[davidmanze]

What exactly is Pentax' differentiator today ?

What is the value prop compared to Canon and Nikon ?

 

System-wise they are smaller. Performance-wise they are not better. Their release-cycle of new products is slower.

And the mirrorless gang has beaten them on their last ground (size, weight).

 

Thus what is left ?

All perfectly valid points, I suppose with 7-8 billion people on the planet all with different views there's a market share for quite a few manufacturers, it's "just" a question of being profitable. Do we really need Pentax? well at the moment they are selling OK and any additional choice can only be good. 

 The three new cameras don't break any new ground but no doubt they will be priced competitively and you do get a lot of spec for your money with good optical viewfinders whereas Canon and Nikon are still giving you miserly pentaprisms apart from top models. However Pentax  have a way to go, there's holes in their lens range, 4-5 new lenses would cure a lot of that, the new 1.4X teleconverter is about to be announced, kit lenses need to be seriously upgraded to internal silent drives,(  first point of contact in brick and mortar stores) flash issues have been sorted,  most points have been addressed but there are still some to be improved. Here it's fairly easy we are talking today!

  Tommorrow:  most importantly things are changing so fast who knows really where things are going to go, is FF really what the market wants five years from now ?  Will DSLRs be popular for long now that mirrorless is on the scene? What revolutionary technological twist will upset the photographic world, when it's possible to put a Zeelon micro sensor in your Iphone Z35? 

  Gone are the days of jobs for life, you just have to do what you can in the business world, when you can for as long as you can, and be grateful for it. I guess that's what Penat/Ricoh are at, getting down on it and producing some pretty decent cameras!