I very much agree that this could be the "shot in the arm" Pentax needs to survive. My concern is that with Sony's past record of wanting to keep things proprietary, if they could stand to leave the "open standard" K mount (and it's permutations) alone. If anything could turn me to a different manufacturer it would be a line of almost, but not quite, compatible gear. If Sony could keep their pride under control this could be one of the best things to happen to the camera world in a some time.
Don > -----Original Message----- > From: Mark Roberts [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Sunday, May 22, 2005 8:00 AM > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: Rumors About Pentax's Future > If you scour the depths of Pentax's web site, amongst the medical > equipment, etc., you'll find the video equipment Pentax provides with > their gear is Sony. > Some kind of merger or mutually cooperative arrangement would make sense > for both companies. Sony wants to get into the DSLR business. Pentax > would bring their own lens mount so Sony wouldn't have to develop a new > one (Sony's corporate philosophy of "propriety everything" would never > allow them to adopt something like the Kodak/Olympus mount). The > installed base of users and back catalog of existing lenses and cameras > would be a huge bonus. Pentax would get Sony's electronics manufacturing > and R&D capacity. > I don't think any of this, if true, would mean going exclusively to the > low end of the market: Sony has always tried to keep a high end presence > in audio and video. They make a lot of inexpensive gear but, like Nikon, > like to offer some very expensive stuff as well, to maintain their > image. The Sony CD player in my home stereo cost more than my ist-D. > > BTW: I've been hearing the same rumours from other sources for the past > few months. > > -- > Mark Roberts > Photography and writing > www.robertstech.com >
