[Pentaxperson]

buawahahahah

I think that is hillarious...

They didn't come out with anything worthwhile...

[stewart_photo]

The IFA Consumer Trade Show will open in about (snip)

Well, that was one uneventful event. After reading various websites, it appears none of the major manufacturers had any surprises at the trade show. Anything new from Pentax, Nikon, Canon, and so on, had already been announced weeks or months ago.

Based on that, it appears manufacturers are moving away from the practice of waiting until big trade shows to make major announcements (industry moving too quickly today for that practice to continue). If Pentax does the same thing, we'll probably hear about the next release through a press conference instead of a trade show. The only remaining benefit of trade shows will be to physically see the new items perhaps before they reach store shelves.

stewart

[ZaphodB]

Well August 31st is gone (here in the UK anyway... unless Pentax issues a press release in the next 5 minutes )... and nothing, nada, zero in the way of surprises.

Which really only raises one question... is anyone honestly surprised that there was no surprise?

So, can I suggest that anyone still staring at their crystal ball put it away for now. This isn't Heroes; concentrating harder won't make the K1D appear

[stewart_photo]

I would be surprised if they show something new before Paris.

Are you talking about the Carrousel du Louvre trade show in November? If so, waiting until then to release a new product would be another major disaster for Pentax. It would mean missing the Christmas shopping season again, like the K10D last year, something Pentax executives swore earlier in the year would not happen again this year.

Since there are no other major trade shows between now and the start of the Christmas shopping season, it likely means any new product would now have to be announced by press conference instead of waiting for a trade show, with the new products already in stores well before November.

If I were them I would use my most famous-ubiquotous pro-photographer to show to the kind people of the press what the new cameras/lenses are able to do. (snip)

If you're talking about Benjamin Kanarek, as much as we might appreciate him in this and other forums, I doubt Pentax Japan is even that particularily aware of him. There are many professional photographers around the world using Pentax cameras (including the company's own photographers), so he certainly isn't that unique. Further, he just isn't well known outside France, nor even that illustrious within France.

However, Pentax France could benefit from having a trade show display with Benjamin photographing models (pretty girls always attract attention). To maximize Benjamin's effectiveness as a marketing tool during the show, they would need to surround his demonstration with really large posters of his magazine covers. Otherwise, since his name alone isn't well known, the demonstration would be no more effective than having any photographer doing the same. However, all this is tempered by the fact that all this has already been done. Pentax France would certainly not be the first to use pretty girls, nor staged model shoots, at a photo trade show.

stewart

[stewart_photo]

I'm here, trying to save up money for a second K10D body, and here we have those impatiently waiting for the next fix. :-P

You're reading too much into all this, Asad. It's a curiosity thing. People simply wondering what's in the works next. I doubt that many of us are going to rush out the door for whatever that might be. I also have a K10D, and will likely buy other equipment long before looking for something new to replace it. But that doesn't mean I'm not interested in what else is going on.

Go out and shoot something. :-)

I spent the afternoon photographing a dinner party and conference on a boat cruising along the Rhine river. I didn't return to this discussion until much later in the evening after my return home. In the morning (late), I have an easy and quick advertising shoot in Basel (Switzerland), followed by another longer shoot on Tuesday or Wednesday (weather the deciding factor) in Mannheim. That's it until the following week.

stewart

[switters]

Oh well, I guess we'll all just have to get back to... you know... taking pictures. That is what this is all about... isn't it?

[Mats]

Are you talking about the Carrousel du Louvre trade show in November? If so, waiting until then to release a new product would be another major disaster for Pentax. It would mean missing the Christmas shopping season again, like the K10D last year, something Pentax executives swore earlier in the year would not happen again this year.

stewart

Hi,
I think "Paris" means Salon du photo 3-8 october
link Salon de la Photo
Sony are rumoured to have a press gathering on the 4-5 th september and i would not be surprised to see some announcement from Pentax some weeks before the Paris event either.
/Mats

[benjikan]

Are you talking about the Carrousel du Louvre trade show in November? If so, waiting until then to release a new product would be another major disaster for Pentax. It would mean missing the Christmas shopping season again, like the K10D last year, something Pentax executives swore earlier in the year would not happen again this year.

