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We're happy to finally bring you our interview with Pentax at this year's CP+ show. See the video below:
Read on for the full interview transcript:
Do you have any updates about the Pentax full-frame DSLR since Photokina? Are you able to officially confirm that such a product will be released in the future?
In regard to full-frame cameras, at this point, as of Photokina, to be honest, even I hada time when I was wondering whether we should make full-frame cameras or not, but right now I know that we have to make them. Even within the company, there are a lot of opinions on this issue, such as the opinion that we shouldn’t make them, but right now within the company there are many people who are positive about the idea of us making full-frame cameras. Since Photokina, development of the component technology is advancing and we can say that we are quite positive about developing it as well.
You once mentioned that a full-frame Pentax would need to have a unique selling point in order to be marketed. Would you consider in-camera stabilization or a small form factor to be a unique feature in a full-frame DSLR?
Well, I think that small form cameras are very important to Pentax. However, I don’t think that it’s enough to be unique, so the improvement and the addition of other features for small form cameras are vital.
The new MX-1 appears to be the first "enthusiast" compact from Pentax. The camera has not been released yet, but it's already been attracting tremendous amounts of attention thanks to its looks. What else makes it unique?
Well, I think the design is one of the most unique aspects of it, but it’s not only the retro appearance of the camera, but also the fact that it is made of brass is something that has never been done before.
Would you ever consider making a retro-styled DSLR or a simple "student" DSLR that mimics the K1000?
Well, from several years ago we’ve had that idea but as of now we will answer that we have no plans to do it.
The announced AF360FGZ II flash has the addition of swiveling capabilities, what else has been redesigned or improved in this flash? Is the unit weather-sealed? Has the battery door been redesigned compared to the previous model?
We can say that we wish to deliver the functionality and hardware people will look forward to, but right now I cannot give you any details on it. We can't talk about it right now, please wait until a later date.
Many Pentax users have been asking for a wider range of flash-related features. What future plans do you have for improving the Pentax flash system in general?
Well, we are considering that right now.
There is a flash-related bug in the Pentax K-7, K-5, K-5 II, K-5 IIs and K-30 DSLR cameras. When a flash is used in bounce mode (tilted up), many users have noticed consistent overexposer by the P-TTL system. Are you aware of this issue and can it be fixed throuh a firmware update?
We understand that we are getting those opinions, and our engineers are aware of them. However, trying simply to resolve such issues could lead to other issues and therefore we are in the middle of discussions as to how we proceed.
The new SAFOX X autofocus system has improved low-light performance. It rivals some of the most advanced AF systems on the market today in terms of low-light accuracy. However, it still needs improvement in terms of continuous tracking mode. Is this an area that you're looking to refine in the next advanced Pentax DSLR?
In regard to the autofocus of the K-5 II, we developed it aiming to be number one in high sensitivity, but right now in the development team we are looking to become number one in autofocus.
Has the K-01 been discontinued?
Well, we haven’t completely discontinued it.
We haven't seen much about the Ricoh GXR or GR at the show. In what direction will you be going with these cameras in the future?
Well, this time we have no new Ricoh models. But we did prepare a sign at the booth that says that we will sell something in 2013. We cannot say what it will be right now, but we would like Ricoh fans to look forward to it.
The Pentax K-mount adapter is absolutely brilliant because of the leaf shutter and solid build quality. However, it does not come with a tripod foot, which is a must for many. Will this part go on sale separately?
Right now the tripod attached to such products as the 300mm DA-Star is being sold separately. We worried about whether or not we should include them together, but it would overlap with those who already have the DA-Star 300mm lens, so we decided to sell them separately.
Have you considered adding in-camera Wi-Fi or built-in GPS to any future DSLR?
In regard to the Wi-Fi and GPS, they’re becoming popular functions and whether to make them a built-in function or an option is something that we cannot say right now, but we are thinking of addressing this.
Another feature which users have been suggesting for a while is a fully articulating LCD screen, yet we haven't seen one on any Pentax camera to date. Is there a reason that such a screen has not been introduced on any model yet?
Adding an articulating LCD screen to the camera will be a disadvantage when developing a small form factor camera. Therefore we have not dealt with this until now, and right now we are considering what to do from now on.
Are there any plans to bring back official tethering support to cameras other than the Pentax 645D?
As of now we don’t have many requests, but if demand for models other than the 645D increase, we will consider it.
Would you be willing to work with third-party developers to create such applications and make Pentax cameras compatible with existing software?
We had that sort of idea. We have thought that disclosing these sorts of commands to third party developers who make applications would be a merit to users, but we think that as of now technical support would be difficult. But that does not mean that we are giving up.
