Doug Jewell wrote:
> David J. Littleboy wrote:
>> "Doug Jewell" <ask@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>> Dudley Hanks wrote:
>>>> Back in the '60s, '70s and even into the '80s Pentax was right up
>>>> there with Canon and Nikon. But, today, it seems like the company
>>>> doesn't even get honourable mention in the brand wars. What
happened?
>>> Not sure about in the rest of the world, but their distribution
>>> within Australia didn't move with the times, and hence their
>>> availability was poorer than other brands.
>>>
>>> They have also pretty much abandoned the serious pro market, leaving
>>> that for Canon and Nikon. They are still a fairly strong player in
>>> the advanced amateur category at #3 in DSLR (albeit a long way behind
>>> Canon and Nikon). In the compact camera market they are just another
>>> one of the m*****.
>>
>> FWIW, Pentax is _the_ camera of choice for medium format film
>> landscape photographers in Japan. They split the medium format film
>> market with Mamiya, whose cameras are seen more as studio cameras.
>> Interestingly, only one of the Pentax and Mamiya medium format film
>> cameras has been discontinued. Yet. (My best bet is that most of the
>> Mamiya cameras are, like the Hasselblad 500 series, not being mfd, but
>> are still being sold as new from stock. But Mamiya is still
>> advertising (6645AFD, 7II, RB67(!!!), and RZ67) in the current
>> magazines here.)
> Yeah, from what I can understand talking to the a few working pros
> around here, Pentax pretty much own the MF category. Unfortunately that
> category has started to take a hit with more and more switching to high
> end 35mm digital like the Canon 1DIII and Nikon D3. There was a time not
> so long ago, when most of the serious wedding photographers were
> shooting Pentax or Mamiya 645 equipment - now it is all 30D or 5D. The
> price has gone down, but so has the quality IMO.
> Have you heard any word on the much rumoured 645 Digital? If/When that
> comes out, that should really make people stand up and take notice of
> Pentax again as a serious pro brand.
>
It appears to have been almost ready for market when Hoya acquired
Pentax. Since then the project is variously described as canceled or "on
hold".
I don't know if the market is really there for medium format digital,
since all the MF digital I know of on the market are actually crop
sensors, none of them actually 6x4.5, 6x6, or 6x7.
I figure a full-frame DSLR would get images as good as a crop sensor MF
digital.
> A full-frame 35mm DSLR wouldn't go astray in their range either, but
> since it appears most of the film format lenses have been discontinued
> (including the 50/1.4, what are they thinking?), I can't see that
> happening any time soon :(
>>
Not soon, but not impossible either. Nikon swore for years they were
never going to offer a full frame digital, and look at the D-3.
And I think the 645D development effort may someday see the light of day
as a FF DSLR.
Or not.
>>>> What about the rest of you? Any ideas on why Pentax has sort of
>>>> faded into the background?
>>> Because Pentax don't have the serious pro 35mm format digitals, that
>>> market has been left to Canon and Nikon. As a result, these 2 hold
>>> the vast majority of the market share.
>>>
>>> Actually Nikon have only been a major player again in the last couple
>>> of years - they almost became marginalised too - the D40/D40x were
>>> the start of their clawback, helped by the D200, and now with the
>>> D3/D300 they are well and truly back in the game.
>>
>> Yep.
>>
>> David J. Littleboy
>> Tokyo, Japan
>>
>>
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