[mrNewt]

Now I am curious ...

[Class A]

Gabriel, thanks a lot for talking to Pentax and sharing the contents of the conversation.

About the fullframe, he said that one of the reason why the fullframe is taking so long is that now they're cheap, and it was a sudden change. Fullframe cameras were expensive and for pros, and suddenly they became much more affordable, and they couldn't handle the price change like that, so they're trying to see what they will have to do to get a reasonably priced FF in the market.

Big Kudos to Jim and it is great to hear that Pentax is interested to please their core enthusiasts, but the above justification for FF issues is rather disappointing.

The crumbling of inflated FF prices was predictable (falconeye has been predicting it for years) and Pentax should have been the forerunner in the pricebreaking rather than being surprised by it.

I'm enthusiastic about Pentax's future under Ricoh and cannot wait to see the next models where Pentax can show what they are capable of without being held back by Hoya. Hopefully, we won't have to read similarly disappointing justifications in the future.

[Kunzite]

It's quite difficult to be the forerunner of anything if you're suffering from cost cutting and have to meet drastic margins targets. But in any case, Pentax is no longer a cheap brand - we should get used to it.

[pinholecam]

Gabriel, thanks a lot for talking to Pentax and sharing the contents of the conversation.
Big Kudos to Jim and it is great to hear that Pentax is interested to please their core enthusiasts, but the above justification for FF issues is rather disappointing.

The crumbling of inflated FF prices was predictable (falconeye has been predicting it for years) and Pentax should have been the forerunner in the pricebreaking rather than being surprised by it.

I'm enthusiastic about Pentax's future under Ricoh and cannot wait to see the next models where Pentax can show what they are capable of without being held back by Hoya. Hopefully, we won't have to read similarly disappointing justifications in the future.

I find that he's pretty much speaking the truth here.
Very often in product development, we have to see if the product will give good return of investment. (ie. RnD; Machine capabilities; Test equipment; fixtures; line setup; tooling costs).
Manpower RnD is not so big a deal, as staff get paid even if they sat around.
But capital costs for equipment can cost.
A product that had good margins would obviously recover this back fast (and safe in a rapidly changing buyer environment)
So with 'cheap' FF, that fat margin has suddenly shrunken.

However, its 'do or die' as I see it.
So lets see how it pans out.
CES and CP+ is soon anyway, better than just crossing our fingers

[Ash]

The crumbling of inflated FF prices was predictable (falconeye has been predicting it for years)

There's nothing in this prediction. Of course the prices will come down. But think about how many users here who have been wishing for a low cost, high IQ camera whilst trying to marry this with the past production costs of creating an FF camera. This is now a good time for Pentax to start developing one. It isn't too late, nor a 'do or die' situation (that's an exaggeration). APS-C is still a very desirable format, and with the development of MILC, may be a high IQ CSC option.

[GabrielFFontes]

Would it be a bad idea to show a prototype and release it a couple of months later?
It would tell everyone that they're developing, and would give them a couple of additional months to develop.
It would kind of destroy the surprise, but...

[Peter Anson]

FF is sure getting cheap!....Buy Nikon D600 Digital SLR Camera Body, Prices, Reviews

[photoman1]

Would it be a bad idea to show a prototype and release it a couple of months later?
It would tell everyone that they're developing, and would give them a couple of additional months to develop.
It would kind of destroy the surprise, but...

they should, because then there will be hype for it and people won't sell off their Pentax lenses and buy NIkon, Canon announced the 6D in October, came out in November

did you get a k-30? thought you had a k-5?

[Kryscendo]

I've got my 15 minutes with what's his face tomorrow morning. I look forward to talking to him about my successes and failures.

[EarlVonTapia]

Originally posted by EarlVonTapia
Also, I feel there's no need to mention what happens here on PF. I'm dead certain they monitor this site (maybe even this specific thread!). In fact, I'm pretty sure they looked up everything they could on you, including most (if not all) your posts here on PF (just a wild guess there).

I would certainly hope that Pentax is doing this. I would think that they would maybe do a weekly digest of interesting items/links (threads worth monitoring) and circulate them across the marketing companies - Canada, Europe, Australia, US, as it would be the smart thing to do.

And then there is the MAP pricing debacle. Sometimes, it just makes you wonder.....

Pentax is a multi-million dollar multi-national corporation that has been around (in one shape or another) for decades. Let's give them some credit. Do you really think they would ignore the largest (and best!) online community of their most hardcore enthusiasts? I would be stunned if Pentax didn't have at least one random unpaid intern whose job it was to browse PF forums and provide key summaries to people higher up in the chain. It's more likely that their marketing slugs monitor PF (and other Pentax fansites/forums) regularly, in addition to all of the other standard big business market research practices they do. Heck, there are probably Pentax employees who have incognito accounts here that chime in or ask questions or influence certain topics every now and then. Other big companies have done such things with their respective fan sites.

Lastly, check out Jim Malcom's Linkedin:

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=10136906&goback=%2Epiv_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1

That is decades of experience in marketing, and marketing is all about knowing your target audience.

Maybe when Jim's predecessor was at the helm, Pentax was doing a poor job of keeping in touch with their loyalists. But I think Jim would quickly and rightly turn that around. This phone call initiative is one example of new ways they are trying to reach out to Pentaxians.

And that is why I feel they do not need to be reminded to "check up on PF". Because they probably already do.

If it seems that they are ignoring the cries of PF members for this or that, it's probably due to other business reasons.

[Ash]

I've got my 15 minutes with what's his face tomorrow morning. I look forward to talking to him about my successes and failures.

All the best in your chat with him. Do share with us what you get out of the conversation.

[EarlVonTapia]

I've got my 15 minutes with what's his face tomorrow morning. I look forward to talking to him about my successes and failures.

Good luck!

I wonder how many other PF members get their 15 minutes with the big boss man. So far I count 3 (me, Gabriel, and now Kryscendo).

[Ash]

I'd love a chat. Unfortunately no reply after the email was sent on 18th Dec.
That's OK - I think a lot of the feedback here is inspiring enough.

[GabrielFFontes]

I've got my 15 minutes with what's his face tomorrow morning. I look forward to talking to him about my successes and failures.

Good luck in your call!
I was nervous at first, but everything went just fine!

[bigrex]

Thank you for the interview update Gabriel, good info. there.