There is currently a large gap between the video capabilities of the K-01, K-30, K-5II and K-5IIs. It would be great to have a product which would have the best of each camera in a single design. What are your future goals as far as video goes?
Increasing video capabilities depends on the hardware so as of now, I think increasing the efficiency of the video is difficult. In the end, Full HD H.264 format movie adoption as well as external microphones, and other such functions will become necessary for more advanced cameras. In regard to lower grade cameras, the usage will be examined based on each respective concept.
The Pentax 645D has been on the market for almost three years now. There have been many improvements to the 645 lens lineup such at the 25mm wide-angle or the 90mm macro.What are your long-term plans as far as the body itself goes?
In regard to the 645D, our customers are very satisfied with it and we have not had many requests on improvement, but we have many new ideas which we are considering for the next model.
At Photokina you said that you would address the lack of Pentax presence in certain countries. What is being done or what will be done to improve the worldwide availability of Pentax products and access to support?
In regards to the regions in which the cameras are being sold, Pentax Ricoh Imaging is reviewing it. For example, as a new plan we might have a distributor or partner up with someone. Also, we are thinking of making good use of the traditional Ricoh sales channel.
It can't help but to be noticed that a true entry-level DSLR has not been available from Pentax for over a year now since the discontinuation of the K-r. Are there any plans to bring back such a camera or do you see the K-30 as something that fills this role?
In regard to the K-30, we developed it is as a mid-range model, so it does not make up for the entry level. I think that entry-level cameras are important to us. We wish to eventually fill this gap.
Many Pentax fans are looking forward to the SDM teleconverter and the DA* zoom lens that's currently on the roadmap. Can you comment on either of these products?
I’m sorry, I cannot comment on it until we make an official announcement.
Do you have any final words for the Pentax community?
From now on Pentax Ricoh Imaging will, well the Pentax brand and Ricoh brand, will want to put out unique and interesting cameras that excite people such as compact cameras, Q-mount, K-mount, and 645, so please look forward to that.
As part of Pentax Ricoh Imaging the incredible enjoyment and the persistence that you can’t have with another maker is something that we want to communicate to you fans. And we also have plans to put out more exciting products, so please look forward to it.
We will be posting commentary about the interview and closing remarks about the show shortly, so please stay tuned for that!
Main thing I learned from the interview: They are thinking a lot.
The K1000 reply is not to my liking, but I can understand that they don't have enough resources for that.
As for video, I'd be happy if they add a record video button on the K-5 (just let me use the Fx button for that!) and do hot pixel filtering for video too. Better audio controls and higher quality, and I'm happy.
"we want to be #1 in autofocus/
this is the most exciting thing in this interview for me.
If they will be #1 in this area they can do any thing in camera market."
Agreed. They're very close to the perfect APS-C body with the recent K-5 II models. If they kick AF up a notch, add another memory card slot, squeeze a little more out of the 16 mp sensor (maybe with similar to Fuji method like they hinted at?), solve some nagging problems like the flash issue and improve processing for better movies without sacrificing image quality they'll be right about there.
The full frame stuff is exciting for people who want full frame, but it's still of course a bit too vague, as was most of the rest of the interview. I'm willing to wait for them for whenever they come out with full frame, since it will be cheaper to keep the lenses I own than to buy Canon/Sony/Nikon equivalents, but they might lose me when it comes to buying a small high end camera. Something Ricoh fans will hopefully like?
Guys, you gotta give me a little more than that to wait on buying a new travel camera...
Nice interview. However, my feeling was that nothing of value was actually said by the Pentax/Ricoh men. Reminded me of politicians avoiding answering questions.
we want to be #1 in autofocus/
this is the most exciting thing in this interview for me.
If they will be #1 in this area they can do any thing in camera market.
Great job on the interview. I think these guys are revealing just about as much as any other vendor would. They are just not embellishing (i.e., lying) the same way most product representatives would. One should never reveal product strategy beyond what the corporation has explicitly authorized them to say.
These guys have an obvious smile when questioned about the SDM teleconverter, and the DA* zoom, so I would interpret this to mean these products will be announced sooner rather than later.
Great interview! Thanks Adam and your team! Very excited waiting for new announcements!
FF ........ No any concrete plans.
all other questions fade
I didn't really expect them to reveal too much of their plans (they are Japanese, after all), but they did hint at some exciting new products (MF in a K-5 sized body for £900 - perhaps I dreamt that bit....). But they did say they wanted to be #1 in autofocus, which has to be a good thing. A K-5 with really good autofocus would be a nearly perfect camera for me.
