Pentax did their market research well enough that they know people who buy
their new cameras buy some new lenses too, beyond the kit lens. people who
have old lenses to use is a small portion of the market, but an important
one since they tend to buy more new lenses than people who have just gotten
started with a DSLR. the mistake that Pentax made is that people who have
the old lenses and are still using them are more demanding and require at
least a mid-range body, which the *istD qualified as when it was new, but
not now. there are fewer of us, but we demand more and are willing to spend
more.
Herb....
----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Roberts" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Monday, September 19, 2005 11:14 AM
Subject: Re: green button wars (again)
When the ist-D first appeared there was near-unanimous agreement that
backwards compatibility was unacceptable. Pentax then introduced the
"green button" fix and the overwhelming majority of the most hardcore
Pentax enthusiasts were delighted. It's a delicate balance; controlling
production costs, along with establishing a compromise between keeping
old-time users happy and, yes, providing an incentive to purchase new
lenses rather than keep using old ones. I'd say Pentax hit the
compromise perfectly.
