The Philips sensor had the same difficulties in the Pentax camera as well -
and, yes the price would have been too high. Pentax had the capability of
producing the camera but not the chip. And it was never introduced or
marketed.
All the best!
Raimo K
Personal photography homepage at:
http://www.uusikaupunki.fi/~raikorho
----- Original Message -----
From: "K.Takeshita" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Pentax Discuss" <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 2:04 AM
Subject: Re: Pentax Profits Fall 42%
On 7/24/05 6:06 PM, "K.Takeshita" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
<snip>
I am sure the list members here remember the infamous MZ-D. If Pentax
actually produced and marketed it, they were the "first" in the FF DSLR
market which was apparently their intention.
<snip>
Both Pentax and Kyocera/Contax used the same Philips sensor.
Kyocera/Contax
hastened the product and actually started marketing it. It was a
miserable
failure. Not only was the whole kit too big, but the high ISO noise was
almost making the camera unusable (IIRC, too much noise beyond 400 etc).
At
the same time, Pentax were aware of the Kyocera's problem although they
did
not have that problem, and was about to market it. Well, everybody
thought
so. But in the last minute, I believe they essentially chickened out.
But
their cameras were good working models and some of them are still being
used
in-house for real use. It was solely a marketing decision. It was just
too
expensive and Pentax did not have the "paying" market. They had to create
it to sell their product in any quantity. Killing the project may or may
not have been a good thing to Pentax. If they ever marketed it, they
either
encountered an instant death caused by Canon, or may have built further on
it, in spite of the challenge, simply because they made a head start. But
watching the demise of Kyocera/Contax, the killing of the project was
probably prudent and right. If Pentax knew what they know now about this
chaotic DSLR market today, they certainly would not have even thought
about
making the FF DSLR. Now the sensor cost is coming down, and P might have
found a good source or partner in the sensor supply (are they serious
about
the in-house FAB which is rumoured from time to time?).
<snip>
Cheers,
Ken
