Pentax - do we want to be called Ricoh?

Blue · 07-01-2011, 11:49 AM

Originally posted by emergo

time to rush out and purchase "ricohforums.com...?"

I'm not too worried about a name change personally, but I like the idea of naming the compacts ricoh...

**LaurenOE** · 07-01-2011, 01:57 PM

Sorry. I am a Pentaxian. Ricohian? NEVER!

Biro · 07-01-2011, 02:41 PM

I don't want to lose the Pentax name. I think Ricoh should keep Pentax for MF, DSLRs and any DSLR-class mirrorless cameras. Ricoh would be great for all compacts - an area where Pentax doesn't have any impressive product right now. But if Ricoh turns out to be the brand for all cameras and lenses, I can deal with it as long as the K-mount and all cameras and lenses remain available.

rt22306 · 07-01-2011, 02:50 PM - **1 Like**

We will still be called Pentax on Oct. 1 when all the changes take effect. When I first read the news, I was like "Oh no! Another camera company taken over by an office products company!" Memories of Konica/Minolta and Kyocera/Yashica/Contax flooded my soul, then I read more and remembered Ricoh was much more of a photo company than Konica (other than film) or Kyocera (copiers and ceramics); plus the name Pentax will transfer to the Ricoh product line.

Anxiety attack over, I resolved to go get a Coke and try to take care of a problem at work.

bilybianca · 07-01-2011, 03:18 PM

Two companies using one brand name has been used and it works. Volvo, making private cars and trucks, was split up when Ford bought the private cars division, and Volvo remained an independent company making trucks. Ford later sold the private cars division to a Chinese company. So today we have the Swedish company named Volvo, making trucks and the formerly Swedish, then American, and today Chinese private cars branded Volvo. But all the time these private cars have been manufactured in Gothenburg.
My prediction, though, is that no cars will be manufactured in Sweden five years from now.
I hold my thumbs for Pentax cameras and the name on the front. Richonian sounds, well, posh and low at the same time. Why would a rich person buy a high quality budget camera?

Blue · 07-01-2011, 05:17 PM

Originally posted by rt22306

We will still be called Pentax on Oct. 1 when all the changes take effect. When I first read the news, I was like "Oh no! Another camera company taken over by an office products company!" Memories of Konica/Minolta and Kyocera/Yashica/Contax flooded my soul, then I read more and remembered Ricoh was much more of a photo company than Konica (other than film) or Kyocera (copiers and ceramics); plus the name Pentax will transfer to the Ricoh product line.

Anxiety attack over, I resolved to go get a Coke and try to take care of a problem at work.

maybe, maybe not. Hell, Ricoh may or may not know for sure themselves. On the other hand the may know exactly what they are going to do and keep it to themselves until the correct time. The company being transferred to Ricoh on Oct 1 is going to be called NewCo.

http://www.hoya.co.jp/english/news/latest/d0h4dj0000001fv8-att/d0h4dj0000001fwi.pdf

rt22306 · 07-01-2011, 06:03 PM

Originally posted by Blue

maybe, maybe not. Hell, Ricoh may or may not know for sure themselves. On the other hand the may know exactly what they are going to do and keep it to themselves until the correct time. The company being transferred to Ricoh on Oct 1 is going to be called NewCo.

http://www.hoya.co.jp/english/news/latest/d0h4dj0000001fv8-att/d0h4dj0000001fwi.pdf

We'll need to stay tuned. In the meantime, I'm still waiting for a local brick and mortar shop to e-mail me to say they have K-5s in stock!

DeadJohn · 07-01-2011, 06:10 PM

Originally posted by MRRiley

My personal opinion is that all of the compact camera stuff (including the Q) should be moved under the Ricoh brand (where they already have a strong showing) and Pentax should be reserved for the DSLRs (befitting the origin of the name based on the "pentaprism).

That's an interesting idea and it's already a common practice for Japanese car manufacturers to have 2 product lines with different names. It might increase advertising costs for the combined Pentax/Ricoh, though.

I don't care which name they keep. We all think Pentax has more name recognition but I wouldn't call this forum an unbiased sample. Whichever name has the best recognition in their target markets would be best.

**Clarkey** · 07-01-2011, 06:26 PM

Originally posted by Blue

I hope you are right but sometimes names do get changed. The wild card here is the fact Hoya is hanging on to the rights to the name for the medical side of things. I hope this doesn't end up like the situation when Sony got the Minolta slr line but Konica-Minolta held the name for there copiers etc.

