[monochrome]

Fixed it for ya.

I thought I fixed it in the balance of the post. We really need a sarcasm Smiliey.

[RonHendriks1966]

Well that sort of confirms some rumors we've heard (drunk guy in China saying there would be tears in Pentaxland in the fall) and would be consistent with dropping Pentax entirely from the corporate name. I notice the US URL is now us.ricoh-imaging.com

At the same time it contradicts public statements made by Ricoh July 2nd and confirmed in a statement by Jim Malcolm to Imaging Resource (Pentax would stay on the dSLR's but Ricoh would get new technology and compacts) and fails to explain the recent run-up in prices of the better, rarer lenses.

The question is whether that means sell mountains of lenses now before it is too late (it probably already is) or buy mountains of lenses after the September 5th Press Conference when everyone else is selling them.

I assume any Pentax camera is now worthless on the secondary market.

So place your bets gentlemen and ladies. here's mine:

Any FF camera coming out of Ricoh will be badged Ricoh The jury is out on whether it will be K-mount..

To be honest I don't think that any K-mount dslr with either Pentax or Ricoh on it would make a huge difference. Both would support the exsistence for the K-mount.

[Uluru]

So place your bets gentlemen and ladies. here's mine:

Any FF camera coming out of Ricoh will be badged Ricoh The jury is out on whether it will be K-mount..

One detail in the recent interview you have forgotten: professional line of cameras will have the name Pentax.
If any FF camera fits the description of an professional camera, it wlll be badged Pentax.

And, mark my words, if Ricoh Imaging introduces an FF camera with Ricoh's badge, and does not introduce any FF camera with Pentax name, 90% of their userbase will be seriously disturbed and many of them will demonstrably leave the brand — this time forever.

Because it is about a principle. Ricoh Imaging should remember that it is the users who truly are the brand's name, not the gear.

Even as we're speaking, the tension is off the scale, people are seriously agitated, Pentax and Ricoh are perceived not even as behind all other players, but even behind any hope. In the last 9 months they were unusually talkative about FF and "hi-end" plans, albeit still vague, which suggests they know they are bidding on our last moments of attention.

Add one more drop like Ricoh badged FF, and the whole Pentax land will explode. If Ricoh Imaging people cannot see or feel that, then they are either blind, deaf, or stupid. For their own sake I hope they are not.

[Kunzite]

Even as we're speaking, the tension is off the scale, people are seriously agitated, Pentax and Ricoh are perceived not even as behind all other players, but even behind any hope.

Well, Pentax enthusiasts forums are definitely helping with that Day after day, the sky is falling, whatever Pentax is doing is no good and must be changed, where is the FF but wait, it's too late anyway etc. etc. etc.
Sometimes I want to move to a Canon or Nikon forums, maybe there I'll find some words of appreciation for Pentax.

[jatrax]

90% of their userbase will be seriously disturbed and many of them will demonstrably leave the brand — this time forever.

You mean 90% of their user base who are on this forum? Which might be 1/2% of total user base? Whose priorities, it sometimes seems, are to get them to alter the mount so they can use 40 year old lenses on any new camera?[/sarc]

Sometimes I want to move to a Canon or Nikon forums, maybe there I'll find some words of appreciation for Pentax.

They love our glass anyway.....

[Uluru]

Well, Pentax enthusiasts forums are definitely helping with that Day after day, the sky is falling, whatever Pentax is doing is no good and must be changed, where is the FF but wait, it's too late anyway etc. etc. etc.
Sometimes I want to move to a Canon or Nikon forums, maybe there I'll find some words of appreciation for Pentax.

Well-founded or ill-founded, the perception is there. Brand has gone through hell in the last 4 years, and I'd personally love Ricoh company to have left corporate name changes after all the new products were announced, and age-old promises fulfilled.
But like this, they just annoy people more, and contribute nothing truly valuable.

[mecrox]

So place your bets gentlemen and ladies. here's mine:

Any FF camera coming out of Ricoh will be badged Ricoh The jury is out on whether it will be K-mount..

