[Zivelot]

Hi folks,

Since the announcement of new lenses and APS-C flagship a question has been lingering. What sort of sales figures a company/Pentax needs to return profit for their investment in R&D of a lens or a camera. I am not at all expert in economics, corporate planning, production, hi-tech etc. so would really appreciate input from those more geared in this topic.

I know the question is quite general and broad, but if you can bring examples to the table that would help me to understand. For example: how much could be the R&D (and other related) cost of the new 21mm FF lens and what sort of number they need to sell to justify production or just make profit.

Thanks!

Hi folks,

Since the announcement of new lenses and APS-C flagship a question has been lingering. What sort of sales figures a company/Pentax needs to return profit for their investment in R&D of a lens or a camera. I am not at all expert in economics, corporate planning, production, hi-tech etc. so would really appreciate input from those more geared in this topic.

I know the question is quite general and broad, but if you can bring examples to the table that would help me to understand. For example: how much could be the R&D (and other related) cost of the new 21mm FF lens and what sort of number they need to sell to justify production or just make profit.

Thanks!

I think that only the management at Ricoh can answer that question. It all depends on having an R&D for all of Ricoh and has the Pentax branch to pay for "hiring" the personnell or is Pentax an independent branch with an own R&D section?
But I guess that the Ricoh management will not spill the beans. They do not want to have the competirors inside information.

[zapp]

Lenses have fairly long life spans. Profit per lens will be low, multiply by time and production of a lens makes sense. That said, initial investment should be recollected after 3-5 years. Pentax is probably cross funding new designs with older designs like the Limiteds.
Some lenses must be present in a portfolio and probably don’t pay back. Someone pulled up an add from the 80’s about the 15 mm lens. 18 per year sold...

[roberrl]

Another thing to remember is that not all R&D ends up with a product.
It might end up with a decision not to produce anything, for example I'm sure Ricoh keep an eye on
mirrorless and have probably done analysis of cost vs likely market share and decided against.

Or they might investigate new materials for bodies or lenses and again decide against.

That is to me R&D

[lytrytyr]

Some lenses must be present in a portfolio and probably don’t pay back. Someone pulled up an add from the 80’s about the 15 mm lens. 18 per year sold...

"Halo" products.

The presence of the Corvette helps Chevy sell bread-and-butter cars.

You can dream about a D-FA* 50 as you buy a humble DA 50.

[Zivelot]

Another thing to remember is that not all R&D ends up with a product.
It might end up with a decision not to produce anything, for example I'm sure Ricoh keep an eye on
mirrorless and have probably done analysis of cost vs likely market share and decided against.

Or they might investigate new materials for bodies or lenses and again decide against.

That is to me R&D

True. Otherwise we would have had FF Pentax since the MZ-D.

"Halo" products.

The presence of the Corvette helps Chevy sell bread-and-butter cars.

You can dream about a D-FA* 50 as you buy a humble DA 50.

Perhaps the humble DA 50 will satisfy you more than the D-FA* 50, which costs eight times as much as the humble one. Put the DA 50 on a good body like the K-3II and let it amaze you. That has always been one of the great things about the original Pentax that they made very affordable lenses with very good optics.

[lytrytyr]

Put the DA 50 on a good body like the K-3II and let it amaze you. That has always been one of the great things about the original Pentax that they made very affordable lenses with very good optics.

I don't have the DA 50, but I've certainly been amazed by the DA 18-50 at its longer half on the K-1.

[clackers]

Hi folks,

Since the announcement of new lenses and APS-C flagship a question has been lingering. What sort of sales figures a company/Pentax needs to return profit for their investment in R&D of a lens or a camera. I am not at all expert in economics, corporate planning, production, hi-tech etc. so would really appreciate input from those more geared in this topic.

I know the question is quite general and broad, but if you can bring examples to the table that would help me to understand. For example: how much could be the R&D (and other related) cost of the new 21mm FF lens and what sort of number they need to sell to justify production or just make profit.

Thanks!

These figures are confidential and not revealed by camera companies even to shareholders in their reports. Data is aggregated into divisions to prevent scrutiny of particular aspects of a business.

It is almost impossible for shareholders to even get a figure like 'how many Fuji XT3s did we actually sell last year?'

It may suit Fujifilm (or whoever) to not answer the question, to answer it partially 'sales declined slightly, but we are hopeful', but they will never lie. False reporting by a corporation is very serious.