[Smolk]

I'm impressed by these rumour sites.

It's possible to talk out of ones arse, but these guys have managed to get theirs to type and start blogs.

but it still smells!

I don't think the rumour has any credibility whatsoever. I do wish Sony had kept the Minolta line separate, under a new name, or some old revived name. Competition is healthy, and it's a shame that the Konica (that was a good camera!) and Minolta disappeared.

[kevinschoenmakers]

I'm impressed by these rumour sites.

It's possible to talk out of ones arse, but these guys have managed to get theirs to type and start blogs.

To be fair, they stated it was far-fetched. And really, if you pay attention to these kind of websites, the good ones are precise in how trustrable their information is. The things they claim are true, actually are quite often.

[lithos]

To be fair, they stated it was far-fetched.

And yet here we are...

There's no proof, no burden thereof, but boy does it generate clicks for 1001!

Everyone knows Hoya is selling the Pentax brand to Kraft, anyway, which will use it on its new line of artificial sandwich spreads.

[Smolk]

D**n I thought it was Heinz

[lithos]

There's still an outside chance Nestlé will stick in a bid.

[reeftool]

I doubt that either rumor has much truth to it, at least today. Its something that may have been knocked around a few years back. I don't see where either company has anything to gain. Hoya isn't going to give it away and buying a company just to shut it down and eleminate competition sounds stupid to me. Not in this economy. Pentax is hardly worth mentioning compared to Canon's volume of sales. Sony likes to throw away money, maybe they would do something like that. They have already wasted tons of it. I will continue to use my Pentax gear anyhow. If they were gone, the micro 4/3 looks very interesting. As I get older, I want less weight to carry around and there seems to be an adapter available to mount just about any lens made by anybody for that format.

[Samsungian]

Canonrumors had an article yesterday about this purchase story & today its been

"disappeared".

So I'll guess the Canon buyout of Pentax from Hoya is false.

I follow canon and nikon patents on popular rumour sites and Canon has inbody stabilization patents for dslrs already.




Canon Rumors

[Torphoto]

Well there are some sources that stated that ( first ) sony was "looking at" Pentax but it was never clear if it was a buyout, intelectual agreement or other wise. The next rumor ( as there was no fixed source ) was that canon's response was to buy Pentax and then that rumor spread like wild fire.

Truth is the original intent from Sony was never stated, there are reasons why Sony may want to partner with Pentax in some form with their own DSLR sales struggling, Nikon moving to use more non sony sensors and oly still making good head way in the market. Or just potentially to put pressure on Samsung ( sony's new arch rival in the general market ) and remove their camera divisions partner. As it stands it is all speculation with no evidence other than some form of interest from Sony in Pentaxes direction and rumors.

As far as patents go Pentax does have a few interesting patents that may be of interest to both Sony and Canon, but there are other ways to get a hold of those other than buying out the company ( thats what licensing agreements are made for! ) and are normally alot cheaper and more cost effective than doing your own R&D or buying a company for them.

In either case until Hoya says something official I will treat it all as rumors.

[Mike.P®]

Canonrumors had an article yesterday about this purchase story & today its been

"disappeared".

Still there.

[WerTicus]

if that happened id probably buy a nikon.

[Votesh]

If I'm not mistaken the patents would be the property of Hoya, and not the Pentax part of Hoya. So buying Pentax for patents would only matter for future patents, and to that end, that would largely be due to Pentax employees, and not the company itself. If Canon was that concerned, it could just lure Pentax employees with promises of higher wages, rather than buy an entire company just for the collective knowledge and unfinished research of its employees.

It must have been for the patents if the rumor is true at all. Buying Pentax for market share and then dump the K-mount sounds like a stupid idea.
If Canon bought Pentax and then ditched the K-mount....where would we go?
I bet a lot of us would be pissed and buy Nikon gear without even considering the EF-mount.
Those patents must be worth a lot to take that risk. (again, if there is any truth at all to this).
Then again, 'a lot us us' is relative.....we are not that many and Canon could maybe live with handing over Pentax whole market share to Nikon. Nice gift!

Also, I think the premise of the rumor is crazy. If either of these companies was going to buy Pentax to shut it down, or for intellectual property, they would have done it instead of letting Hoya buy Pentax. It would have been much cheaper back then.

[noblepa]

If I'm not mistaken the patents would be the property of Hoya, and not the Pentax part of Hoya. So buying Pentax for patents would only matter for future patents, and to that end, that would largely be due to Pentax employees, and not the company itself. If Canon was that concerned, it could just lure Pentax employees with promises of higher wages, rather than buy an entire company just for the collective knowledge and unfinished research of its employees.



Also, I think the premise of the rumor is crazy. If either of these companies was going to buy Pentax to shut it down, or for intellectual property, they would have done it instead of letting Hoya buy Pentax. It would have been much cheaper back then.

While I think talk of Canon buying Pentax from Hoya is ludicrous, the exact ownership of the patents is of little consequence. The sale could be structured to include any Hoya assets that the buyer and seller could agree on. So, if Canon wanted a particular patent, along with Pentax, Hoya could include that patent.

Since Pentax is no longer a seperate corporate entity, and just a division within Hoya corporation, everything, from the patents, to the production facilities, to the chairs the engineers sit on, belongs to Hoya. Any sale would include a rather detailed description of exactly what was being sold.

The fact the Hoya folded Pentax into itself, rather than keeping it as a wholly-owned (but seperate corporate entity) subsidiary, was and is, to me, a sign that Hoya does not intend to sell Pentax. If they had intended to sell Pentax off, they would have kept it seperate. It would have been very easy for Hoya to simply sell the Pentax stock to Canon or anyone else. Coupla hours for an accountant or lawyer. Divesting a portion of Hoya corporation itself is a much more complex project. Even after the two parties agreed on terms, the actual sepeperation would be long and complicated.

[philippe]

What if Canon (or Sony) and Hoya were about to merge?
Then, they would acquire the whole lot of Pentax at once…
Perhaps this is what was meant by the rumor's author.
BTW, I think that Canon, and the others, are buying Hoya glass to make their lenses, so they are already more or less in business.
Perhaps, they do not need to merge anymore, it's one big puddle?

[traderdrew]

No; they would buy Pentax for the patents alone, and then cease camera and lens production (of Pentax and Pentax lenses) completely. One competitor less to worry about!

I would think it would make more business sense not to alienate Pentax owners. If a company was to really aquire them, I wouldn't think they would want all of their new potential customers to suddenly become Nikonians or something else.

[Miserere]

Not that I think this rumour has any legs to stand on, but let's assume for a moment that it's real.

Sony

I have no idea why Sony would want to purchase Pentax, as they have similar technology; Pentax has a great line of small primes, but other than that they both use in-body stabilisation and they're both outliers in sales figures. Unless they developed a new camera mount that could use both Sony/Minolta and Pentax lenses at the same time, I see no benefit to a Sony buyout.


Canon

This actually makes some sense to me. Here's what I think Canon could do:

1. Get Pentax to develop an APS-C MILC camera with a new mount, and provide a fully automated adapter for K and EOS lenses.
2. Have Pentax develop a line of compact lenses for this new MILC.
3. Phase out Pentax DSLRs substituting them with MILCs.
4. Continue development of 645D with more lenses and upgraded bodies in the future.

Benefit to Canon? They would then have a camera in every major sector of the camera market, and they would be the only company to do so:

• consumer P&S
• advanced P&S
• entry level APS-C DSLR
• entry level APS-C MILC
• advanced APS-C DSLR
• advanced APS-C MILC
• semipro FF DSLR
• pro FF (and APS-H) DSLR
• digital Medium Format

...