[msalicat]

The lecturer got his info from a "supplier" and the supplier probably favors the Canon brand, Lots of people seem to think that Canon and Nikon are the only brands. I will remain an individual and not a sheep who follows the crowd

[ramseybuckeye]

You get 2 year support here but they were forced to do that and be clear about it.

And still they line up to buy them

[Zygonyx]

Got it in one (and I think you are first). Rather than feel threatened we should hope this means Ricoh is committed to the "third camera brand in the itnermediate term" statement, believes that includes a multi-tier line-up, and they're taking the necessary actions at the outset to build their long-term franchise.

I'm researching the history of building Ricoh for some thematic clues as to how they might build Pentax.

Interesting, please let us know what you find out

[JimmyDranox]

Pentax name in telescope market is slowly fading. Most of European telescope merchandisers only has eyepieces and binoculars in their offer, but not Pentax telescopes. So, selling some patents to Vixen, which is more active, probably is a way to minimize the looses.

I hope that this mean that Ricoh will have more money for other fields, like Pentax DSLR.

---

Last edited by JimmyDranox; 07-21-2013 at 08:36 PM.

[Uluru]

The whole thread is pointless, which is perpetuated for chewing by online trolls like Rice High.
Ricoh is organising simple spring cleaning, followed by a garage sale. Some extra cash from all this old stuff for investment in more important, current projects.

[awaldram]

True

Fire sales don't mean much at all and give no indication of current or future corporate direction.

Take the Q and K-01

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

Q fire sale on the other hand seems to have cemented the Q mount as a current and future line.

Depending on the contractual details flogging blueprints may indicate getting out of a product direction (telescopes) or diversification with low risk.

[Zygonyx]

The whole thread is pointless, which is perpetuated for chewing by online trolls like Rice High.
Ricoh is organising simple spring cleaning, followed by a garage sale. Some extra cash from all this old stuff for investment in more important, current projects.

Thanks for this truely shrewd and encouraging participation.
And thanks to bring us more and more informative and reassuring hot news.
Do you actually know any of the "important, current projects", which the poor members of this community don't even have a clue of ?
Maybe a rugged flash and a long overdue SDM teleconverter ?
Please share your cristal ball with us.

[DeadJohn]

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.

[monochrome]

To the extent this thread elicits discussion of Pentax discontinuing production of ANY kind of optics it is relevant discussion.

To the extent this thread elicits discussion of "Pentax is DOOOOOOOOMED" it is pointless.

[Uluru]

Thanks for this truely shrewd and encouraging participation.
And thanks to bring us more and more informative and reassuring hot news.
Do you actually know any of the "important, current projects", which the poor members of this community don't even have a clue of ?
Maybe a rugged flash and a long overdue SDM teleconverter ?
Please share your cristal ball with us.

:
:
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).

[Uluru]

To the extent this thread elicits discussion of Pentax discontinuing production of ANY kind of optics it is relevant discussion.

To the extent this thread elicits discussion of "Pentax is DOOOOOOOOMED" it is pointless.

:
:
Almost every thread on PF I have read in the last 7 months has that last sentence overtone.

[Aristophanes]

My understanding is that refractor telescopes are now much rarer than reflectors due to cost overall and the cost of automated tracking which has pretty much taken over the mid- to lower end of the hobby.

[DeadJohn]

My understanding is that refractor telescopes are now much rarer than reflectors due to cost overall and the cost of automated tracking which has pretty much taken over the mid- to lower end of the hobby.

I agree. Reflectors (and catadioptrics with mirrors plus lenses) are predominant for visual astronomy because they cost less than refractors. Or, for the same price point, a reflector can be much larger and gather more light than a refractor. Weight and length of the optical tube become issues as things scale up so even at the high end of the hobby there aren't as many refractors as other designs.

Things are more balanced for astrophotography. Long exposures and image stacking allow a fairly small refractor to capture dim objects that can't be seen visually.

[NotSteve]

I do remember this, but I think a bigger problem with Sony, was their use of proprietary formats especially the Memory Stick, for digital cameras when everyone else was using SD cards or compact flash. I think the recent popularity of their compact cameras is due in part to ditching that stupid format, or at least not tying you exclusively to the memory stick.

I wonder if people really worry about or dwell on the big brother-ish nature of Sony that way in this day and age. There was the iPhone location tracking info scandal, the Google wireless data collection scandal, and now of course, all the major internet companies involved in the NSA global surveillance program. Makes Sony's root kit debacle look quite minor in retrospect.

Sony also has a Big Brother-ish side that really irks consumers. 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. That single act still haunts Sony in the tech community and the minds of many consumers even today, some 10 years later.

I, for one, will never buy a Sony product of any kind again, no matter what it is.

[DeadJohn]

I'm a bitter former Sony customer. Their reputation for me started with cheap products at cheap prices; transitioned to premium products; then died at cheap products for premium prices with poor support. My last Sony purchase was a laptop 10 years and my experience was bad enough that I haven't bought anything else from them since. Maybe the company turned around but I'm happy enough with the competition to not need Sony.