On Sep 12, 2013, at 10:15 PM, Aahz Maruch <[email protected]> wrote: > Exactly! Therefore anyone who isn't already invested in Leica will have > little to zero interest in that module. Lacking an AF replaceable lens > module severely limits the market for the GXR. If it had a built-in EVF, > the non-replaceable-lens modules would be more interesting.
Well ... The history of this camera seems to suggest otherwise. The GXR sold in modest quantities from the time it was introduced until the announcement that a camera mount for M-bayonet lenses would become available. It took seven months from the time of that announcement to when it reached the market, in which time period sales of the GXR and the original AF camera modules increased dramatically. The release of the A12 Camera Mount incited far far more camera sales than Ricoh was prepared for, world-wide, and even today new buyers of the GXR pop up on the various rangefinder and Leica forums extolling how great it is, and how wonderful it is that they have discovered it. Sales of the GXR began to slow down when no updated A16 version of the mount unit was released and when Ricoh went silent on any new GXR modules or updates. They'd acquired Pentax and have headed off to develop other things, including the new GR. It's pretty well accepted now that the GXR is out of the picture, despite the obvious interest from a particular segment of the marketplace, due to Ricoh moving to other things. But many continue to hope that there will be a GXR II with an uprated body, a built-in EVF, a 16Mpixel or FF camera mount, etc. The enthusiast market of Leica lens owners is older and larger than most people unfamiliar with it seem to realize. They want a digital body to use with their lenses. Remember that when the M9 was introduced, a frightfully expensive camera body, the market response was so intense that it wiped out stocks of Leica lenses, new and used, from virtually every dealer on the planet. Leica has seen gross sales growing by 29% per year since 2009 in an era when other manufacturer's sales have been dropping precipitously. The GXR was a brilliant example of a new type of compact camera that could only be achieved with digital technology. It has had a bright moment for a couple of years, and is still a very fine camera. But in this highly technological era of camera equipment, with rapidly expanding expectations and a market that thrives on new new new things on a quarterly basis, Ricoh has failed to keep up the pressure and develop it further fast enough. That's what put the GXR under. G -- 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.
