[lytrytyr]

K-01 fire sale appears to be an end to a product line at this point.

Not after the blue-and-white revival.

[monochrome]

My father bought a Trinitron color televison, which was a very big deal, in something like 1973. Their black mask patent allowed a much brighter image and they charged a premium for it - and we all thought Sony made great stuff. The Walkman played on the reputation - and on the fitness fad and youth music explosion. Sony flexed its muscles with Beta and in computers, attempting to further extend patented technologies as a standard which could be licensed.

In the late 90's the Trinitron patent ran out, cassette tapes lost dominance and Sony was left with a string of failed attempts to corner market standards that continues to this day.

We'll see what happens to Apple.

[Canada_Rockies]

I recently attended a photography workshop where the lecturer said he had heard from a supplier that Pentax will no longer be making SLR's and will be changing everything to mirrorless and suggested that I change brands. Is this true? I am looking at buying the K5IIs as an additional camera as I have the K7 (which is my 3rd Pentax camera). Should I now switch brands or should I stay with Pentax? Switching brands is an expensive exercise.

Even if they stop making cameras, you camera won't suddenly stop working, you know. I'm tired of the doom day advocates. I've been using Pentax cameras since 1961, and they have been doomed many, many times. Maybe the company is a zombie, but they are a zombie that makes great cameras.

[THoog]

Even if they stop making cameras, you camera won't suddenly stop working, you know. I'm tired of the doom day advocates. I've been using Pentax cameras since 1961, and they have been doomed many, many times. Maybe the company is a zombie, but they are a zombie that makes great cameras.

Well said!

After the success of Heie's excellent "Fearless" contest, we should have a "Fearful" contest. The subject: What scares you so much that you won't just go out and use your Pentax gear? Winner gets a Rikenon P lens with the Ricoh pin already removed, so that they have one thing they don't have to worry about.

[Zygonyx]

The thread's not pointless but has gone off on tangents. My main hobby is astronomy and I appreciate the OP providing a hint of a new product, even if it doesn't have a Pentax badge on it.

Right, and thank you to help building our general knowledge.
By the way if this soon-to-come lens is good enough - whatever the sticker on it -, I might well be interested and buy one for 645D shooting !

...
What follows, which is FF in combination with more APS-C, will most likely be delivered early in 2014, and maybe, announced around Christmas to be delivered couple of moths later, like it was the case with GR, which was delivered 6-8 weeks after the announcement (depending which territory).

Sorry if I didn't read this from you before, let's cross fingers and wait !

[Rupert]

When I bought my DS the salesman told me I was getting a "Classic"...the last Pentax DSLR they were ever going to make. Salesmen seem to have a great record for....being wrong.

Regards!

[Clavius]

:
:
As said before, I had received an information about the K50 and K500. Those were true.
Then the message contained: the new 645, and 2 new K bodies, all this year. SMC TC, flash and some lenses too.

What follows, which is FF in combination with more APS-C, will most likely be delivered early in 2014, and maybe, announced around Christmas to be delivered couple of moths later, like it was the case with GR, which was delivered 6-8 weeks after the announcement (depending which territory).

Without actually sharing the information your good news is pretty futile.

[Uluru]

Without actually sharing the information your good news is pretty futile.

:
Even tomorrow weather forecast is futile because it's based on probability.
This is even more so, thus I relay only what I've read. However I have my own suspicions re certain parts of it; it's Pentax we're talking about, after all..

[Clavius]

:
Even tomorrow weather forecast is futile because it's based on probability.

Haha... I understand. Although even the weather forcast shows proof, radar images, trends, reosoning, etc, to make their conclusions plausible.

[Aristophanes]

Even tomorrow weather forecast is futile because it's based on probability.

That makes no sense.

Probability is simply assigning a value of probable outcomes. Good forecasts do exactly that be it in weather or finances; they give you a range of probabilities.

Futility is assuming (and expecting) that no prediction based on gathered data can ever be accurate.

The end is near.

[monochrome]

Probability is simply assigning a value of probable outcomes. Good forecasts do exactly that be it in weather or finances; they give you a range of probabilities.

Ah yes, so true. A range of probable outcomes.

But as in so many things, it is the outliers that will really hurt you.

[PiDicus Rex]

I see all the same, rotten things in traditional arts teaching classes: teachers advocate certain paper types and paints and brushes given to them by their sponsors, although there are many others equally as good, if not quite better art materials.

I see the same thing with the Mac/FCP bias in university Media lecturers, who follow the crApple party line of superiority, because they've been supplied nothing but crApples to work on.
Show them a PC running GV Edius and they're lost. Show them how much faster you can edit on it, and they'll tell you that all work needs to be handed in in FCP project form for grading,... Rather then them trying to understand other NLE's.
University Lecturers world wide are insular and closed minded, they recommend what they use, because it's all they know.

. They had the disastrous proprietary "Beta" video recording system that lost.

Only on the domestic market. BetaMax was a failure, BetaCam, BetaCam SP, BetaCam SX all dominated the broadcast industry with unquestioned quality in SD production.
Panasonic and JVC competed okay, but it was really the digital age that leveled the field in broadcast.

I recall that at one time if you played a Sony (Columbia Pictures) movie or television or music CD on your computer it installed a Root Kit that "Phoned Home" to Sony everything it could find out about you on your machine.

Yep, that's where ALL Root Kit malware owes it's existence too.


Overall, I think the Ricoh vs Pentax thing will work out something like the Fiat vs Chrysler merger.
When Chrysler was with Damiler-Benz, there were a whole heap of internally competing models of vehicles they were building, so they were taking sales away from themselves internally.
With Fiat and Chrysler, there is no models that compete directly, Fiat gets access to large vehicles, Chrysler gets access to small cars, and they share the dealer networks to save money for both companies.
Now, if Ricoh was to use the Ricoh brand for all the point n shoot consumer cameras, and the Pentax brand for all the MILC/DSLR/FF/Large format cameras, they would have no marketplace conflicts, and the Ricoh models would benefit from all the advanced design work done for the 'pro' models.
Which is also kinda like the whole Teac/Tascam/Yamaha set-up in the audio industry.