[Kunzite]

He did nothing to deserve this virtual lynching; but of course, everyone in an internet forum is better suited for the job
Now, should we forget about JC-bashing and concentrate on the actual interview? Thank you.

[Mistral75]

No, I don't think we're too harsh. Have you read his other interviews in the past? Have you watched his botched video interview on the new 06 lens where he didn't even know the facts about the lens focal length? Did you witness his petulant behavior here when asked real questions in a polite way but when he ducked and weaved he was pressed to actually answer and then went away in a huff? John Carlson has a MUCH longer history than this one interview with many here.

I know what you are talking about, this is why I wrote "harsh with this interview" in particular and not "harsh with John Carlson" in general.

And I totally agree with what Kunzite wrote above:

(...)
Now, should we forget about JC-bashing and concentrate on the actual interview? Thank you.

[kadajawi]

I think the most interesting news to me is: Pentax has a marketing department?!

[Docrwm]

I know what you are talking about, this is why I wrote "harsh with this interview" in particular and not "harsh with John Carlson" in general.

And I totally agree with what Kunzite wrote above:

Good point. As I said, improvement is good and the hint that the flash system will be changing "soon" is great news.

[Docrwm]

I think the most interesting news to me is: Pentax has a marketing department?!

ROFLMAO!

[Zygonyx]

Anyway, thanks Mistral75 for this interesting résumé.
No need to read or listen further indeed

RICOH has so far not that much impact on the wooden-tongue Pentax officials are bound to, in the waiting from [Moscow] Yokohama news

[anthony mazzeri]

the merger of the two engineering teams which took place two months ago (only).

So wtf have the Ricoh engineers been doing for a year then with nothing released during all that time? I have to assume this new camera they unveil at CP+ is going to be one real humdinger.

8/ Do not expect articulated screens in Pentax DSLRs in the short term due to their negative impact on size (mainly) and weather sealing.

This argument doesn't fly so well now with the OM-D's articulated screen and weather sealing.

: The customer that bought the K-01 was very much design-oriented, and to a certain degree, were purchasing the camera due to the Marc Newson name associated with it.

He's probably talking about stats he's seen from launch time. I dare say the recent flying off the shelves is more people buying it despite the design.

[kadajawi]

So wtf have the Ricoh engineers been doing for a year then with nothing released during all that time? I have to assume this new camera they unveil at CP+ is going to be one real humdinger.

Hooray! Hooray! It's A Holi-Holiday
sing a summer song, skip along, holi-holiday
it's a holi-holiday...


I was wondering about that too. I mean, it's all good (hopefully) that they are working on how Pentax sells cameras etc., but couldn't they multitask?

The part about the Q was funny. Wow, it's better than a smartphone? They've set that bar really, really high...

To be fair JC doesn't seem incompetent or like he doesn't care, but as a one man army he is probably busy with other things too. That the Pentax HQ isn't good in communicating what they are doing is, well, we are used to it. A bit surprising that they won't even tell their own branch, but oh well. And hey, at least JC is refreshingly honest and direct. "We've asked the HQ, but... they just won't reply."

Hm. I can only think the camera would simply have to grow when they introduce an articulated display. Would it still be small? Yeah. But they'd be closer to the competition. I do wish that the display could at least be tilted, that would be great for shooting video.

There is so much Pentax could do in terms of advertising. They want to focus on what makes a Pentax special? Fine. Show us. Remind people that Pentax has been around longer than Canikon (when people aren't even aware of the brand that would be a start I guess). Show someone, 40 years ago, using a Pentax to photograph his kid. Putting the camera and lenses into a vitrine in his living room. Then, 2013, show that grown up kid take the old lenses and mount them on his latest Pentax, taking photos of his kid.
Have Marc Newson do an Apple style ad, like Johnny Ive would do.
Pentax engineers are all photographers, building the tools they want? Great! Why not use that? Perhaps show a few high level Pentax engineers, talking about their passion for photography, while taking photos. Show their best work. Could be posted on YouTube, perhaps shown on TV in a shorter version. "Because we love photography." "By photographers, for photographers." Don't know, that sort of direction.
The K-5 is a fully featured semi-pro body, but the size of entry level competitors. Some people are looking for that. Advertise it. "Honey, we've shrunk the camera." The travelers companion: Rugged, fully featured, small enough to be always with you. Or have a couple of competitors lined up with the K-5, then have someone going on holiday looking at them and picking the K-5.
People don't take Pentax seriously? Look down on it? Do an ad for the 645D. Show it during a high end shoot. Just have the name Pentax at the end, plus a tagline perhaps. Would they sell even one 645D because of that? Probably not. Those who are in that market will already know, an ad won' t change their mind. But people bought Canikon because the pro's shoot Canikon. Even though they themselves aren't, and will most likely never be.

I think there are many options, and these ads could be used internationally, to promote the brand in many markets. I've seen a Canon billboard, just a young lady (famous, I guess), with some entry level EOS. "EOS lah". Which could be translated to EOS... duh. What else would you use? Obvious choice, can't go wrong. That's the message. No feature mentioned, nothing. Buy what's established. Everywhere in Malaysia, during events, you see people in Canon shirts. The only time I've seen a Pentax shirt was in a camera shop that has a big Pentax section. The logo was so small that you had to look closely, where on Canon shirts the logo is all over the back, in big letters.

[Kunzite]

So wtf have the Ricoh engineers been doing for a year then with nothing released during all that time? I have to assume this new camera they unveil at CP+ is going to be one real humdinger.

Working on Ricoh projects, as they did before?

Merging engineering teams would only make sense after you have everything prepared. Monochrome had a post somewhere, about integrating companies; here it is:
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/pentax-news-rumors/211106-mx1-new-camera-...ml#post2235708

[Docrwm]

Hooray! Hooray! It's A Holi-Holiday
sing a summer song, skip along, holi-holiday
it's a holi-holiday...


