[eddie1960]

One of my early-Ricoh suppositions was, "They want to compete with and take market share from Canon, as they did in copiers. Nikon, however, is another matter entirely." Lately I've slightly modified my thinking - Ricoh wants Pentax to be the solid #3 digital imaging company, competing effectively with Canon and Nikon.

the share for that will come from son and Canon I think. this year seems to be a watershed year for Nikon going after the number one spot and regaining their former supremacy (that late start and later entry to FF really hurt them) Canon seems to be split between pursuing cinematography and photography with all the effort going to cinematography lately
Sony *ahem* makes great sensors

[Blue]

AFAIK Ricoh has aggressively hired optics engineers (and electronic engineers), bringing back many of the released former employees. It just feels to me as if they are thinking bigger than many of the skeptics here give them credit for.

Is Hirakawa Jun among them?

[eddie1960]

Is Hirakawa Jun among them?

i think we'd all like to know that answer

I was unable to find him on Linkedin as you had thought BTW Blue

[Medium FormatPro]

One of my early-Ricoh suppositions was, "They want to compete with and take market share from Canon, as they did in copiers. Nikon, however, is another matter entirely." Lately I've slightly modified my thinking - Ricoh wants Pentax to be the solid #3 digital imaging company, competing effectively with Canon and Nikon.

I can see this one as being possible, but Pentax will really have rto ramp up both r&d and also production of more in their model line. Yes let me restte that one - Pentax is fully capable of sompeting directly with both Canon and Nikon, but... Sony will also still be there, and also consider the rather massve Sony p&s line

[Parallax]

1) Does Pentax own the Pentax forum? It sure seems like it. If that's so, it's not a real forum.

No, it is not owned by Pentax.

2) What are the rules of this forum. I don't allow cursing in mine, but this is not my forum and I'm not a prude.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/welcomes-introductions/1-welcome-forum-rules.html

5) Since when do you delete posts because they are all negative. Perhaps there is a reason they are negative. Again, what are the forum rules?

We do not delete posts simply because they are negative toward a brand, product, etc. We do delete posts that are insulting to other members. Depending on the particularities of such posts, we may only do it if their is a complaint, or we may choose to do so on our own. We may also choose to delete posts that are inflammatory in nature and made solely for the purpose of generating hostility. https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/welcomes-introductions/1-welcome-forum-rules.html

[eddie1960]

No, it is not owned by Pentax.

https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/welcomes-introductions/1-welcome-forum-rules.html

We do not delete posts simply because they are negative toward a brand, product, etc. We do delete posts that are insulting to other members. Depending on the particularities of such posts, we may only do it if their is a complaint, or we may choose to do so on our own. We may also choose to delete posts that are inflammatory in nature and made solely for the purpose of generating hostility. https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/welcomes-introductions/1-welcome-forum-rules.html

my experience on the last one is it has to be pretty blatantly offensive for someone to get hit that way Jim, which is not a bad thing.

At point's I've felt this topic has descended dangerously close to moving to the P&R forum. I understand the frustration of raised prices but I'm a pragmatist and realise there are options like Sigma, and that eventually it will settle down to a sustainable level. Having been a retailer for a long time I watched the whole CE industry get into a race to the bottom and it's not healthy for the industry to let it continue. I've worked High end places where we provided high levels of service that were not the norm and still had the race to the bottom on price be a major factor. In general it is human nature to want more for less, but eventually you get less overall by killing off the support networks. This may help bring those back (along with many other things probably going on behind the scenes that will only become apparent with time.

[monochrome]

I can see this one as being possible, but Pentax will really have rto ramp up both r&d and also production of more in their model line. Yes let me restte that one - Pentax is fully capable of sompeting directly with both Canon and Nikon, but... Sony will also still be there, and also consider the rather massve Sony p&s line

There is capability, capital and willingness. Pentax has the capability. Ricoh has the capital. The question is whether Pentax Ricoh Imaging has the will to deploy the capital and bring the capability to bear on the opportunity (I know that sounds like corporate-speak, but the words do ahve meaning).

Sometimes my intuition is pretty good. I have an intuition we're (finally) going to be pleasantly surpirsed by Pentax.

---

Last edited by monochrome; 04-23-2012 at 12:28 PM.