Lol, I think that's a pretty good bet. If there is to be an FF then a Ricoh-badged mirrorless with a new mount or a fixed lens is in contention. From their POV it may be a good bet too. If it works, they know that the demand for FF is there and they will get a lot of market insights, so they would have a much better idea of the likely impact of Pentax doing the DSLR version in due course, K-mount or no. If it doesn't work, they will have taken a bath but a much smaller one than might be the case had they started with a Pentax DSLR and, particularly, had to design and manufacture all those many new K-mount lenses people would expect. And either way, they will have put Ricoh on the map as a name now to be fully reckoned with in the camera biz. Still, who knows. They seem very canny, averse to spending unnecessarily and are more than capable of surprising us all. A Ricoh FF DSLR with a new mount would be a positively rabid cat among the pigeons here, most likely, but then that's hardly the whole story. Not only is there a whole userbase out there who are not on this forum, there are folks from other brands too. And we don't know whether they can get IBIS working the way they want in FF using the K-mount, so there is a question mark over that one.

I know there is the "professional" angle Ricoh have linked to Pentax, but we don't know what that means. It might mean DSLR, 645 or something else. I guess we'll all find out soon enough.

[Parallax]

I thought I fixed it in the balance of the post. We really need a sarcasm Smiliey.

Yep. :LOL:

[Kunzite]

Well-founded or ill-founded, the perception is there. Brand has gone through hell in the last 4 years, and I'd personally love Ricoh company to have left corporate name changes after all the new products were announced, and age-old promises fulfilled.
But like this, they just annoy people more, and contribute nothing truly valuable.

I disagree, it's better to make such operations as soon as possible. The sooner you do it, the smaller the costs and the sooner will the ripples calm down.
Do it after successfully implementing your strategy, after new high end products, maybe even a full frame are announced, and you risk giving off the wrong message - that you're going to change/scrap what you built until then.

Personally, I would have liked the Pentax Ricoh name to stay; but, such is life - I'll have to get used with Pentax being (again) just a brand, and more importantly the products behind this brand. It's not like anything I'll do will make a Pentax Corporation suddenly re-appear, so I'll get used to it.

[Racer X 69]

I thought I fixed it in the balance of the post. We really need a sarcasm Smiliey.

Here.



You're welcome.

[monochrome]

You mean 90% of their user base who are on this forum? Which might be 1/2% of total user base? Whose priorities, it sometimes seems, are to get them to alter the mount so they can use 40 year old lenses on any new camera?[/sarc]

They love our glass anyway.....

You actually mean the 50 or so members of this Forum (1/10 of 1%) who regularly post on the FF issue, which is 1/2 of 1% of the users of Pentax cameras, which is 2 or 3% of owners of Pentax cameras - so what do we matter?

If there is to be an FF then a Ricoh-badged mirrorless with a new mount or a fixed lens is in contention

Hint: I'd really have been surprised if the GR had been badged Pentax.

[Uluru]

I disagree, it's better to make such operations as soon as possible. ...

If I remember correctly, in the latest interview head of Ricoh Imaging said the name change is just a minor thing, and is meant for internal porposes only.

So, if in the span of several months they have nothing to show but just a minor, internal thing, they could have posponed that minor, internal thing for later, and focus to tell us more major things. Or even better — together with the announcement of all the good things, they could have said that the company name would change too. When looking at a pile of goodies and hi-end stuff with both Pentax and Ricoh's name on them on one side, and the less important news about a minor internal thing on the other side, people would not feel annoyed as they do now.

I'm just saying that they are not managing brand perception quite well. We live in times of corporate greed and publicly broadcasted lies, in a world in which credibility and integrity are rarer than ever, we are consumed in empty talks and smokescreen rhetorics, etc. If they mean well, Ricoh should be more aware of all that.

Considering that Pentax is a specific and iconic product brand and a mindset, yet, with a very controversial history of mismanagement during the digital era. They should calm the controversies first.

[monochrome]

The only place on Earth that this name change isn't a minor thing is on this thread in this Forum.

[Uluru]

The only place on Earth that this name change isn't a minor thing is on this thread in this Forum.

Does it prove that Pentax is a third-rate brand with third-rate products no one normal out there (but only a few fanatics here) care about anyway?
If that is not the case, I'm not quite sure what you wanted to say with the statement above?

[Pål Jensen]

You actually mean the 50 or so members of this Forum (1/10 of 1%) who regularly post on the FF issue, which is 1/2 of 1% of the users of Pentax cameras, which is 2 or 3% of owners of Pentax cameras - so what do we matter?.

50? I think they are closer to 10!