[wll]

Hoya is keeping the Pentax name for the medical stuff. How this will impact the use of the Pentax name in the photography acquisition by Ricoh remains to be seen. I hope we don't endup with a situation like Sony ran into when they acquired the photography line from Minolta-Konica where M-K kept the name soly for their copeirs etc.

I think what this means is since Pentax medical is so highly regarded, that the new purchase of Pentax by Ricoh means that both companies put quality at a priority ... I like that a lot !


wll

[sjwaldron]

So many posts where they didn't even bother to read Ricoh's press release:
http://www.ricoh.com/release/2011/pdf/0701.pdf

- They will continue to use the Pentax name.
- They bought Pentax to further Pentax's interchangeable systems lineup. Specifically saying they want to enhance and expand the lineup.
- They want to become a big player in the camera market (consumer meaning not big business).
- Use Pentax technologies to enter other markets. 645D image archiving business will need full featured tethering...

I'm pretty happy so far from what I've read. The CEO of Ricoh sounds smart and has an engineering background, which should be good for overall camera/lens quality.

[Pål Jensen]

Hoya "retired" Jun Hirakawa, one of the best lens designers Pentax had.

Ricoh, please bring Mr. Hirakawa back out of retirement.

This is from a very ureliable source in Hong Kong. I was told over ten years ago that Hirakawa was no longer employed by Pentax but used on a consultant basis...

[Ubuntu_user]

So many posts where they didn't even bother to read Ricoh's press release:
http://www.ricoh.com/release/2011/pdf/0701.pdf

- They will continue to use the Pentax name.
- They bought Pentax to further Pentax's interchangeable systems lineup. Specifically saying they want to enhance and expand the lineup.
- They want to become a big player in the camera market (consumer meaning not big business).
- Use Pentax technologies to enter other markets. 645D image archiving business will need full featured tethering...

I'm pretty happy so far from what I've read. The CEO of Ricoh sounds smart and has an engineering background, which should be good for overall camera/lens quality.

This sounds good... I think we may see a turn for the better (not that it's been bad by any means)!

[Ubuntu_user]

This is from a very ureliable source in Hong Kong. I was told over ten years ago that Hirakawa was no longer employed by Pentax but used on a consultant basis...

That makes sense! It wouldn't cost Pentax as much that way...

[_lyan_]

From what I have heard Ricoh has deeper pockets than Hoya.

If someone could check ?


wll

Ricoh:
Capitalization 135.3 billion yen (as of March 31, 2011)
Consolidated Net Sales 1,942.0 billion yen (Year ended March 31, 2011)
Number of Employees 109,014 (on consolidated basis, as of March 31, 2011)

from: Company Data / About Ricoh | Ricoh Global

Hoya:
Paid-Capital ￥6,264,201,967　
Net Sales 413.3 billion yen (FY2010 Conosolidated)
Number of Employees:
HOYA CORPORATION; 4,739
HOYA Group Total; 36,547

from: HOYA CORPORATION|About HOYA

[Kenn100D]

Open letter from Hoya to valued Pentax customers and partners | Photo Rumors
From Pentax Side

[Kenn100D]

So Pentax Brand stays!!!!! Yey.

[robgo2]

Having read the news I was at first cautiously optimistic. Perhaps this could mean a new commitment for good new lenses, more MF products, perhaps 35mm FF in some form.

But then somebody here or on the other forum commented the Q turd had to have Ricoh's approval and I realized that was true. Such an announcement in the last days of negotiations and release just before the deal taking effect is 100% certain to have Ricoh's approval. And what does it tell us that they want products such as GXR and Q? Not very promising IMO.

The R&D for the Q was already done and paid for by Hoya. From Ricoh's standpoint, the Q will either sink or swim, but they have little skin in the game. They will, of course, bear the cost of production, marketing and distribution, but otherwise, it's a limited loss proposition for them.

Rob

[glanglois]

I may have missed a page in this thread but I have not see a link to Ricoh 2010 annual report:

http://www.ricoh.com/IR/financial_data/annual_report/ar/10/ar00.pdf

They don't say much about digital cameras as they're lumped in "other" with a couple of services business. We do know that ¥1.9 billion was spent in R&D for what seems to be the photo (camera and associated stuff) area and that they experienced weak demand for their digital cameras. Quelle suprise!


Sales (in monetary terms) were down, worse in Japan than overseas. Cannot blame a strong yen for poor Japanese sales.

Still, quarter-to-quarter numbers looked good in 2010 and free cash flow (important if they're going to invest in R&D) looked very good indeed, up 300+%.

You can read the rest - it's a look into an unusual company. Could be that Pentax has found a very good home.

[tinyt187]

I don't see the sky falling just yet, imagine this... (as crazy as this sounds to most)

New deep pockets bring us a full-frame EVIL K-mount weather-sealed magnesium-alloy badass tank with amazing AF and 10fps.

Wouldn't that turn the camera world on it's head... to "be interesting" with a bit of Ricoh's "unnecessary" flavor.

Is this likely to happen? Probably not, but doesn't it sound like the innovative Pentax we love? :-)

[RonHendriks1966]

Dear Ricoh,
welcome to be our new mothership in cameraland. We are all loyal users, even when we complain from time to time.

If you want your "children" to be very happy:

• Give us a Full Frame camera!
• Give us new camera electronics that support UHS-I.
• Look at the lenssurvey and just make us happy.

The lenssurvey:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/20195454/lenssurvey.pdf

For a succesfull start for a Full frame camera we only need DFA*85mm/f1.4; DFA*28-70mm/f2.8 and DFA*80-200mm/f2.8 and the rest can come in time.

Greetings Ron Hendriks.

[glanglois]

It's obviously saner for Pentax to be owned by a company who wants to develop a photo branch, than a company who wants to sell one...

+2 and rep points for saying more of importance in fewer words than anyone so far.

[robgo2]

Well, you can't buy Minolta cameras and lenses either but the A-mount lives on. I think this is the most important thing.

Yes, it is very important that the K mount survives, but it also matters that we have state of the art bodies carrying that mount. I love the direction that Pentax has been moving with it's K-7 and K-5. Two of my buddies who shoot Nikon and Canon FFs are openly jealous of the compact, rock-solid Pentax body and do not regard the latest APS-C sensors as much of a drawback. I do hope that Ricoh appreciates that they have a very good thing going here and that they will continue to develop it.

Rob

[stevebrot]

Man, I would hate to live life as you do. No new product is good enough, all news is bad news, every new development will lead inevitably to disaster. IMO you should be banned, you've become the resident troll.

He can't help it. He lives in Siberia and constant depression is a requirement for residence.


Steve