You know this is interesting. This purchase is almost exactly opposite to what Konica-Minolta did to Sony - i.e., they spun away their camera business from the rest.

Ricoh (one of K-M's main competitors) has bought further into consumer imaging.

Blue · 07-01-2011, 08:43 PM

Originally posted by Clarkey

You know this is interesting. This purchase is almost exactly opposite to what Konica-Minolta did to Sony - i.e., they spun away their camera business from the rest.

Ricoh (one of K-M's main competitors) has bought further into consumer imaging.

Ricoh is kind of playing the Sony role in this deal and Hoya the K-M role. I guess Hoya wants to be the glass blank maker and medical dealer as well as hard drive platters. It could be that Hoya just sees too much rapid change occurring in the photography world.

RioRico · 07-01-2011, 10:18 PM

I am not RioRicoh.
I am not Riconian.
Not Pentaxian, either.
I am brand-agnostic.

That's easy to say; I don't have a long-term emotional involvement with Pentax. Long time shooting with many brands, but the K20D was my first Pentax, 3 years ago. Yeah, I now have a pile of lenses. The vast majority (but not the most expensive!) will work just fine on many bodies. Pentax is my current and hopefully future platform; I certainly won't be going CaNikon. So in my narrow world, Pentax is just fine, not as a brand, but as a good box upon which to hang lenses.

In the larger world, Pentax is (hopefully) more recognizable than Ricoh as a camera name. A name has value. Some companies can exist with multiple names. Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet -- these were separate companies bought by GM, with separate identities, identities of some value. (Caddy won Indy a century ago!) Each name has its own market. Pentax and Ricoh have their own markets. Losing names, loses markets. (Cf Sony and Minolta.) Hopefully the marketing wonks at Ricoh know Pentax's name value.

I don't see the Pentax name disappearing anytime soon, not as long as imaging is big business (and it's only getting bigger). Transformation, sure. In a couple years we may see the Pentax logo on vidcams, holocams, phones/pads, all sorts of media warez. From reading the press releases, I predict that RICOH will be on business products and PENTAX will be on consumer products -- not the Ricoh K3, but the Pentax GSZ, linked to a host using Ricoh cloud servers, something like that.

As long as I don't have to sell my KAF2 lenses at a loss, I'm happy.

Ivan Glisin · 07-02-2011, 03:45 AM

Originally posted by gaddigad

http://www.ricoh.com/release/2011/pdf/0701.pdf

Looks good to me. The relevant part reads:

On completion of the Acquisition, Ricoh will begin to use the PENTAX brand name for some of its digital camera products, and HOYA will continue to use the PENTAX brand name for their endoscopes and other products.

Furthermore, with the Acquisition, both companies will cooperate with each other to increase the value of the PENTAX brand.

In fact, I am expecting Ricoh interchangeable module camera to be rebranded Pentax GRX!

Mike Cash · 07-02-2011, 04:07 AM

So long as they maintain the policy of backwards compatibility I really don't give a crap what name they put on the gear. Getting all worked up over the (bogus) notion of the name being changed to "Ricoh" is nothing short of silly.

One of my favorite film cameras is my Ricoh 35 DeLuxe rangefinder from 1953. It wouldn't bother me a bit on the world to screw my Takumars on a DSLR with "Ricoh" on it.

One thing that perhaps no one has considered is that with a change of ownership there is a chance that the decision to not put out a full frame camera may be reconsidered. Surely those carping for a FF Pentax should at least consider the move to offer a glimmer of hope where previously there was none.

archinaut · 07-02-2011, 04:21 AM

I don't care about names, I just care about cameras and optics. My present Pentax is labeled 'Samsung' and it doesn't matter to me, too.

Why shouldn't they use both names, like VW and Audi does, for example? Launching new Ricoh DSLRs on a technical Pentax Basis sounds good to me. Ricoh used to build very interesting SLR-Cameras in former times.

uccemebug · 07-02-2011, 05:18 AM

Seriously, only fifteen of us voted "Yes, we're ok about being renamed to Ricoh"? I would have expected more flexibility from "individualist" Pentaxians....

View Poll Results: Pentax, do we want to be called Ricoh?
No, we don't want to be called Ricoh, we want to stay as Pentax	455	94.40%
Yes, we're ok about being renamed to Ricoh	27	5.60%
Voters: 482. You may not vote on this poll

07-02-2011, 03:45 AM	#42
Ivan Glisin Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Belgrade Posts: 656	Originally posted by gaddigad http://www.ricoh.com/release/2011/pdf/0701.pdf Looks good to me. The relevant part reads: On completion of the Acquisition, Ricoh will begin to use the PENTAX brand name for some of its digital camera products, and HOYA will continue to use the PENTAX brand name for their endoscopes and other products. Furthermore, with the Acquisition, both companies will cooperate with each other to increase the value of the PENTAX brand. In fact, I am expecting Ricoh interchangeable module camera to be rebranded Pentax GRX!

