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10-06-2010, 03:48 AM   #1
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Ned Bunnel interview at Photokina - K-5, K-r, Pentax strategy etc

I'm surprised no-one has linked this Ted Bunnell interview yet:
???????? 2010: ????? ?? ???? ????? • MegaPixel ??? ?????

YouTube direct interview:
[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pp-LVheDaTE&feature=player_embedded#at=219[/YT]

The interview is long but quite interesting.

Hat-tip to:
1001 Noisy Cameras

10-06-2010, 03:58 AM   #2
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Thanks for posting.
10-06-2010, 04:21 AM   #3
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I'm weak in American English...Could anybody be so kind to put the main things from this video?
10-06-2010, 04:43 AM   #4
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They go over his early career and how he ended up in Pentax, they then talked about the color K-x and the impact on the camera market for Japan Pentax and how that impacts Pentax USA. The K-x colors helped get more consumers to Pentax that were upgrading from the compact segment. Black, white and red were the most popular in the US and as such those colors have returned on the K-r. They then talked about the K-7 development and the K-5. According to Ned, the K-5 only uses the same shell as the K-7 to save some time and R&D. The K-5's internals are pretty much entirely new. They then talked about the economy and how they are trying to pik up as much sales as possible in the holiday season as well. They economy is still down and it's going to be a tough holiday season as consumers will be very careful with their money.

That's pretty much the video summed up!

10-06-2010, 05:23 AM   #5
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A lot of talking but not much answered.

Once again it strikes me as odd, reviewers with access to someone in the know, the opportunity to ask important questions yet not one was asked in the 13mins.
10-06-2010, 05:47 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by Christopher M.W.T Quote
Once again it strikes me as odd, reviewers with access to someone in the know, the opportunity to ask important questions yet not one was asked in the 13mins.
Well, the reviewer was from Israel, a country where Pentax was struggling in the past.

Ben gave a number of interviews, like this one about the 645D:
QuoteQuote:
We met with Ned Bunnell president of Pentax USA, during photokina on Thursday to find out what the deal was.

"We're going to start to bring the 645D into the States in late November or early December but that's based on availability," he told us. "We're still fighting fairly significant back orders in Japan."

Bunnell added that the camera will be on display at the PDN-sponsored PhotoPlus Expo show in New York City next month but he couldn't guarantee there will be more than one working model on the show floor. (If there is only one 645D, Bunnell could be the most popular man at the Jacob Javits Center.)

"PhotoPlus is where we'll make our splash," he said, while noting that when the camera does come into the U.S., Pentax will be offering one-on-one support to 645D customers.

"What we're saying is, if a photographer buys this camera, we will provide that photographer with direct contact to one of our support staff in Golden, Co. It's different from if you bought one of our traditional cameras in the past when you got a support group. In this case, you'll have a name." Pentax plans to officially announce this new 645D support plan at PhotoPlus Expo.

Bunnell was pleased with the news this week that Hasselblad would also release a sub-$10,000 medium format camera, the 31MP H4D-31. "That was validation that medium-format can be made affordable at a fairly attractive price."
source : Photokina 2010 Day 3: Medium-Format's Last Stand?; Photo Odds & Ends; Live Nude Girls; Leaving Cologne

In 2008, Imaging Resource did a Photokina interview with Ned, not this year though.

I asked for Ned too. I heard that his responsabilities may partly have changed. This may explain why his blog is orphaned. The Israeal interview may have been a rare exception. However, I don't know, just my two cents.

Last edited by falconeye; 10-07-2010 at 03:44 AM. Reason: I withdraw my distributor comment.
10-06-2010, 06:00 AM   #7
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The interviewer is annoying me because he is always trying to complete Ned's sentences while he is still talking. If you want answers, don't cut your interviewee off.

10-06-2010, 06:05 AM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by rawr Quote
The interview is long but quite interesting.
Quite interesting?
Well, what else are you listening normally to?
Boring!
The interviewer had not one interesting question.

His name is Ned Bunnell!

