----- Original Message ----- From: "Bruce Dayton" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: Next Pentax Flagship Camera?
> Trying to battle Canon and > Nikon on the 35mm front is foolish. They already lost the battle. After reading all posting of the thread so far I wonder why we are all still sticking to Pentax:) I don't agree with the point of view stated above (and it has been already disscussed several times), because the photographic market is not a constant thing. Conditions change. Yes, Pentax lost the battle, but why do you think they also lost the whole war? They can and IMHO should counterattack. And actually they do. Of course, I don't know if Pentax is going to try to reclaim its position in the pro market (I know many of you don't like the word "pro" - forgive me for using it here) but I don't think that new advanced features like P-TTL and HSS were introduced for amateurs only or for two cameras only. MZ-60 doesn't support neither of them AFAIK... Trying to battle Canon and Nikon is NOT foolish if Pentax has a good strategy and competitive products. And it has... You would be surprised how well the MZ-6 is in Poland. It gathers great opinions in the Usenet, wins magazine tests (beating easily products like Dynaxx 5 and EOS 300). It seems to become the standard entry level camera for those who plan to develop their photgraphic skills instead of EOS300 - people either ask for the MZ-6 or ask for advice on what choice of the camera they should make and get the response of "MZ-6". And if these people want to get some advanced camera in the future, they will surely go for the MZ-S or even more advanced product of Pentax ( if such a product exists of course). What Pentax needs for its counterattack to be successful are IMHO the following: introduction of the image stabilisation lenses, ultrasonic AF (not necessarily but would be nice to have it), faster fps rate (at least matching that of the Z-1p) and MOST OF ALL a proper, clear and consistent marketing strategy as well as proper cooperation with local dealers, who are often so much incompetent... Some of you are surely going to beat me for my words...oh, well, I can handle it. I've already heard that you don't want Pentax cameras to look like F5 or EOS1v. I don't want it, too. However, I think that unlike Minolta Pentax is able to get back into "pro" (oh, yes - again this hated word, but i don't know how to call it in a different way) market and settle there. Why "unlike Minolta"? It has already been said several times that Pentax cannot compete with Canon and Nikon, because Minolta tried it and was unsuccessful. Yes, but Pentax has serious advantages over Minolta: its somewhat classic style, elegance, convenience of control, ergonomy, backward compatibility, SMC etc. The only thing it needs to do is to make a proper use of these advantages and add to them some new technical fireworks. Whether Pentax wants to do it or not is of course another thing... > The > real battle area for them is in the 645 arena. This is an area where > both Contax and Mamiya are working with that very concept. Pentax > would have better luck putting there efforts there. The battle in the MF market is of course important, but unless Pentax introduces interchangeable backs for the 645 and 67, it will not be able to win the battle with Contax and Mamiya. This is of course but a personal point of view:) Now I prepare myself to be flamed:)) Greetz Artur - 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 .
