Interview with Ricoh Imaging - Photokina 2018

Opening Day at Photokina

By PF Staff in Photokina 2018 on Sep 28, 2018

Wednesday September 26 was the opening day of Photokina 2018 and the day of our meeting with representatives from RICOH. We have already reported on the announcement of the development of the RICOH GR III here and that constitutes RICOH's sole official announcement at this year's Photokina. The GR III should become available early 2019.

Already from the morning the Ricoh booth attracted curious spectators (click any image to enlarge and browse):

The Pentax booth on opening day

Ricoh GR III at Photokina

New high-performance compact camera

By PF Staff in Photokina 2018 on Sep 26, 2018

The Ricoh GR III was on display behind glass at Photokina since it is not yet released. Fortunately we got the opportunity to see the prototype out in the open in the back room during our meeting with Ricoh executives today and we also got answers to the questions our users have posed regarding the GR III.

The 24 MP APS-C GR III has hybrid autofocus with phase detection sensors on the imaging sensor, which is stabilized. The flash hot shoe supports the Pentax P-TTL flash protocol, but the O-GPS1 unit (astrotracer unit) is not supported. It is felt by Ricoh that using high ISO and shutter speeds up to 30 seconds makes up for the lack of astrotracer functionality.

As evidenced by this release Ricoh continues support of the GR series, which has a good number of enthusiastic users and is a great camera for street shooting.

Most of the GR III specifications as currently known have been added to our database here.

Theta and related applications also continue to be a focus area, and in the DSLR arena Ricoh continues support of all three sensor formats, APS-C, full frame, and medium format. More about this and our meeting with the Ricoh executives in a later post on this page.

Click on any image above to enlarge and browse. 

Press Day - Photokina 2018

Preview of the Trade Show in Cologne

By PF Staff in Photokina 2018 on Sep 25, 2018

The day before the official opening of Photokina is traditionally a press day to which the media and accredited photojournalists have access. Towards the end of the day it was possible for us to roam select areas of the exhibit halls even though construction of the various exhibits were still in progress. So we will begin with the end of the day where we got a glimpse of the Ricoh/Pentax booth being set up.

The Ricoh/Pentax booth under construction

The Theta has a prominent presence one must say. The just-announced GR III was not around; we were told that it will show up Wednesday when the show officially opens. All the current DSLRs were already on display: 645Z, K-1 II, KP, and the K-70. The K-1 II was of course shown with the new D FA* 50mm lnes attached:

 K-1 II with D FA* 50mm F1.4

The Ricoh staff working on setting up the booth were quite tight-lipped, so we do not yet know if there will be any announcements other than the GR III.

The booth has shrunk in size over the previous years, but this is also the case for other vendors including Canon, Nikon, Leica, and Olympus. This in turn made room for players who have not traditionally exhibited at Photokina, such as drone manufacturers and mobile phone companies. Speaking of phones, Huawei showed the Mate 10 Pro which features dual 20MP and 12MP Leica cameras. Leica seems pretty good at entering into various partnerships which most likely enhances their revenue stream (more about that later).

Huawei/Leica partnership

Ricoh Imaging to Exhibit at Photokina 2018

Largest camera/photo industry trade show

By PF Staff in Photokina 2018 on Sep 25, 2018

Photokina 2018 will take place between September 26 and 29 at the usual Koelnmesse convention center in Cologne, Germany.  Ricoh Imaging will be exhibiting the latest Pentax and Ricoh products at the same booth as in prior years, and we will off course cover the event (on the 26th and during the press preview event on the 25th) and conduct a mini interview with Ricoh representatives.

At the moment, despite over 100 pages of rumors, no official Pentax or Ricoh product announcements have been made in relation to Photokina.  Speculations range from nothing new, to a new GR camera, to a new DSLR or even two.  At a high level, we expect more information on the upcoming FA* 85mm F1.4, the delayed 11-18mm, and other roadmapped Pentax lenses.  In terms of product lines, the K-3 and 645Z are the next models we'd expect to see upgraded.  With 4K video support now supported by the Theta, continued performance and image quality improvements might also be expected within that line.

In the mean time, if you have a question you'd like us to ask Ricoh, please post it here.

It is worth noting that Photokina will be switching to an annual format starting 2019; the next show will take place between May 8 and 11, and subsequent shows will continue taking place each May.