On 16 December 2012 10:49, Brian Walters <[email protected]> wrote: > What I find a bit baffling is why it is taking so long for Pentax to produce > another mirrorless APS-C camera. > They've obviously got the 'guts' of a good camera in the K-01. Would it be > that difficult to produce a new version with a viewfinder (with or > preferably without Newson)? >>
Isn't the problem that the K-01 is Hoya's idea, not Ricoh's? Hoya didn't have to integrate its products with a stablemate brand. Ricoh has a closely competitive product, the GXR with the Mount A12 unit which is currently priced in the low $US800s for a body plus lens mount module (without lens). An EVF adds another $US200 and a bit. The K-01 body can be bought in the low $US300s at present, which makes it excellent value by comparison if you can live without an EVF, or if an EVF was never in your budget. My feeling is that the new Pentax-Ricoh entity should fold these two cameras into a single product line with two distinct bodies like Nikon's V1 and J1 for customers who either do or don't want an EVF. A camera with integrated EVF will always be cheaper than a viewfinderless body plus an external EVF. Pentax simply cannot afford to put cameras on shelves at a higher price than a competitors solution. Ricoh can because it has developed more of that indefinable boutique cachet that Pentax wishes it had. Some Pentax lenses might have it, but no camera since the MZ-S has been anything that a competitor wishes was their own. Class leading performance doesn't cut it when the competion is already trading in a higher class. > > Maybe the problem is developing a new range of lenses to suit the shorter > register distance. > I spoke of this before. A short register would mean abandoning compatibility with screwdriver AF. How many of Pentax's customer base will live with that? regards, Anthony -- 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.
