind. the *istDS introduction made that possible. 
despite strong sales of the D70, Nikon's imaging products division is 
expected to lose money by the end of the fiscal year in May since it's P&S 
cameras both did not sell well and lost value quickly.

Pentax's digital camera R&D staff is about 300 people, not the entire R&D 
staff.

Herb....
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "P�l Jensen" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <pentax-discuss@pdml.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2005 8:25 AM
Subject: Pentax Pro DSLR (WAS: RE: Spotted on another group ...)


For digital, having an upgrade path is far more important than it ever was 
for film slrs as higher end for digital is directly related to image 
quality. Even in the pre digital age every SLR manufacturer that 
concentraded on value for money are out of (this) business. The likes of 
Petri, Fujica, Konica, Mamiya etc went away for good reasons. A DSLR 
manufacturer who will strictly make entry level to prosumer DSLR's are evn 
worse off, and will face a downward spiral into oblivion. The Nikon D70 
outsell all Pentax DSLR by a factor probably somewhere in the area of 5-10 
times, and it is not because it is five to ten times the camera.
If it is indeed correct what Herb cites that Pentax will increase their 
focus on DSLR at the expensve of compact cameras, it can only mean in my 
opinion a wholehearted approach. The once profitable compact camera sector 
is now under far more competitive pressure than it ever was when film 
cameras dominated; now seeing the attention of the electronic giants. The 
SLR sector (and lets not forget that until about 20 years ago Pentax was 
an SLR only camera manufacturer) is basically wide open with only two 
dominant players in an increasing market sector. Pentax is still a 
venerable SLR manufacturer but the large potential for Pentax is only 
there if they offer in due course a complete line-up.