P N Stenquist wrote: >On Jan 12, 2010, at 3:34 PM, Mark Roberts wrote: > >> P N Stenquist wrote: >> >>> But while other makers offer FF as flagship models, APS-C is by far >>> the largest market segment and will remain so unless the price of >>> sensors tumbles. If Pentax can achieve leadership in APS-C, they'll >>> be >>> successful. That seems to be the strategy. Other than long lenses, >>> which can go both ways, Pentax lens releases continue to be APS-C >>> only. That suggests that a FF strategy isn't part of their future. >> >> To the contrary: If Pentax doesn't have a FF camera for the APS-C >> users to trade up to (or fantasize about trading up to) pretty soon, >> they're going to be in biiiig trouble. The people at Pentax *are* >> aware of this. >> >We'll see. I heard some things to the contrary from a reliable source >just the other day.
Your source is either kidding you or himself: In a year *someone* (my money's on Sony) will have a FF camera for around $1600. The $1500 price point won't be far behind. (That's what the ist-D sold for when it was first released.) Of course I've been wrong before: I predicted a sub-$2000 FF camera by mid 2010 and that camera came 8-9 months *earlier* than my estimate... >To draw some parallels, Mini survives as a marketer of small cars, >without having flagships. VW had it's best years when it stuck to a >segment. You don''t have to be full range to sell successfully. What's >more, APS-C will continue to improve. There will always be an upgrade >path. FF isn't absolutely necessary in that regard. The marketing of cars and cameras is too different for a meaningful comparison, IMO. And it certainly looks as if we are reaching the limits of APS-C (especially when high-ISO noise levels are becoming such a fetish for some). If there were an adapter available to put Pentax glass on a Sony body I'd own an A850 already (well, there is an adapter but it introduces an optical element between the body and lens and it looks disconcertingly cheap). -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