Моё мненте что ФФ фотоаппарат от Pentax должен иметь самое главное значение, потому что если руководство ещё год будет задерживать его выпуск то и те остальные фанаты Pentax что ещё остались уйдут к Canon или Nikon.
FF - just wish to do. No any concrete plans.
Thanks a lot Pentax for the enthusiasm expressed by your executives. That's a real confidence builder for Pentax users like myself who have stuck with the brand for decades. You must earn your salary by keeping us all in the dark. Let me suggest the company hire someone who actually wants to engender enthusiasm to keep you in business.
I hated the answer on K1000 question. Still hoping they are not planing it, literally speaking, because they are ready to launch it!
It's not easy getting executives to talk about unannounced future plans, but well done in getting the interview and in the range of questions - thanks Adam and team.
Thanks for the good work, Adam! I got a feeling that something good is going on inside Pentax:)
I feel as though due to the insanely vague answer, an entry level camera is already in the works.
Thanx for this, they are not giving any hint easily !!!
The executives' responses still give the feeling that they take their cues for product direction from the Japan market, definitely not a global view.
i would sign a petition for k5 tethering.
it's almost necessary for what i use it for (stop-mo).
Many thanks for taking the time and effort to conduct the interview. It is interestign in that it leaves me a feeling that Pentax/Ricoh is doing a lot of soul searching, and thinking. Hopefully something exciting will be coming out of all this. So far we haven't seen much of anything. I am guessing the Q and the K-01 is more a Pentax/Hoya thing. The MX-1 might be all Pentax/Ricoh. It is interesting that they really didn't have anything about Ricoh cameras except for a poster saying to look forward to something later this year. The whole camera industry is kind of a mess right now with nearly every compnay losing money this past year. The smartphone really eat into the very proffitable p&s market and companies really don't know what direction to take for the future. Anyhow, thanks for posting the interview
Good work and thanks to all involved. I was surprised t how frank they were for any executive giving an interview, much less japanese executives. I'm not sure what some folks were expecting, but I got more than I thought.
Well I'm glad the guy on the right finally spoke. I think he represents the Ricoh side and the guy on the left represents the Pentax side. I did get some positive feelings about the interview. They are looking at full frame models, they are looking at a new entry level model to replace the Kr they are looking at a new version of the 645, they are making an effort to address the issues with the current flash lineup. They are also acknowledging for the first time that there are bounce flash problems with the K5 + series of cameras.
Thank you Adam and all of the volunteers who worked on this project. If it weren't for you guys we in Pentax Land would be pretty well in the dark out here.
Adam, thank you for the interview video. Good work!
What struck me first was the poker face these two have, as if they really on the defence side of a trial.
Nonetheless, in spite of the vague responses to many questions, we perhaps have a feeling that a FF "something" is in the works, albeit making it seem like they have just realized, suddenly and surprisingly, that "the others are doing it ... we'd better do it too."
I was also rather disappointed with the response to the SDM teleconverter question: they will not talk about it.
A good interview, Adam. But I am still feeling short changed.
JP
BTW - Adam - Thank-you
Are there any plans to bring back official tethering support to cameras other than the Pentax 645D?
As of now we don’t have many requests, but if demand for models other than the 645D increase, we will consider it.
I almost fell out of my seat.
RossCo, I'm with you. Sign me up for a request for better tethering!!!
Thanks for the video and transcript, by the way. You've continued to do great work.
It is starting to look like they actually have a policy in place stating that they are to say absolutely nothing other than "we are thinking about it," or "we want to think about starting to look at maybe researching the possibility of investigating what it would be like to consider whether or not we might want to make that type of product."
At this point, it seems like it must be a policy. Otherwise, they have no plan whatsoever, and everyone goes into the office in the morning having no idea what they are going to do that day. I'm sure this is not the case, though, because they have put out cameras such as the K-01 and the MX-1, which obviously took a great deal of planning and ground-up design to create.
It's an odd policy, though.
Nice job of taking so many requests for questions from us and compiling them into a very nice interview.
Tethering - "As of now we don’t have many requests, but if demand for models other than the 645D increase, we will consider it."
OK - where do we request it maybe they should subscribe to PentaxForums.
One of the issues I see here is the lack of forethought. Instead of matching other companies and going further, Pentax waits for the request. If a new buyer needs features such as tethering they buy something another brand, someone who already owns Pentax is out of luck.
There answer to every question is basically, "we see everyone else is already doing it, so we are looking into it". Could you be any more conservative? How about leading instead of following?
Sorry, but this company is a mess. Looking forward to seeing Ricoh's plan come to fruition.
Can you extend the video or cut it back a bit? Every time I look at the news I see these 2 guys are sleeping.