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07-01-2011, 11:49 AM	#31
Blue Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Florida Hill Country Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,377	Originally posted by emergo time to rush out and purchase "ricohforums.com...?" I'm not too worried about a name change personally, but I like the idea of naming the compacts ricoh...

07-01-2011, 01:57 PM	#32
LaurenOE Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Back in Florida, but worldwide gigs! Photos: Albums Posts: 3,690	Sorry. I am a Pentaxian. Ricohian? NEVER!

07-01-2011, 02:41 PM	#33
Biro Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,200	I don't want to lose the Pentax name. I think Ricoh should keep Pentax for MF, DSLRs and any DSLR-class mirrorless cameras. Ricoh would be great for all compacts - an area where Pentax doesn't have any impressive product right now. But if Ricoh turns out to be the brand for all cameras and lenses, I can deal with it as long as the K-mount and all cameras and lenses remain available.

07-01-2011, 02:50 PM - 1 Like	#34
rt22306 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Alexandria, VA Posts: 164	We will still be called Pentax on Oct. 1 when all the changes take effect. When I first read the news, I was like "Oh no! Another camera company taken over by an office products company!" Memories of Konica/Minolta and Kyocera/Yashica/Contax flooded my soul, then I read more and remembered Ricoh was much more of a photo company than Konica (other than film) or Kyocera (copiers and ceramics); plus the name Pentax will transfer to the Ricoh product line. Anxiety attack over, I resolved to go get a Coke and try to take care of a problem at work.

07-01-2011, 03:18 PM	#35
bilybianca Pentaxian Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Hassleholm, Sweden Photos: Gallery Posts: 334	Two companies using one brand name has been used and it works. Volvo, making private cars and trucks, was split up when Ford bought the private cars division, and Volvo remained an independent company making trucks. Ford later sold the private cars division to a Chinese company. So today we have the Swedish company named Volvo, making trucks and the formerly Swedish, then American, and today Chinese private cars branded Volvo. But all the time these private cars have been manufactured in Gothenburg. My prediction, though, is that no cars will be manufactured in Sweden five years from now. I hold my thumbs for Pentax cameras and the name on the front. Richonian sounds, well, posh and low at the same time. Why would a rich person buy a high quality budget camera?

07-01-2011, 05:17 PM	#36
Blue Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Florida Hill Country Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,377	Originally posted by rt22306 We will still be called Pentax on Oct. 1 when all the changes take effect. When I first read the news, I was like "Oh no! Another camera company taken over by an office products company!" Memories of Konica/Minolta and Kyocera/Yashica/Contax flooded my soul, then I read more and remembered Ricoh was much more of a photo company than Konica (other than film) or Kyocera (copiers and ceramics); plus the name Pentax will transfer to the Ricoh product line. Anxiety attack over, I resolved to go get a Coke and try to take care of a problem at work. maybe, maybe not. Hell, Ricoh may or may not know for sure themselves. On the other hand the may know exactly what they are going to do and keep it to themselves until the correct time. The company being transferred to Ricoh on Oct 1 is going to be called NewCo. http://www.hoya.co.jp/english/news/latest/d0h4dj0000001fv8-att/d0h4dj0000001fwi.pdf

07-01-2011, 06:03 PM	#37
rt22306 Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Alexandria, VA Posts: 164	Originally posted by Blue maybe, maybe not. Hell, Ricoh may or may not know for sure themselves. On the other hand the may know exactly what they are going to do and keep it to themselves until the correct time. The company being transferred to Ricoh on Oct 1 is going to be called NewCo. http://www.hoya.co.jp/english/news/latest/d0h4dj0000001fv8-att/d0h4dj0000001fwi.pdf We'll need to stay tuned. In the meantime, I'm still waiting for a local brick and mortar shop to e-mail me to say they have K-5s in stock!

