The more I get out and shoot with my K10D and direct people to the
photos i have taken they start asking more questions about Pentax. I
always so it's the photographer, not the camera, but I can't really
help but support the Pentax name. I've gotten about a dozen or so
Canon users with relatively small investments in canon glass to
switch to a Pentax system.
The cameras speak for themselves. If Pentax keeps delivering
affordable superb cameras and supporting them with quality glass at
reasonable prices they may be into something in the area of success.
Anyone else have Canon or nikon users look on their Pentax with envy?
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Hello!
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People with their first $800 DSLR have no particular brand allegiance, and I'd expect the 14 MP sensor to generate some envy amongst those who would have been in a horsepower race years ago. Since K10D is no longer in production (but apparently the dealers still have old stock), this is not doing Pentax any good right now. They want to talk about K200D and K20D, and the expensive lenses.
The trick for any maker is to lock the buyers into the lens mount - that's "loyalty" based on dollars spent. The problem is to get the $800 buyer to spend more than the original investment, which is why you see Pentax and Samsung getting a fuller line of lenses out.
I've owned various M42's for over 40 years, and since Pentax was dominant there, I have Spotmatics. I prefer the Fujica ST701 for the brighter finder; but have nothing in the world against the Pentax, or Chinon, or Yashica TL Electro-X - they all had a character of their own.
With DSLR's that character is not as distinct, and IMO when the manufacturer is dealing with someone without a lens investment, they can lose that customer with the next model series. Certain high-level DSLR's are heavy and imposing, and too much for the untrained. At Photokina you'll see cameras with over 20 MP, likely from Sony and Samsung, and perhaps more - and that will spur another game of musical chairs for those without "legacy" glass who "buy specs".
What Pentax has always had going for it is "value at the price point", and as they really start improving things like the AF engine to create more expensive cameras, the high-end camera will have to cost more; especially with the drop in the U.S. dollar. They have to grow market share in order to spread those engineering costs amongst more units sold - which is why the Samsung deal made sense.
Getting the current Pentax owners, many of seem perfectly happy with 6 MP, to move UP and spend more is Pentax marketing's real problem.