I was wondering about that too. I mean, it's all good (hopefully) that they are working on how Pentax sells cameras etc., but couldn't they multitask?

The part about the Q was funny. Wow, it's better than a smartphone? They've set that bar really, really high...

To be fair JC doesn't seem incompetent or like he doesn't care, but as a one man army he is probably busy with other things too. That the Pentax HQ isn't good in communicating what they are doing is, well, we are used to it. A bit surprising that they won't even tell their own branch, but oh well. And hey, at least JC is refreshingly honest and direct. "We've asked the HQ, but... they just won't reply."

Hm. I can only think the camera would simply have to grow when they introduce an articulated display. Would it still be small? Yeah. But they'd be closer to the competition. I do wish that the display could at least be tilted, that would be great for shooting video.

There is so much Pentax could do in terms of advertising. They want to focus on what makes a Pentax special? Fine. Show us. Remind people that Pentax has been around longer than Canikon (when people aren't even aware of the brand that would be a start I guess). Show someone, 40 years ago, using a Pentax to photograph his kid. Putting the camera and lenses into a vitrine in his living room. Then, 2013, show that grown up kid take the old lenses and mount them on his latest Pentax, taking photos of his kid.
Have Marc Newson do an Apple style ad, like Johnny Ive would do.
Pentax engineers are all photographers, building the tools they want? Great! Why not use that? Perhaps show a few high level Pentax engineers, talking about their passion for photography, while taking photos. Show their best work. Could be posted on YouTube, perhaps shown on TV in a shorter version. "Because we love photography." "By photographers, for photographers." Don't know, that sort of direction.
The K-5 is a fully featured semi-pro body, but the size of entry level competitors. Some people are looking for that. Advertise it. "Honey, we've shrunk the camera." The travelers companion: Rugged, fully featured, small enough to be always with you. Or have a couple of competitors lined up with the K-5, then have someone going on holiday looking at them and picking the K-5.
People don't take Pentax seriously? Look down on it? Do an ad for the 645D. Show it during a high end shoot. Just have the name Pentax at the end, plus a tagline perhaps. Would they sell even one 645D because of that? Probably not. Those who are in that market will already know, an ad won' t change their mind. But people bought Canikon because the pro's shoot Canikon. Even though they themselves aren't, and will most likely never be.

I think there are many options, and these ads could be used internationally, to promote the brand in many markets. I've seen a Canon billboard, just a young lady (famous, I guess), with some entry level EOS. "EOS lah". Which could be translated to EOS... duh. What else would you use? Obvious choice, can't go wrong. That's the message. No feature mentioned, nothing. Buy what's established. Everywhere in Malaysia, during events, you see people in Canon shirts. The only time I've seen a Pentax shirt was in a camera shop that has a big Pentax section. The logo was so small that you had to look closely, where on Canon shirts the logo is all over the back, in big letters.

Every time there has been an interview with JC and one with the person in the same job in the UK the UK rep for Pentax has managed to do several things that JC hasn't seemed to be able to manage:
1) say "We" when referring to Pentax
2) not implicitly blame home office for his lack of knowledge
3) not make gaffs about actual facts that are easy to check
4) and not say things like the Q is better than a smart phone.

It's nice and all to be enthusiastic about Pentax and to think the company is moving in the right direction but, honestly, to believe that this is the best that their head PR guy can do and its all home office's fault is just a bit much IMHO.

[kadajawi]

Which leads me to say: Pentax has a marketing department?

He seems like a nice enough guy, and I like the directness. He doesn't do that good of a job promoting the brand I guess, but then again does he have the employees, budget etc.? Looks like a one man operation...

Btw.: The new Pentax boss (?) has a marketing background? Not sure if I should be excited about that (I liked that Pentax cameras always felt like the product of photographers), but hopefully he'll put some focus on promoting the brand.

[Docrwm]

Which leads me to say: Pentax has a marketing department?

He seems like a nice enough guy, and I like the directness. He doesn't do that good of a job promoting the brand I guess, but then again does he have the employees, budget etc.? Looks like a one man operation...

Btw.: The new Pentax boss (?) has a marketing background? Not sure if I should be excited about that (I liked that Pentax cameras always felt like the product of photographers), but hopefully he'll put some focus on promoting the brand.

The new operations officer for Pentax US has a marketing background BUT was a photographer before that too. He's apparently a very interesting person and represents the best hope that Pentax has had in the US in decades IMHO.

[Raffwal]

The new operations officer for Pentax US has a marketing background...

I understand that as most members over here are from the US (or Canada), the doings of the Pentax US seem important. But to me it actually looks like they're just a distributor. Period. Almost like a big retailer. They do marketing and know a little more than the average camera store salesman, but that's it. Pentax HQ does what it does and a local distributor has little to say about that.

[Docrwm]

I understand that as most members over here are from the US (or Canada), the doings of the Pentax US seem important. But to me it actually looks like they're just a distributor. Period. Almost like a big retailer. They do marketing and know a little more than the average camera store salesman, but that's it. Pentax HQ does what it does and a local distributor has little to say about that.

Nope. Pentax US is a completely owned and operated by Pentax-Ricoh Corp. The CEO of Pentax-Ricoh is now the official head of Pentax US but his subordinate is to be the day-to-day operations manager of the US operation. Just a wee bit more than simply a big retailer. When JC says "they" all the time referring to Pentax it really is a very big foot-in-mouth (particularly to Japanese businessmen) because Pentax US is NOT a separately owned company in reality.

[Raffwal]

Yeah, they are technically full Pentax-Ricoh. But atleast in the Hoya period, in effect they appeared to be just a distributor.