Sweety anyone

One lump or two?

link

Best regards

how do they ever expect to be taken seriously?

I guess it's for a particular market segment, so I'd be thinking they must have a pretty good idea who they are trying to pull into the DSLR market.

In a shrinking market, new customers are badly needed.

I'm sorry, but I doubt this market segment is looking for a bulky SLR for use in the kitchen. Mirrorless in these colour options would work, but actually these buyers do this already by selecting these coloured cases for their smartphones.

Apparently these luridly coloured cameras are very popular in the Far East. Which is nice.

Yep and thats who it's for, where they do 90% of their business, move along people nothing to see here...

I think it is catering for the colour conscious smartphone buyer looking to go 'upmarket' with their photography. I'm surprised to see you refer to the mirrorless sector there Richard ... almost as if that is a more logical next step for 'this market segment' rather than DSLR.

Is it not instead the case that the DSLR (at least at the entry level point) has always been the natural next stepping stone for those looking for that 'real camera' experience ... I mean one that clicks, vibrates, and does mechanical things, things that move when you push the button, as well as one that you can look into and see daylight shining through. That is what makes it feel like a 'real camera' to this market segment.

Lets not forget that our smartphone photographers have already tried mirrorless ... with the cheap compact cameras (point & shoots) that they are rejecting in their millions.

I think the colourways (hate that word), look ok for a younger market.

But not sure if the size of the lens is too large for the body. Think you'd really want to use this with primes, which would look a bit odd if not sam colour as the body.

Although it may not appeal to the more traditional user, this isn't without precedent. Many camera manufacturers have produced all sorts of wild designs over the years, from art deco to special finishes, and who is to say that a gold plated Rolleiflex is any less odd, or the vast array of colours of some miniature classic cameras, now eagerly sought after in everything but the common black versions.

I'd bet that a full display in a shop of all the colour variants of the DSLR and Q ranges would make masses of sales.

It all makes my dark khaki green Q-S1 look quite modest now.

Didn't do SWATCH WATCHES any harm!

http://www.swatch.com/en_gb/

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I say mirrorless is the next move for these buyers as it's the next size up. When people are looking for portability the bulk and size of a full dslr is quite a jump from a mobile phone. Wifi to direct upload to Facebook etc and pretty colours will appeal. The pentax Q in different colours seems a natural progression here also. Other companies are now selling skin cover options to personalise your camera also.

The younger generation have never tried compacts. They simply don't need them as their cell phones do that job, and far more conveniently. Compacts are now a market segment with no buyers, rather than they didn't like the quality.

...And of course anyone having a sweetie camera is very welcome here

I would expect very soon we'll be seeing threads with loads of new members debating the pros and cons of the various colours, complaints about how long a particular colour took to order and be delivered, warranty matters and questions about colour defects, returns policies and whether you can reasonably expect the same sweet colour to be offered in a replacement camera. Then there will be discussions about why not enough camera shops stock the colour you wanted in your area - and of course people looking for advice about getting a new lens and whether they should be buying a second camera in the same colour to put it on, or whether its OK to mix and match colours .... thats the point when some smart alec comes on and tries to tell them you can take off the first lens in order to put on the new one!

I doubt many of us will look at these and rush out and buy one - personally I would not be seen dead holding one.

However - isn't that largely the point? They are not aimed at 'us'. They are undoubtedly an attempt to tempt a new audience in to buying in to the SLR market.

For what it's worth, my 12 year old daughter thinks they look fantastic and is making noises about adding one to her Christmas list (like there's room on there for anything else - not! :shock If they release another one with a 'face' that looks like Thomas the Tank Engine - I am sure my 4 year old son will also want one

Carl

So it's 'us' and 'them' ? Perhaps I'm misguided in imagining all those K-S1 users flocking onto the forum? I was encouraged by the interviews at Photokina with the Ricoh execs, at least in so much as they seemed to understand the differing needs amongst different users, and they did not seem to be ignorant of the enthusiast photographer (video got a poor prognoses sadly).

The reality is though that the investment in enthusiast-oriented products will depend in no small part on income derived from entry-level products sold in many many many many many different colours!