[Unsinkable II]

I read somewhere (on the Russian thread about cameras) that the goal was tripling sales in the next year on cameras. That seems like an aggressive target that signifies there is some infrastructure investment happening as well that we aren't aware of -

Interesting.

I wonder where they are planning on manufacturing 3X current output. I would seriously doubt their existing facility in Mactan Island can be pushed that far. I hope they keep production in the Philippines.

[eddie1960]

Interesting.

I wonder where they are planning on manufacturing 3X current output. I would seriously doubt their existing facility in Mactan Island can be pushed that far. I hope they keep production in the Philippines.

I may also combine with any remaining P&S moving to the ricoh operation for manufacturing freeing some additional capacity (I doubt the Ricoh line has been running anywhere near capacity potential)

[Parallax]

my experience on the last one is it has to be pretty blatantly offensive for someone to get hit that way Jim, which is not a bad thing.

Right, Eddie. We reserve that for "special" cases; i.e blatant trolling. We use that option sparingly.

[eddie1960]

Right, Eddie. We reserve that for "special" cases; i.e blatant trolling. We use that option sparingly.

I guess I've been too obtuse when I troll, maybe I should study wheat for a bit

[morpho]

I've been in Marketing and Retail for 15 years, and Ned's comments on small stores in the same breath as making the actual street price higher makes no sense to me.

It makes sense to me. It also makes sense to a lot of other markets. Like flyfishing. for ten years or so, i've bought, rods, reels, lines, waders, boots, wading jackets and the like from USA(i live in Norway). Why? Because it was 1/3-1/2 the price, even after shipping,taxes and what have you. Last year i saved a whole lot of cash from buying from the US. This spring, i find myself in need of a new setup, and this is the first time i have ever gotten a better deal in Norway than in the US. I think this is great. It's a little more expensive for me too, but at least my money stays in my country, and more often with my local dealer. I couldn't justify spending twice what i had to earlier, but if prices are nearly the same, the same or even cheaper here, well of course i am going to buy my gear locally. I see the same happening to other specialty (sporting) goods - it's not only Pentax lenses.

[eddie1960]

It makes sense to me. It also makes sense to a lot of other markets. Like flyfishing. for ten years or so, i've bought, rods, reels, lines, waders, boots, wading jackets and the like from USA(i live in Norway). Why? Because it was 1/3-1/2 the price, even after shipping,taxes and what have you. Last year i saved a whole lot of cash from buying from the US. This spring, i find myself in need of a new setup, and this is the first time i have ever gotten a better deal in Norway than in the US. I think this is great. It's a little more expensive for me too, but at least my money stays in my country, and more often with my local dealer. I couldn't justify spending twice what i had to earlier, but if prices are nearly the same, the same or even cheaper here, well of course i am going to buy my gear locally. I see the same happening to other specialty (sporting) goods - it's not only Pentax lenses.

Realistically this is the way it is supposed to work, the market was unbalanced before. In the pre internet age price discrepancies across nations had little impact now they disrupt the whole system.

[boriscleto]

It makes sense to me. It also makes sense to a lot of other markets. Like flyfishing. for ten years or so, i've bought, rods, reels, lines, waders, boots, wading jackets and the like from USA(i live in Norway). Why? Because it was 1/3-1/2 the price, even after shipping,taxes and what have you. Last year i saved a whole lot of cash from buying from the US. This spring, i find myself in need of a new setup, and this is the first time i have ever gotten a better deal in Norway than in the US. I think this is great. It's a little more expensive for me too, but at least my money stays in my country, and more often with my local dealer. I couldn't justify spending twice what i had to earlier, but if prices are nearly the same, the same or even cheaper here, well of course i am going to buy my gear locally. I see the same happening to other specialty (sporting) goods - it's not only Pentax lenses.

And just like camera shops are on the endangered species list in the US, so are fly fishing shops.

[monochrome]

And just like camera shops are on the endangered species list in the US, so are fly fishing shops.

Well not to be one of those contrary jerks who has to come back and say, "Not here!!," but within a 15 minute drive of my house there are 7 full-service FLY FISHING (not hardware fishing) dealers, two fly-tying materials merchants (literally - just materials) and a few Mom&Pop stores that deal in vintage stuff. We also have a 9-store camera chain that Ned calls on that still uses Pentax Co-op radio advertising and at XMAS is actually on the morning TV news.

It can be done.