Since there are no other major trade shows between now and the start of the Christmas shopping season, it likely means any new product would now have to be announced by press conference instead of waiting for a trade show, with the new products already in stores well before November.





If you're talking about Benjamin Kanarek, as much as we might appreciate him in this and other forums, I doubt Pentax Japan is even that particularily aware of him. There are many professional photographers around the world using Pentax cameras (including the company's own photographers), so he certainly isn't that unique. Further, he just isn't well known outside France, nor even that illustrious within France.

However, Pentax France could benefit from having a trade show display with Benjamin photographing models (pretty girls always attract attention). To maximize Benjamin's effectiveness as a marketing tool during the show, they would need to surround his demonstration with really large posters of his magazine covers. Otherwise, since his name alone isn't well known, the demonstration would be no more effective than having any photographer doing the same. However, all this is tempered by the fact that all this has already been done. Pentax France would certainly not be the first to use pretty girls, nor staged model shoots, at a photo trade show.

stewart

Yeah, it's true..I'm just an old has been...

[stewart_photo]

Certainly not a has-been by any stretch of the imagination, Benjamin. Just not famous enough to be known to the general public (such as customers at a trade show). The same would be true for the real greats of photography (if they were still around), like Ansel Adams, Art Wolfe, Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Capa, W. Eugene Smith, and so on. Simply very few in the mainstream public are that aware of, or even care about, those behind the images seen around them every day.

stewart

[leadbelly]

Just had lunch with one of Pentax USA's marquee photographers... he detailed to us news of the upcoming offerings of Pentax... and I do believe we'll all be happy with what Pentax has in store for us... However, we were all sworn to secrecy so that's all I can say... oh, and that it will be released next year!

[xbadx]

the real surprise is nothing comes out finally

[thibs]

Just had lunch with one of Pentax USA's marquee photographers... he detailed to us news of the upcoming offerings of Pentax... and I do believe we'll all be happy with what Pentax has in store for us... However, we were all sworn to secrecy so that's all I can say... oh, and that it will be released next year!

Next year? january 2008 or december 2008? Big difference ... And could be postponed indefinitely, (huh, Pentax is Pentax )

[leadbelly]

He didn't say any particular date, he just said next year... but when I told him I'd be waiting for that to come out instead of buying a K10D now, he said that I should buy a K10D now since it's still a long ways away...

[switters]

He didn't say any particular date, he just said next year... but when I told him I'd be waiting for that to come out instead of buying a K10D now, he said that I should buy a K10D now since it's still a long ways away...

Paraphrasing you... "I predict that sometime next year, Pentax will release something new that you all will probably like".

Wow, who did you have to kill to get that top-secret info?

Meanwhile, back to taking pictures...

[ZaphodB]

He didn't say any particular date, he just said next year... but when I told him I'd be waiting for that to come out instead of buying a K10D now, he said that I should buy a K10D now since it's still a long ways away...

So basically no Christmas sales for Pentax... unless by some miracle they manage to release those new tele lenses that are supposed to be released around nowish according to the magical yellow brick road-map. Still, I'm sure they've been working really hard adding two features to an old camera and producing the two lenses that were supposed to be due months ago (but not enough to lend one to any reviewers)... well, I assume they're doing something, other than have lots of lunches

Oh, and at the risk of committing the crime of mentioning what another company is doing and compounding it with the sin of linking to the site of Satan (dpreview)... Olympus' successor to the E-1 is going to be announced. With a date given for when this will happen. Information released, about new products, by a company whose name doesn't begin with C or N? Surely it can't be done!?