Last edited by blende8; 10-06-2010 at 10:36 AM.
10-06-2010, 06:07 AM   #9
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Not a bad interview, not much I couldn't have said myself.....or anyone else here. I would have loved to ask him why we can't find a Pentax camera to actually hold and inspect here in my "tiny" Market Area of 6 million people......and that is fairly typical across America.
Regards!
10-06-2010, 06:24 AM   #10
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QuoteOriginally posted by Rupert Quote
Not a bad interview, not much I couldn't have said myself.....or anyone else here. I would have loved to ask him why we can't find a Pentax camera to actually hold and inspect here in my "tiny" Market Area of 6 million people......and that is fairly typical across America.
Regards!
How many of those would be dslr candidates???
of those candidates 85% would go to Nikon and Canon beause of them beuing Nikon and Canon or because they had a C&N P&S. Some maybe even go Canon because they have such a good copier at the office. of the remaing 15% many will decide not to buy a dslr because a P&S is so much more practical. What remains then will go to a store to handle a camera.... There they will be met by a salesperson who will offer wrong advice or coax them into Canon or Nikon, no matter how many Pentaxes there are in the store.

QuoteOriginally posted by arpaagent Quote
The interviewer is annoying me because he is always trying to complete Ned's sentences while he is still talking. If you want answers, don't cut your interviewee off.
I am quite sure that was the answer Ned was about to give when he was cut off by the interviewer
10-06-2010, 08:26 AM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by falconeye Quote
Israel, a country where Pentax has almost disappeared due to their horrible distributor. #1 questions would have had to be why they tried so hard to destroy the Israelian market...
I received a mail from a member from Israel which made me realize that this is quite a bold statement I made.

To be frank, this summarizes what I gathered from discussions two years ago. So, I should clarify that I have no first-hand information and no recent second-hand information on the current situation in Israel. Maybe, it is improved.

I looked up who is the distributor now. It is Karat. And was it then (he's the Canon distributor too). There seem to be good and bad stories about this distributor floating around (as far as Pentax is concerned). Nevertheless, I wonder if Pentax has its 4% share of the SLR market in Israel. Or even half that ...


Update:

I had a look at their website, http://www.karat.co.il/
First of all, I must say that I am amazed how well Google translates Hebrew to English. Not only does it do a decent translation, including changing the writing direction from right-to-left to left-to-right. Additionally, it transforms the webdesign from right navigation-bar to left navigation-bar and reverts the order of the mani menu items on the top of the page. Wow!

Then I see that they sell the K-7 indeed (marked as NEW) with Hebrew literature. That's good. Others have to say though if the price is good and how about presence in shop shelves.

Last edited by falconeye; 10-06-2010 at 08:54 AM.
10-06-2010, 08:46 AM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by janneman Quote
How many of those would be dslr candidates???
of those candidates 85% would go to Nikon and Canon beause of them beuing Nikon and Canon or because they had a C&N P&S. Some maybe even go Canon because they have such a good copier at the office. of the remaing 15% many will decide not to buy a dslr because a P&S is so much more practical. What remains then will go to a store to handle a camera.... There they will be met by a salesperson who will offer wrong advice or coax them into Canon or Nikon, no matter how many Pentaxes there are in the store.




I am quite sure that was the answer Ned was about to give when he was cut off by the interviewer
How are you Janneman! All I can tell you is that in life I have found that it is hard to win the game if you don't show up........your experience may vary, of course.
Best Regards & Good to see you!
10-06-2010, 08:52 AM   #13
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what's the VISION for the future of DSLR's, pentax?

IMHO, that wasn't answered.

K5 and Kr are good bodies, but that's just one part of the equation.

Pentax will give one-on-one support for every 645D customer? wow. nice.
So is pentax focusing most of their energies now on the medium format?

What about the DSLR market in poor ol' USA?

nada.
10-06-2010, 09:13 AM   #14
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QuoteOriginally posted by arpaagent Quote
The interviewer is annoying me because he is always trying to complete Ned's sentences while he is still talking. If you want answers, don't cut your interviewee off.
indeed, very annoying.
10-06-2010, 09:35 AM   #15
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While he didn't ask difficult questions, it was a good interview.

We see that Ned or at least his staff read through forums and such to see what users think. Calling the white K-r the storm trooper model... He didn't seem too thrilled with some of the responses.... wonder which ones.

We see Ned is personally more focused on the Pentaxian high-end user.

We see that Hoya now allows Pentax America to come up with product ideas as long as they are willing to go all the way with their idea.

We see that Pentax of new is more focused on what users want rather than what the engineers wanted to make.

He gave us an educated overview of how long it takes for SLRs to come to market (12-14 months for an upgrade model, the K-5 slightly less due to using the K-7 casing). He mentions about making a camera from the circuit board up, that it takes much longer than a year. So maybe once Hoya came into the picture a few new products went into the planning stages. We know the 645D and K-7 were likely well into design when Hoya showed up, I'm wondering if he is talking from experience about something currently in development?
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