135 Full Frame DSLR from Pentax
I am currently using Pentax K100D. I will switch to Pentax K-7 when I have the money saved up.
I have always thought Pentax won't put out a 135 Full Frame DSLR when they have released a bunch of new DA lens. When the news of 645D is in development, this made me feel the days of having a Pentax 135FFDSLR will be even further in the future.
Why? Hoya owns Pentax now. Hoya doesn't want to lose more money (it already lost some last year as we can see from the financial statements). K-7 being it's top of the line DSLR now is it's first try to get more market share back for Pentax Brand. Every other camera body can be lower model because they will more or less base on the cost down version of K-7/K20D. Cheaper to develop and when they get onto the market they can sell cheaper and maintain the market share.
645D on the other hand is a very different story.
There is NO other major (Canon,Nikon) Japanese camera manufacturer makes such large format digital camera. Their largest is 135FF. Anyone wants bigger format, go for film or the likes like Hasselblad/PhaseOne/Leica S, which are all expensive.
When you pick up a Japanese Landscape & Nature Photographic Magazine (Fukei Shashin), many of the photographs inside are taken by a Pentax 645NII, which is a film version of the 645D. Still many followers, and when you do a search it's still very popular in Japan. This has very big advantage landscape photography compare to 135FF. Wide angle? You've got it. Ultra wide angle? That's 645D's strength. Sure there are more than one reason to go for larger format but if Pentax can get 645D onto the market quick enough it will be a damn good niche market for them. In that case, 135FF? Why bother to compete in such crowded and may-not-be-so-profitable market? Might as well just release another retro film camera which is cheap to produce but still able to let the faithful Pentaxers' to use their nice FA/FA* lens. And that will be the path I take if I ever want to become a commercial photographer.
I have always thought Pentax won't put out a 135 Full Frame DSLR when they have released a bunch of new DA lens. When the news of 645D is in development, this made me feel the days of having a Pentax 135FFDSLR will be even further in the future.
Why? Hoya owns Pentax now. Hoya doesn't want to lose more money (it already lost some last year as we can see from the financial statements). K-7 being it's top of the line DSLR now is it's first try to get more market share back for Pentax Brand. Every other camera body can be lower model because they will more or less base on the cost down version of K-7/K20D. Cheaper to develop and when they get onto the market they can sell cheaper and maintain the market share.
645D on the other hand is a very different story.
There is NO other major (Canon,Nikon) Japanese camera manufacturer makes such large format digital camera. Their largest is 135FF. Anyone wants bigger format, go for film or the likes like Hasselblad/PhaseOne/Leica S, which are all expensive.
When you pick up a Japanese Landscape & Nature Photographic Magazine (Fukei Shashin), many of the photographs inside are taken by a Pentax 645NII, which is a film version of the 645D. Still many followers, and when you do a search it's still very popular in Japan. This has very big advantage landscape photography compare to 135FF. Wide angle? You've got it. Ultra wide angle? That's 645D's strength. Sure there are more than one reason to go for larger format but if Pentax can get 645D onto the market quick enough it will be a damn good niche market for them. In that case, 135FF? Why bother to compete in such crowded and may-not-be-so-profitable market? Might as well just release another retro film camera which is cheap to produce but still able to let the faithful Pentaxers' to use their nice FA/FA* lens. And that will be the path I take if I ever want to become a commercial photographer.
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