[RonHendriks1966]

Shouldn't you have said "So we first get an APS-H"?

It's OK, he prepared a diamond blade to cut the FF senzor to the proper size

funny to see how the idea is creaping into everyones mind until the day it hits the shelves

[Raffwal]

Ron, have you considered a name change to Mr. APS-Hendriks?

[monochrome]

Pentax Ricoh could cause a ton of conversation in the next 18 months and force everyone to talk about them (good and bad) at the expense of taklking about the competition.

Ricoh could buy Sigma (family-owned business, the founder-patriarch died last year):

K300 (spring 2013)
K30 (2012)
K3 (summer 2013)
APSc Lenses

L-n (winter 2014)
FF Lenses (DFA Limiteds)

GR (2013)
GX-n (MILC mountors including K-mount, effectively K-02) (fall 2013)

Q20 and accessories (flash), 07 WA (early 2014)
Lenses

MX-2 (early 2014)

WG-extension

[LamyTax]

K3 (summer 2013)

Make that september.

[Quicksand]

Ricoh could buy Sigma (family-owned business, the founder-patriarch died last year)

OK, sure! Why not?

And hopefully, Pentax/Ricoh could teach them a few things about lens size, weight, and flare resistance.

(I know it's not the most current model, but my Sigma 24-60 is a perfectly nice, sharp lens. It's also the size and weight of a canned ham, and even with a hood it flares like a holiday fireworks display.)

[Kunzite]

I see no point in Pentax buying Sigma. For access to some lens designs, it's overkill; and they will have to continue supporting competitors' systems.

[Allison]

K-30 replacement on sept. 2013 then. So we first get a FF

II like this idea better. I don't want mroe low end before FF or a really high end crop - we have already had not just the K30, but also mirrorless offerings. I am not counting the K5ii/s release as anything but a stop-gap measure.

What it really comes down to is that I didn't buy a camera in 2012. It was a great year for lenses for me, but no camera. I want to buy a camera!

[mecrox]

Pentax Ricoh could cause a ton of conversation in the next 18 months and force everyone to talk about them (good and bad) at the expense of taklking about the competition.

Ricoh could buy Sigma (family-owned business, the founder-patriarch died last year):

K300 (spring 2013)
K30 (2012)
K3 (summer 2013)
APSc Lenses

L-n (winter 2014)
FF Lenses (DFA Limiteds)

GR (2013)
GX-n (MILC mountors including K-mount, effectively K-02) (fall 2013)

Q20 and accessories (flash), 07 WA (early 2014)
Lenses

MX-2 (early 2014)

WG-extension

Lol, why buy Sigma when you can do a deal with them instead - we help you with your erratically performing Foveon cameras and you help us with your lenses.

Another view is that Pentax Ricoh don't need to do a great amount. They can increase their market share by a bit simply by making the best of what they have and selling it better, which Hoya largely abandoned. The aim is to be a small unit of Ricoh but self-sustaining - no losses, but not needing to do more than generate the cash to run the unit and fund its R&D. Then they sit and wait, because they can afford to. Profits are hard to come by in the photographic industry where so much hardware is being commoditized, which places the really big players in front of a trap. In order to maintain their market share and what profitability they have, the big players have to spend hundreds of millions a year on a big operation and blanket marketing worldwide. If they scale back their spend, they risk their market share and profitability collapsing, but if they continue with their spend, they risk bankrupting themselves because those profits are so hard to find in a time of razor-thin margins. When CEOs and the stock market start to notice, some well-known names could face being put up for sale by their parent corps or become very vulnerable to take-over because their stock price is tanking. At this point a huge corporation like Ricoh, which has sat by and waited it out at almost no cost to themselves, could pick up a bargain 100 times more interesting than Sigma - and could easily afford it too. All wild speculation of course. But outfits like Nikon, Sony cameras, Olympus for example - hmmn, all looking pretty green around the gills financially and boy, do they spend, spend, spend.

[RonHendriks1966]

Ron, have you considered a name change to Mr. APS-Hendriks?

No but Pentax is considdering naming the next top off the line camera the K-rh

[monochrome]

Actually mecrox I like your view. The Sigma deal was an odd idea. I simply wanted to show that PRI really is doing a heck of a lot for a com[pany that many hee accuse of gradually eroding away to nothing. As long as K3 is realased before September 21 it is still a summer release <g>

[bossa]

Actually mecrox I like your view. The Sigma deal was an odd idea. I simply wanted to show that PRI really is doing a heck of a lot for a com[pany that many hee accuse of gradually eroding away to nothing. As long as K3 is realased before September 21 it is still a summer release <g>

How about using terms like 2nd or 3rd quarter..etc as there is a whole Southern Hemisphere that has inverted seasons.

[Tesla]

Well.. just over two hours to go.. lol.

[monochrome]

How about using terms like 2nd or 3rd quarter..etc as there is a whole Southern Hemisphere that has inverted seasons.

Yep - we all should. I just can't get my internal calendar around the idea that August is winter.

[NickLarsson]

Well.. just over two hours to go.. lol.

On mirrorlessrumors.com they say the Ricoh announcement will occur at 6am London time.
So at the time I write this post it's still 5 hours to go.

[Tesla]

On mirrorlessrumors.com they say the Ricoh announcement will occur at 6am London time.
So at the time I write this post it's still 5 hours to go.

Thanks for the update! So instead of 6pm PDT, now 10pm PDT.

Edit: So if there is an announcement, do you think it will just be the GR or do you think there will be Pentax cameras also?