Hi Anthony, on 11 Oct 02 you wrote in pentax.list:
>The unfortunate situation (for Pentax and her fans) is that C*n*n is a >big-time manufacturer of electronic imaging systems and not just for >photographic applications. It's office products division is BIG, by >comparison the resources that it applies to digital photography must be a >mere blip on the balance sheet. You're right. At the moment Canon seems to be a technological leader in 35mm photography. Not even Nikon has comparable USM or IS lenses. But Canon's strategy might be also quite risky: they must have invested a lot of money into research and development but I can't imagine that a 11MP Canon 1Ds can compete with a 14MP Kodak that cost only a half. So Nikon is in a quite good situation - they don't risk too much with new but rapdily obsolete products. On the other hand Kodak is their placeholder for the Nikon system. It might get really thrilling. I've got the feeling that most producers are waiting for the first step of the competitors. Or they simply wait for an acceptable availability of e.g. 10MP chips. But the future seems to be wide open... >AND YET it's efforts are enough to put them >at the head of the digital pack. When a C*n*n imaging chip becomes >available, it is available to themselves first and exclusively. The only >way a competitor can compete evenly is to hope another electronic >corporation can get a similarly specified chip to market in as timely a >fashion. That's a point for Canon. Who else produces these chips? Philips, Canon,...? >OTOH Pentax is a customer for electronic imaging components. It has to wait >until a supplier develops a chip before a digicam can be designed to >incorporate it. This might be the reason for Pentax's joint ventures with HP and actually Casio. Comparable to Leica&Panasonic. ... >and is not fully sorted even then. In which event the much touted new >camera is below its competitors' benchmarks too early in its life to return >the investment made in it. Yes, but this might happen to Canon, also. Compare the new Eos 1Ds and the Kodak DCS14n. >The bigger risk is that major imaging-chip developers would rather direct >their significant investments towards camera makers whose customers are >prepared to pay a fair price. I would pay a fair price;-) But you're right - the chip manufacturers will prefer those camera makers that promise a bigger market. If you measure Pentax's market potential by the market share of the MZ-S as only pro-modell, than Pentax won't be the number one candidate for a chip developer. So we have to hope, that the amount of manufactured chip increases rapidly and the competition between the chip developers changes the chip market from a seller market into a buyer market. The future keeps thrilling... Regards, Heiko
