>X-From_: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Wed Mar 13 16:37:36 2002
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>Date: Wed, 13 Mar 2002 10:37:43 -0500
>Subject: Contax Digital SLR
>From: KT Takeshita <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: P�l Andun Jensen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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>fep02-mail.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com from [24.114.62.107] using ID
><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> at Wed, 13 Mar 2002 10:37:33 -0500
>
>Hello P�l,
>
>I have an interesting story but this is STRICTLY confidential, as the
>disclosure of this info is a dead giveaway of the source. So, please keep
>this within yourself.
>
>In Mr.X's Forum, there has been a thread about the Contax Digital SLR.
>Everybody knew that it won't come out as Kyocera previously announced. It
>has been delayed once and people knew that even the new release date could
>not be kept. And they knew why and at what stage the development was (high
>noise and low gain etc).
>
>When Kyocera revised the due date to March 12, everybody was laughing. Some
>people in the know expected further delay (which turned out to be right :-).
>
>Today, Mr.X revealed a bit of inside info.
>According to him, a few weeks ago, when Kyocera realized that March 12 date
>was in doubt, they came to Pentax for assistance, but Pentax respectfully
>declined. At the time, Pentax SLR was essentially the ready-to-market
>finished product, but Contax's was not. Pentax decided not to release the
>model strictly for the marketing reason but not for the technical one.
>
>Above was all he said.
>Somebody else added that, in PMA, you could handle Contax model on the floor
>but actual shooting was not allowed. In IPPF (?), somebody strongly
>demanded a sample pic which he got but it was nowhere near any kind of
>normal digital image, not even comparable to the digital P&S.
>
>So, Kyocera actually came to Pentax, eh? The moral of this story to me is
>not so much about the big deal made out of Contax digital, but the fact
>Kyocera went to Pentax. A long time ago, someone in PDML, perhaps yourself,
>raised the question about the "conspiracy" theory between Pentax and Contax.
>Kyocera is not a true optical company but got the Contax brand which is a
>big asset in the market. There have been a number of things which made me
>wonder if much of what Kyocera/Contax have been doing was actually done,
>supplied or assisted by Pentax (who is letting Kyocera cultivate the high
>end market at their risk using the power of Contax brand).
>
>Now the subject of Bruce Rubenstein. I was browsing the recent PDML archives
>and he is a real pain in axx. He was one of the reasons why I took a
>sabbatical from the list at least for now. He is just a disgruntled former
>Pentax user and his whole purpose of coming back to the list is to sneer at
>us, the Pentax users. He should stay in the Nikon closet. I have nothing
>against Nikon, nor Canon, but I deliberately chose Pentax and stayed with
>it. I have a slight advantage of knowing Pentax's reputation better, having
>access to Japan. As someone said recently in the list, Pentax is very well
>respected in Japan. Pentax is not for everybody, it is a connoisseur's or
>enthusiasts' camera and you have to know what you are doing if you choose
>Pentax. I am fortunate enough to afford the complete set of F100 and some
>selected Nikkor lenses, if I so wanted, but I do not. Each brand has pros
>and cons but Pentax never failed to satisfy me on MOST of the requirements
>for my style/purpose of shooting. I could feel how well the camera design
>has been thought out in any model, addressing the most spec most people
>need. And this has been the tradition of Asahi. They are not
>technologically behind at all and in fact they are still the camera/optical
>company in true sense. Some of their glasses are superb. In Japan, there
>is a proverb amongst so called "pro" that [don't use Nikon to shoot lady's
>portrait], obviously because the Nikkor lenses lacks Zeiss/Pentax-like
>subtlty in its presentation of images, i.e., the priority is in resolution
>and Nikon never attained the art of subtle presentation of delicate
>gradation etc (capturing the air). But they relentlessly pursued the
>feature front like Canon. This feature war, in my analysis, has much to do
>with the present Japanese market place (and culture) which relenlessly
>demands the gadget-like features and automation. But this went too far and
>people only recently began to realize that we all lost something more
>important in camera and the hobby, thus the trend to retro lust. As I said,
>I have nothing against C/N. If I need to capture fast moving subject like
>F1 car etc for my living, or even as my hobby, and if my Pentax won't be
>sufficient to do so, I have no hesitation to buy a suitable set of body/lens
>of either C or N for that particular purpose. But I love Pentax's corporate
>philosophy, and they are not easily swayed by the market fad.
>
>Bruce does not know a thing. Nikon does not make money at all on the SLR.
>It is not just an accepted fact but the HARD fact. Any loss in their
>imaging business is covered by their "stepper" business which has the No.1
>share in Japan (perhaps in the world too). Everybody knows that in Japan.
>
>Anyway, sorry for ranting. I realize this is not the PDML :-).
>
>Cheers,
>
>Ken
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