[normhead]

Pentax has never cost me a cent for nothing. Every cent of my money they've received has been for something I wanted to buy. And most of the time I looked at what others had to offer at the same time I bought the Pentax stuff.

Does Pentax cost me money? Absolutely not. I don't have to buy from them. They can never cost me a cent without my agreement. I can choose to buy their product, or not, they have nothing to say about it.

[Class A]

Pretty much all my enthusiasm for Jim Malcolm was blown away by his Interview with DigitalCameraInfo.

Anyone who is claiming that the Pentaxians are saying, “Just keep doing what you’re doing." is not giving Pentaxians a voice, AFAIC. The Pentax Full Frame Facebook page has almost 5000 likes and there are many other petitions. I have never seen so many Pentaxians jump ship as in the last 6 months or so because the world is changing but all Pentax does is to try and unlock new hipster markets instead of catering to their core loyal supporters. Very, very sad.

I was happy with a Pentax that just struggled to get where they need to be. But if they are now claiming that they are exactly in the right spot already then I'm very disappointed.

The only consolation is that this was just Pentax USA talking, not Pentax Japan. I posted my personal summary of the interview in the respective thread.

[ogl]

Pretty much all my enthusiasm for Jim Malcolm was blown away by his Interview with DigitalCameraInfo.

Anyone who is claiming that the Pentaxians are saying, “Just keep doing what you’re doing." is not giving Pentaxians a voice, AFAIC.

I'm in the same boat with you...But I'm already bashed here for such statement...

[anthony mazzeri]

I have never seen so many Pentaxians jump ship as in the last 6 months or so because the world is changing but all Pentax does is to try and unlock new hipster markets instead of catering to their core loyal supporters.

Jumping ship = core loyal supporter?

[Uluru]

Jumping ship = core loyal supporter?

Core loyal supporters of photography experience.
Pentax is just a next layer on top, of that experience, especially Pentax lenses. When Pentax limits what a user can experience in photography, because it refuses to issue a camera (and fix many other issues) that may maximise the photograhic experience of many lenses and their users, it is time to abandon, or jump the ship.

Who is loyal to who there? Should not a company show a loyalty to its customers?

And to surprise you, THAT is the modern marketing definition of brand loyalty — a brand that is loyal to its users.

[Medium FormatPro]

I agree with Uluru...

Pentax mostly only coming out with camera that have very minor upgrades; and not all that many new items. And how many lenses have they come out with? Better yet, which market are a lot of the lenses catered to?? I'm sure that new 560 will be selling like hotcakes.

Pentax has got to get at least two to three cameras out there each year with major advances. And what Pentax is not releasing in lenses; are only coming from the third party market such as Sigma. It shows exactly how Sigma caters to the customer and photographer; while Pentax caters to who??

[Kunzite]

Could you tell me what are the differences between the Canon's 700D and 650D? And whose very minor upgrade is the K-30?
Pentax Ricoh launched so far the following lenses:
- smc DA 40mm F2.8 XS
- smc DA 50mm F1.8
- 06 Telephoto 15-45mm
- HD DA 560mm F5.6 ED AW
- smc DA 18-270mm F3.5-6.3 ED SDM
- HD DFA645 Macro 90mm F2.8 ED AW SR

Nobody is doing "major advances" anymore, as the market has matured.

[ogl]

Could you tell me what are the differences between the Canon's 700D and 650D? And whose very minor upgrade is the K-30?
Pentax Ricoh launched so far the following lenses:
- smc DA 40mm F2.8 XS
- smc DA 50mm F1.8
- 06 Telephoto 15-45mm
- HD DA 560mm F5.6 ED AW
- smc DA 18-270mm F3.5-6.3 ED SDM
- HD DFA645 Macro 90mm F2.8 ED AW SR

Nobody is doing "major advances" anymore, as the market has matured.

let's be honest...
- DA40/2.8 XS is just more compact and cheaper version of ancient DA40.
- DFA90, DA50/1.8 and DA560 were under development before Ricoh.
DFA90 and DA560 are crazy expensive and who cares about this lenses...100 users?
- Q lens - who cares about it here? Q system was developed before Hoya and laid on the shelf. Toy system. Not bad, but it's P&S camera.
- DA18-270 is not Pentax, it's very expensive Tamron made in China - optically worse than previous Tamron 18-250.
And more expensive than Tamron 18-270 for C/N.

Launched. of course...But it's old oil.

I'm really disappointed that no any news from Ricoh side. GXR system - no any information - if it's dead or alive? The last lensor was launched 15 months ago.
GRD - ? Just vague rumors...

[Kunzite]

I am honest.
Of course the lenses announced in 2012 were started while under Hoya; a lens can't be made overnight.
The D FA645 90mm f/2.8 macro SR is not expensive, for a medium format stabilized macro lens. Did I say stabilized? It's the only one so far, in the medium format world.
Q had about 5.8% of the Japanese MILC market share in 2012, so obviously there are some who cares about it.

Don't be disappointed when there will be news from Ricoh side.

[deadwolfbones]

Sky never stops falling around here.

[Boris_Akunin]

Sky never stops falling around here.

What's this part of the forums for if not skydiving?

[ElJamoquio]

Anyone still getting phone requests for interviews from Pentax?

[monochrome]

Anyone still getting phone requests for interviews from Pentax?

Q Users are doing a conference call the week of the 27th. James' personal assistant has reached out and is arranging a time most convenient for those who volunteered to speak with him. I'm sure one or more of us will post a review / summary of the call.

[Uluru]

Q Users are doing a conference call the week of the 27th. James' personal assistant has reached out...

James T. Kirk's personal assistant Uhura?
On which subspace channel the conference will broadcast and will it be recorded and available for download?

[monochrome]

James T. Kirk's personal assistant Uhura?
On which subspace channel the conference will broadcast and will it be recorded and available for download?

Laugh it up, fuzzball.

Oh wait.

The call is very real, very calendared and the offer to speak with PRAC was received favorably by them. Once the offer was made to marketing the response from Jim was virtually immediate, then just a few days to arrange a workable time.