[Mistral75]

Q: Are there any plans of renewing current screw drive lenses, e.g. by adding in-lens AF motors?
A: That's an interesting suggestion. There are, however, no such plans.

Is that question about revamped DA* lenses???

About FA Limited lenses (among others), I would say. DA★ lenses are not screw drive lenses, they have an in-lens SDM motor (which could advantageously be replaced by a DC or ring-SDM motor but that's another story.)

[reh321]

.Strike 4 = Teasing that they'll be an exciting announcement at the big German show, and then absolute silence about their entire line of DSLR cameras and lenses.

Ricoh Imaging didn't do that. Other people did, with their own agenda.

We may never know who was actually behind that stunt. I did get into trouble for implicitly saying it was a lie, by saying "the GRiii is 'a lame point-and-shoot camera' ". They did get our attention, but all they really succeeded in doing was infuriating some people who would have written off Photokina, but now feel "we've been played".

[fsge]

Considering the long and very interesting list of questions that forum people here took time to write, and knowing the highly frustrating context of an anecdotal GRIII announcement, I find this interview way out of the money.

[monochrome]

Having lived with the ever-evolving products and violently oscillating reputation of Apple Computers for more than 33 years, the vagaries of public opinion about the company and it's often forecast doom have ceased to concern me. I've lived with Pentax products for only a decade but I feel the same ambivalence about the Pentax pessimists as I do with the Apple pessimists.

I'll let others worry about who is might become the most popular in PCs, smartphones, and cameras. I'm not looking for devices that satisfy everyone. I'm only looking for devices that satisfy me. And, for now, Pentax satisfies me better than any other camera maker.

That said, we all have different needs which may drive us toward different cameras. I hope you find cameras you like and I hope Pentax remains among them.

My opinion of the equipment is unchanged - but RIcoh certainly doesn’t seem to be doing anything to feed the affinity group of users the way Apple has, or Mini does in small, fun cars. They just feel closed off, and it doesn’t inspire confidence. It’s just weird coming after the *50.

I hope they’re quietly saving everything up for an anniversary party blowout.

---

Last edited by monochrome; 09-29-2018 at 09:53 AM.

[beachgardener]

I'm disappointed that there was no talk what so ever of the K-3 line

[alcstudios]

Ask them why they choose to be this.

[rechmbrs]

Those gents answering questions seemed more like copier or used car salesmen than executives of a photographic hardware company. They didn't have an inkling to pick up a camera. Very disappointing to see these changes.

RONC

[Larrymc]

Firstly let me apologize for my language, but who the hell was the interviewer and why was there no specific question about the K-3II replacement. In my opinion that should have been question #1 and if Ricoh/Pentax declined to answer it should have been reported as such not brushed aside. If that had been the case then people interested in a K-3II replacement either could decide to go another course or stay the course. Just a simple "What are the plans going forward regarding the K-3II replacement" would have been sufficient. But now we have to be deluged with a bunch of future negative comments until the time that they actually do something.

My opinion is someone dropped the ball big time in the interview question phase.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Larrymc]

I'm disappointed that there was no talk what so ever of the K-3 line

Talk???? There wasn't even a question reported!

[alcstudios]

Firstly let me apologize for my language, but who the hell was the interviewer and why was there no specific question about the K-3II replacement. In my opinion that should have been question #1 and if Ricoh/Pentax declined to answer it should have been reported as such not brushed aside. If that had been the case then people interested in a K-3II replacement either could decide to go another course or stay the course. Just a simple "What are the plans going forward regarding the K-3II replacement" would have been sufficient. But now we have to be deluged with a bunch of future negative comments until the time that they actually do something.

My opinion is someone dropped the ball big time in the interview question phase.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Whoa Larry......calm down......... The "real PF professionals got their GRRRRRRR, all is happy now, but stay close to a life jacket while on this ship.

[Larrymc]

Whoa Larry......calm down......... The "real PF professionals got their GRRRRRRR, all is happy now, but stay close to a life jacket while on this ship.

Oh no worries, I'm riding this boat to shore! After I have given a bit more thought to it, the only other explanation than dropping the ball is that the Ricoh execs requested silence on the matter due to some near future announcement. The number one question has been conveintly left out

[JPT]

Closed questions. Questions about future products that we know they can't answer. Feature requests. It's like an interrogation where the interrogator has no power over the person interrogated. I'm not surprised so little of interest comes out.

I wish questions would be asked that allowed the Ricoh people to talk about how they work, how they determine customer needs and so on. Something interesting might come out of that.

About the K-3 replacement, I find the omission of the question interesting in itself. What if they got an more encouraging answer off the record, but they were sworn to secrecy? Remember, Arai-san already said six months ago that they were working on it, and more has been said at events in Japan. This camera is coming soon, I think.

Remember, you don't have a right to know a company's internal plans. My company wouldn't tell, and I bet your company wouldn't either. Things are internal until they are announced.

[clickclick]

From what little I can glean of the corporate culture from Ricoh/Pentax, silence is perhaps truly golden.

[Larrymc]

About the K-3 replacement, I find the omission of the question interesting in itself. What if they got an more encouraging answer off the record, but they were sworn to secrecy? Remember, Arai-san already said six months ago that they were working on it, and more has been said at events in Japan. This camera is coming soon, I think.

Those are my thoughts that there is a coming announcement that they were not at liberty to talk about at the time of Photokina. Its the only logical answer because there was an answer at CP+2018 regarding a K-3II replacement.

BTW, what more has been said at events in Japan??

[JPT]

BTW, what more has been said at events in Japan??

From recollection, it's best not to think about it as a K-3 Mark III. It's going to a bigger evolution that that. But also that current K-3 users would feel at home with it.

I actually posted about it around April or May, but I can't find my own post about it now.