[gazonk]

They have also put many poorly built products out but survived due to diversity. This willingness to take risks have paid off and they have been responsible for some of the most cutting edge products in history, like the CD, the Walkman, the 3.5 inch floppy disk. Hard to argue with success.

Success? Not so much any more. Sony is losing money - it still remains to see if the corporation as a whole can survive.

[Aristophanes]

Success? Not so much any more. Sony is losing money - it still remains to see if the corporation as a whole can survive.

Sony Indutrial and specifically their sensor division is making bucketloads of cash. So much so they bought back fab operations in 2011 they had sold to Toshiba in only 2008. Sony dominates sensor supply worldwide. Their consumer products and media divisions are where the bleeding is.

[deejjjaaaa]

Falk hinted at it also, that the FF RX1 seems like a prototype for an interchangeable FF mirrorless camera.

Sony already has a FF Emount videocam = NEX-VG900... so no need for any hints when it is already in place... the mere fact that it is a videocamera changes nothing... it is FF and it is Emount - that is what matters...

[deejjjaaaa]

- On APS-C it is still one of the best camera's out there.

sure, and Canon is still unchallenged in 1.3x crop division and Sigma is not challenged in 1.7x crop division...

[deejjjaaaa]

IThe Nikon D600 is priced very closely to the D800, if you are going to spend thousands on a full frame system, you would be nuts trying to save a couple hundreds by buying the D600.

well some people already have lenses, flashes, etc that were used on APS-C bodies - they just need a body and there quite some of them on a budget who will buy D600 just because they are not actually spending a cent more that the lowest cost FF body... and $2K is not thousands... it is just $2K, that's it....

[deejjjaaaa]

and Sony (yes, our vaunted sensor supplier) just finished investing heavily in Olympus for a sizable stake as well - it's all just beginning.

for its medical business, not for oly's camera/lens business

[falconeye]

Someone said a Pentax rep said it wasn't selling well a few weeks ago IIRC. Can't say I blame them w/ the K-30 which IMHO was much more interesting to most DSLR users than the K-01.
...
p.s., Falk: if you get a chance, could you ask them if the AF sensor sites are smaller than the current AF sensor? Those damned giant *ss AF points are the source of a huge number of "misfocusing" complaints... :-P

IMHO, the future roadmap of the K-01 is unclear. There is no clear committment from Pentax.

Wrt size of AF sensors: their size is pretty much determined by their distance. And as their number remains at 11, their size should remain the same too.

Just got done reading some of the comments on the "review" site concerning the Canon 6D and it looks the same as this thread... people talking how Canon has gone off the deep end and that the new products are huge disappointments compared to what others released (and that they'll have to jump brands.)

That's true but Canon DOES have a problem indeed: they focus on video now and the sensors they use disappoint (according to DxO, a 5DmkIII cannot beat a K-5, despite the difference in size and cost) ... And there are no signs that this will be resolved soon.

Thanks for the info. Meanwhile, I clarified with Leica and got the same info. But thanks anyway.

[Aristophanes]

I agree with falconeye about Canon and sensor quality. The way sensor tech has evolved is towards a single mainstream supplier in the form of Sony, with all others playing catch-up (Canon, Samsung, Panasonic, Fuji, even Leica whose sensors have never thrilled anyone).

The new Olympus OM-D has decent IQ, so advances have been made there.

If you want pure sbsor-level IQ, however, a Sony sensor is where it's at.

[falconeye]

James Malcom, new Executive Vice President of Pentax Americas, was kind enough to have an interesting conversation with Adam and myself during Photokina today. Although unplanned, it was a very good and interesting talk.

Of course, we cannot reproduce everything which was said and Adam may add more info. But I think I can share this much.

First of all, Malcom is very open-minded and curious and spent quite some time with us. I think he was interested to listen too.

Malcom endorsed the following summary which is why I put it in quotes (not verbatim!):

Hoya has ramped things down, Ricoh is ramping things up again. Backstage, Pentax and Ricoh are very busy. Malcom is really enthusiastic about and what it means for the future. But unfortunately, only little of all of this has become visible on stage so far.

The above are approximately my words but Malcom endorsed them as an accurate summary.

Moreover, I got the impression that he feels sorry that the loyal Pentaxian community must feel let down due to a lack of inside information. But he's not entitled to change that now. He understands that the Pentaxian community has lived on a shortage of exciting product news in the past couple of years but he thinks that phase will end soon.

He confirmed that Ricoh/Pentax is fully committed to Q, K and 645 mounts ("the three mounts").

One more sentance: Many may think that all of the above means "full frame in the works". But I have no reason to believe that Malcom had that particular move in mind when he talked to us. He simply didn't want to give any clue. Which is the typical reaction from Pentax in the past which is why I would say that I cannot see anything changing here yet. It may or may not, I still don't know after talking to Malcom.

Adam may have more on this ...

[bossa]

Speaking of Ricoh, where are their products at Photokina? People seem to be concentrating on Pentax and forgetting that Ricoh has the GXR for one thing.

[Class A]

First of all, Malcom is very open-minded and curious and spent quite some time with us. I think he was interested to listen too.

Thanks, Falk, for sharing this with us.

I'm curious regarding future plans for the Pentax USA pricing policy. Current MAP prices are insane (at B&H an imported Canon 70-200/2.8 L lens is cheaper than the Pentax 50-135/2.8) and many Pentaxians hope that the current situation where one can get a Pentax lens for 50% of the online price by phoning the dealer will be replaced with something more satisfactory.

Of course, the New Zealand distributor for Pentax urgently needs to be replaced! I wonder if you (or Adam?) could alert someone from Pentax Japan to the fact that this distributor is killing the brand for New Zealand. Even brick and mortar retailers that had the K-5 on the shelf in the past are presently not featuring the K-30 (except through online sales). While the respective sales manager hasn't explicitly blamed the distributor, he implicitly left no other cause for discontinuing the shelf space for Pentax.

[dadipentak]

What a let down... Pentax is surely doomed as the competition surges ahead. This time it's for real.

[kenyee]

Speaking of Ricoh, where are their products at Photokina? People seem to be concentrating on Pentax and forgetting that Ricoh has the GXR for one thing.

That's what worries me the most about Ricoh...they're bold enough to try stuff that's unique like the GXR, but I haven't seen them around much at all and they seem to be content w/ niche products.
Hope the Ricoh ramp up of Pentax takes less than the years we suspect...my K20D needs an upgrade and I really want to try HDSLR video

[Transit]

.....

Of course, the New Zealand distributor for Pentax urgently needs to be replaced! I wonder if you (or Adam?) could alert someone from Pentax Japan to the fact that this distributor is killing the brand for New Zealand. Even brick and mortar retailers that had the K-5 on the shelf in the past are presently not featuring the K-30 (except through online sales). While the respective sales manager hasn't explicitly blamed the distributor, he implicitly left no other cause for discontinuing the shelf space for Pentax.

Total agreement.
Pentax should just forget New Zealand if they retain the current 'distributor '

[hcarvalhoalves]

The K-5II really needed to be faster (PrimeM at least) and/or 24mp (just as good marks by DxO) to be seen as a worthwhile upgrade, especially above Pentax's own K30.

The K-5II isn't a new camera, they made it very clear by adopting this model name. I don't think was Pentax intention to have people "upgrade" to those more than it was just to keep filling the shelves with what they could tweak (AF, AA filter). That's why it uses the same sensor and processor, instead of adopting the one in the K30. If it did, it would be another project, and probably called something else other than just K-5 with a II appended.