Digital cameras as home electronics

Today, May 28, Michael Reichmann of Luminous Landscape posted a clip on his website from a financial article in The International Herald Tribune that should be of serious food for thought for all digital users and which specifically mentions Pentax. Here is the clip http://www.luminous-landscape.com/new/index.shtml Go to May 28, 2006.

If you are interested, here is the complete newspaper article http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/26/yourmoney/mjapan.php (although that probably will not be there long.)

Drew Peabody

Interesting viewpoint but not a very likely course of action for Pentax I think. I can't see them pulling out ogf the DSLR market. Not yet anyway. Another interesting point that occured to me whilst reading another LL article:-

2006 is the 30th anniversary of the introduction of the K1000 SLR. With that milestone, and the reputation it has gained over the years, what's the betting that the new 10.2MP DSLR will be named . . . K1000D ? Are Pentax that sentimental ?, we'll see.

I hope they do. It would be a great tribute o both them and that fantastic old camera the K1000.

I do worry at the number of new models and the pace of introduction of ever new and supposedly better models. Not just for Pentax but all other manufacturers.

I also worry about the digital lenses at the cheaper end such as the DA 50-200 - which I hae now sold back to the shop I bought it from. I will not buy another zoom, although I do have a dust-free FA J 18-35 - the 50-200 (assembled in Vietnam according to its label), made in ??? after 3 months had plenty of dust.

I also thanks to that 50-200 have dirt on my focussing screen.

I do worry that in the search for ever cheaper production, corners are getting cut, that should never be cut. My only plea to Pentax is to keep an eye on quality and if that costs a few extra bucks, pounds or euro I don't care. I don't want to buy a camera I have to give back every few months to be cleaned, tweaked and maintained - and I am not in the two body league either.

I think the Pentax production line has been quite clever, after all the current models are all very similar and in one sense the production run of them has been quite a long one. I am only referring here to the DSLRs.

I have several lenses from the Vietnam factories now, and in terms of performance they have been fine. Where Sue and I have had identical lenses they have also been consistent. I'm sure the Vietnamese are perfectly capable of producing some fine lenses. Your bad experience with the 50-200mm may be simply a bad example of the lens. We have this lens as well and it is excellent and dust-free.

I have been concerned over the "plasticisation" of modern lenses, but I have to say that in terms of function there has been no drop-off in quality, actually more of an improvement in some respects. So I shall have to accept that modern lenses are made in a different way to the metal lenses of the manual focus era.

We shall see where it all leads...

Somebody once described a zoom lens as a dust-pump. Every time the lens moves backwards and forwards it sucks air in at one end and out at the other.

Of course the same applies to focussing, too.

It is a mistake to think that poor design/construction is to blame for the dust-pumping. If the glass has to move, then so does the air.

So dust is a fact of life. In the days of film, you changed the sensor every thirty-six exposures. Not so with digital.

G

My read of the article was that "they" (not just Pentax) would not voluntarily pull out of the digital market but rather be forced out by dwindling profits by introducing new model after new model (like what happened to Minolta.) My only credentials regarding knowledge of the Pentax Co. is that I own some of their equipment so I am reluctant to argue their business strategy against three highly qualified financial experts but I sure do hope Pentax is listening to them. I also truly hope they continue their slow pace to introduce such high quality gems as the *ist D and hope they are taking their sweet time with the the new 10 mp dslr and getting it right. Even without any credentials I still do wonder why they have introduced all those relatively similar dslrs in the past 20 months or so. But...who am I?

Regarding the sidebar on the Pentax DA 50-200mm. I own that lens as well. I love it, and see no dust in it "yet". Now, if I do find some in the future it will be there because of my own poor handling and not the fault of Pentax.

Good grief that lens must be "pumping out" some serious dust. Are you sure you didn't attach a K mount pepper shaker on your camera?

Cheers

Drew

My personal viewpoint on minolta is that they bet the farm on aps and lost.
minolta is not truly gone, just owned by sony....the factory, like the land of a conquered nation, is still there, just flying a different flag.
I wonder if still and video will one day merge and ALL slrs wil be obsolete...
can an interchangable lens, 8 mp hdd 100gig hd camcorder be that far off in the future? I'm constantly pushing my significant other to integrate more and more multimedia into her business. As the ability to combine dvd video, web, print, and music into one package is very apealing to consumers in our market area.

Exactly, a home electronics company - just like Samsung.

Drew

MMMMmmmmmm arnt pentax and samsung both working on the new DSLR ? ! ! !

does this mean that samsung will make the cameras with a k mount and market them under the pentax brand

somwhere along the lines of fuji and nikon the only difference being cossmetic and lens mount