07-01-2011, 06:10 PM	#38
DeadJohn Pentaxian Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: New York Posts: 4,833	Originally posted by MRRiley My personal opinion is that all of the compact camera stuff (including the Q) should be moved under the Ricoh brand (where they already have a strong showing) and Pentax should be reserved for the DSLRs (befitting the origin of the name based on the "pentaprism). That's an interesting idea and it's already a common practice for Japanese car manufacturers to have 2 product lines with different names. It might increase advertising costs for the combined Pentax/Ricoh, though. I don't care which name they keep. We all think Pentax has more name recognition but I wouldn't call this forum an unbiased sample. Whichever name has the best recognition in their target markets would be best.

07-01-2011, 06:26 PM	#39
Clarkey Site Supporter Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Brampton, ON, Canada Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,456	Originally posted by Blue I hope you are right but sometimes names do get changed. The wild card here is the fact Hoya is hanging on to the rights to the name for the medical side of things. I hope this doesn't end up like the situation when Sony got the Minolta slr line but Konica-Minolta held the name for there copiers etc. You know this is interesting. This purchase is almost exactly opposite to what Konica-Minolta did to Sony - i.e., they spun away their camera business from the rest. Ricoh (one of K-M's main competitors) has bought further into consumer imaging.

07-01-2011, 08:43 PM	#40
Blue Moderator Site Supporter Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Florida Hill Country Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 17,377	Originally posted by Clarkey You know this is interesting. This purchase is almost exactly opposite to what Konica-Minolta did to Sony - i.e., they spun away their camera business from the rest. Ricoh (one of K-M's main competitors) has bought further into consumer imaging. Ricoh is kind of playing the Sony role in this deal and Hoya the K-M role. I guess Hoya wants to be the glass blank maker and medical dealer as well as hard drive platters. It could be that Hoya just sees too much rapid change occurring in the photography world.

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07-01-2011, 10:18 PM	#41
RioRico Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Limbo, California Posts: 11,263	I am not RioRicoh. I am not Riconian. Not Pentaxian, either. I am brand-agnostic. That's easy to say; I don't have a long-term emotional involvement with Pentax. Long time shooting with many brands, but the K20D was my first Pentax, 3 years ago. Yeah, I now have a pile of lenses. The vast majority (but not the most expensive!) will work just fine on many bodies. Pentax is my current and hopefully future platform; I certainly won't be going CaNikon. So in my narrow world, Pentax is just fine, not as a brand, but as a good box upon which to hang lenses. In the larger world, Pentax is (hopefully) more recognizable than Ricoh as a camera name. A name has value. Some companies can exist with multiple names. Cadillac, Buick, Chevrolet -- these were separate companies bought by GM, with separate identities, identities of some value. (Caddy won Indy a century ago!) Each name has its own market. Pentax and Ricoh have their own markets. Losing names, loses markets. (Cf Sony and Minolta.) Hopefully the marketing wonks at Ricoh know Pentax's name value. I don't see the Pentax name disappearing anytime soon, not as long as imaging is big business (and it's only getting bigger). Transformation, sure. In a couple years we may see the Pentax logo on vidcams, holocams, phones/pads, all sorts of media warez. From reading the press releases, I predict that RICOH will be on business products and PENTAX will be on consumer products -- not the Ricoh K3, but the Pentax GSZ, linked to a host using Ricoh cloud servers, something like that. As long as I don't have to sell my KAF2 lenses at a loss, I'm happy.

07-02-2011, 04:07 AM	#43
Mike Cash Veteran Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Japan Photos: Gallery Posts: 6,950	So long as they maintain the policy of backwards compatibility I really don't give a crap what name they put on the gear. Getting all worked up over the (bogus) notion of the name being changed to "Ricoh" is nothing short of silly. One of my favorite film cameras is my Ricoh 35 DeLuxe rangefinder from 1953. It wouldn't bother me a bit on the world to screw my Takumars on a DSLR with "Ricoh" on it. One thing that perhaps no one has considered is that with a change of ownership there is a chance that the decision to not put out a full frame camera may be reconsidered. Surely those carping for a FF Pentax should at least consider the move to offer a glimmer of hope where previously there was none.

07-02-2011, 04:21 AM	#44
archinaut Inactive Account Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Germany Posts: 21	I don't care about names, I just care about cameras and optics. My present Pentax is labeled 'Samsung' and it doesn't matter to me, too. Why shouldn't they use both names, like VW and Audi does, for example? Launching new Ricoh DSLRs on a technical Pentax Basis sounds good to me. Ricoh used to build very interesting SLR-Cameras in former times.

07-02-2011, 05:18 AM	#45
uccemebug Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Tokyo Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 962	Seriously, only fifteen of us voted "Yes, we're ok about being renamed to Ricoh"? I would have expected more flexibility from "individualist" Pentaxians....