Ooh! An on-topic thread, what a find! Ooh, I even started it. Yippee ;-) PÂl writes:
>Although, I have some sympathy with those who want faster Pentax equipment >introductions, I fail to see the sense in wanting an utterly out of date >digital slr. Firstly, its generally assumed industrywise that the small >size chips are a dead end. Full frame chip is the way of the future. Only in that it fits in very well with existing lens configurations, especially at the wide end. Of course it may well be that smaller-than-24X36 imaging sensors will become the norm - for whatever reason - and this is fine. It just means that lens makers will (and are) rethinking their wide-angle designs to take this into consideration. 17-35s are currently good sellers, no? >Secondly, the D30 (is it really successful?) certainly desirable, even if you do not personally see it as such... >will be laughed out of the >market within a year or simply given away. Disagree. Sure it will 'move down the pecking order' and as such become much more affordable to those who can't or won't justify the cost of owning such kit. >It's like buying a 286 computer >at an absurd price. Only when the 286 was a year or so past it's introduction date. I think anyone buying electro-mechanical consumer hardware knows that the rate of progress in the design and spec of these things is incredibly steep. Computers illustrate this perfectly. Personally I would say less so with cameras. If all I want to do is output digitally generated photographs onto inkjet paper using a 5-colour (+black) 'photo printer' on A4 or A3, then I need not look any further than a D30. If I wanted better quality for differemt output, then I would quite happily shoot on film using my LX, or medium format, or whatever was required. I am not usually paid to take pictures (though I have 3 portrait commissions for Christmas) and so most of my output is for personal pleasure, and artistic reason. As such, cost only enters the arguement insofar as I can spend as much as I jolly well like on the means to this end. I *could* get around in a Honda Civic (as some apparently do ;-) but I would MUCH rather get around in an AC Cobra! I certainly don't have to justify the cost - the cost is the personal entertainment value achieved. Same with my photography. Good quality digital *is* expensive, but even though I don't make much money from picture-taking, I have an even better reason for wanting to spend to achieve that than, say, a PJ. He/she *has* to buy it, I *want* to! >Thirdly, Pentax have clearly stated that they want to >make a COMPETITIVE digital slr in the near future. In fact, the 6Mpix MZ-D >was dropped because Pentax saw no point in having the most expensive >digital slr on the market while other manufacturers could offer the same >performance for much less. Fair enough, can't argue with that. >Frankly, we are now in the very early days of digital cameras. I would >personally stay away from the first generation digital slr's unless you >need it in your work. The market is extremely small and the only reason >Nikon and Canon can get away with genuinely bad and overpriced cameras is >their position in the pro market segment. I respect your judgement, and when I step back and think seriously about it using my head, I would tend to agree with you. However, when my heart has it's say, all that goes out the window. The process goes something like this: Heart: Jeeees! D'you see that? Fir f****'s sake! You know what this means??!! Head: Be reasonable man - you can't afford that! Heart: Yeah I know, but, sheesh. That's truly amazing, eh? Head: You'd never get it past her. Heart: Yeah, she'd kill me. Head: And the credit card is fuller than a latrine at a laxative convention. Heart: But they've just raised the credit limit! Head: Oh God, I forgot. Heart: And I'd sell some lenses of course. Head: I'm losing it... Heart: And think of all the film and processing costs I could save! Head: That's it I'm off - Heart: Right! Onto the net - gotta do some reading! Head: (footsteps into distance, door slams) Heart: This'll be so cool...! >The next generation of digital SLR's will be the first serious ones >technically speaking. >If you want a D30, by all means go ahead. Personally I would be grossly >disappointed if Pentax release anything remotely like the D30. I would much rather wait for the Pentax, I expect some hints after Christmas. Failing that, as you predict, D30s will fall in price as Canon-users go for the EOS1-D, and I will most likely pick one up. I certainly will NOT be subscribing to the CDML! I'll still have my LX :-) Thanks for stimulating this thread. Cotty _______________________________________________________ Personal email traffic to [EMAIL PROTECTED] MacAds traffic to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Check out the UK Macintosh ads http://www.macads.co.uk - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
