RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: Now, Leica Also Has the Full Frame, Where's Pentax?

Friday, September 11, 2009

Now, Leica Also Has the Full Frame, Where's Pentax?

All just started with a new Kodak Full Frame CCD sensor (Yes, it's CCD, not CMOS)..

http://www.imaginginsider.com/?p=102187

With the new Leica M9, all the excellent and superb old Leica M-mount lenses can be used as they were designed, immediately.

Now almost every classic SLR maker (Canon/Nikon/Minolta/Sony and now Leica) has their Full Frame cameras, where is Pentax? Still unable to find a Full Frame sensor? Unwilling to invest and also lack a Full Frame lens system currently?? Whilst everything shows that Samsung has already gone away for their own "Evil" project on the mirrorless APS-C NX, who will make a FF sensor for Pentax?

While Olympus also lacks the 135 FF, but one thing is for sure: They have recently gained big success for the truly niche product of the EP-1 in micro-4/3 format. So will the Pana GF1 too, I bet. Pentax then? Theirs are neither not practical FF system with higher Image Quality NOR the niche, more elegant and compact that will find a new market segment in which they comfortably seat in.

Comments (17)

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0 Vote up Vote down

Kman · 812 weeks ago

isn't this getting kind of old??? boo hoo no full frame--- who cares ??

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chillgreg · 812 weeks ago

I challenge you Ricehigh to make an entirely positive
post about Pentax, the compaby, or even better, the K-7.

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NoRice · 812 weeks ago

Viral marketing. Why all the negative attacks on Pentax? Sony is selling a $2000.00 FF DSLR AT A LOSS! When the price comes down more we will see Pentax enter this segment. The global economy is in the toilet too, not the best time to be introducing new camera lines. By the way, Olympus' sales are down and last I read Pentax was becoming more profitable.

1 reply · active 811 weeks ago

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Tabitha Green · 811 weeks ago

How do you know it's at a loss?

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Enche Tjin · 812 weeks ago

Pentax makes great pancakes lenses tho, and better than some old company like Kodak, Agfa, Contax and Fuji, but will that fit in Pentax FF cameras if they are coming?

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RiceHigh 110p · 812 weeks ago

Some pancake lenses are nice but the QC is really poor. Now they are ridiculously expensive, too.

Wider DA lenses will not cover full frame, no matter they are primes or zooms, an illustration can be seen here.

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Rice Shrinkage · 812 weeks ago

I bet you RiceHigh, you will complain like a little school girl even if Pentax comes out with $2000 FF camera!!
RiceHigh would say : Pentax is "yet" to beat the competitors "whilst" other Camera company makes FF camera for less than blah blah blah..."poor"...."quality"....Please go back to your prozac. And Please learn to choose different vocabs. I am getting a bit tired of reading same words over and over and over and over and over....continues.... you used to be funny at least.

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Ivanko · 812 weeks ago

Rice, the price of M9 is 7000 USD. It's really cool camera, but...too expensive.

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Chosen · 812 weeks ago

The market is speaking. FF sales are static per user (i.e. fighting over the same customers and minimal gross market share increases), smaller sensor sizes are increasing. M4/3 is the thing, not an over-priced Leica. Users who were not DSLR purchasers beforehand are buying "up" (i.e. higher price points, more margins, long-term lens-invested consumers into M4/3. They are NOT going into FF. APS-C meanwhile is going very strong and looks solid for a long time to come. The real question may be what happened to the standard 4/3 setup.

There is very little market demand for FF. Sure Pentax could make one, but why?

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Pentax · 811 weeks ago

Alright. We will make it.

2 replies · active 811 weeks ago

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RiceHigh 110p · 811 weeks ago

How? When? Mr. "Pentax".. (LOL..)

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CrayolaLevy · 811 weeks ago

Dr. Pentax abhors your flippancy!

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Pentax · 811 weeks ago

We are tied up with 645D project at the moment. The camera is essentially ready. Let us deal with this first. We gained lots of know-how in terms of making use of a larger sensor.

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RiceHigh 110p · 811 weeks ago

Yes, tied up and die.

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Pentax · 811 weeks ago

>Yes, tied up and die.

Having lost a brother 9 days ago to cancer, a comment like that really hurts. I am sorry that you need to use the word like "die" so casually. That very moment one dies is possibly one of the most important moments in one's life. I wish that you choose our word a bit more carefully. I thought I was done crying....

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RiceHigh 110p · 811 weeks ago

I am sorry to hear about that and my condolence to you here.

But I mean nothing to you personal when I predict Pentax will be financially in trouble if they launch the 645D and eventually they may not survive.

1 reply · active 811 weeks ago

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Tabitha Green · 811 weeks ago

They are not surviving all that well now; might as well go down throwing uppercuts at the jaws of their competitors.

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