[VladM]

I visited the Digital show today, and I must say, it was rather disappointing for Pentax users.
Pentax had a very small stand (local distributor CR Kennedy).
There was a small display of current bodies and lenses in a glass cabinet.
Not a single item was outside the cabinet to be able to handle.
When asked about any forthcoming releases of new DSLR bodies, they were very evasive and would not comment.
On the other hand, Canon, Nikon, even Olympus and Fuji displays were quire impressive.
They had all of their products available for handling / trying out.

[Mistral75]

Whom to believe ? (I have a vague idea )

I was at the big photo exhibition in Melbourne yesterday, and witnessed a nice colourful display of a wall full of multicoloured Q10's, and the newly packaged Da lenses are very modern and handsome.

I bumped into my only vague CRK contact and put the hard word on him. 'Im in the market for a new camera, should I buy a K5iis or wait?' His initial reply was 'Dont sell your full frame lenses'. When I pushed him further he indicated that a 24Mp camera will be revealed at Photokina (or whatever it's called) in Germany later this year.

[Zav]

Photokina later this year? Isn't the next one in 2014?

[Mistral75]

Photokina later this year? Isn't the next one in 2014?

Indeed. Hence my "vague idea" .

[Uluru]

Whom to believe ? (I have a vague idea )

I had the same experience as the gentleman above.
Here's my quick review.

Only I didn't bother asking them anything in the end, because there was no point.

[mamethot]

Do the others (Canon, Nikon, Sony) have reps from their distributors or do they have "corporate" stands ran by a local Branch of Ricoh?

I mean Australians always talk of "CRK", a distributor, as people from USA talk about RIAC which sounds more like a branch rather than a distributor. Would a distributor put on a show as good as the company they represent?

[Uluru]

Do the others (Canon, Nikon, Sony) have reps from their distributors or do they have "corporate" stands ran by a local Branch of Ricoh?

I mean Australians always talk of "CRK", a distributor, as people from USA talk about RIAC which sounds more like a branch rather than a distributor. Would a distributor put on a show as good as the company they represent?

:
I think the problem is twofold; Pentax never had money to put up a show or invest in brand recognition, so they shared distributors and service centres overseas with others and whoknowswhat. Now with Ricoh, the problem stays. Add to that that Ricoh has never been a consumer-oriented brand that knows the importance of putting up the good show in photo expos outside Japan.

Thus in this instance, they didn't even bother to help their distributors to hire some event company to do the work and imagine how the user experience of Ricoh's photography oriented products may look like. In all honesty, I think even them in Japan still don't know it yet either. In USA, they don't exhibit this October — in the season full of announcements from everywhere, people will have no chance to see and try new products from Ricoh; well, not even the current products. (Does this mean their announcement will come even later than PhotoPlus in New York?)

I don't know, and I think it's really pointless we spend so much time tinkering about it.
In the meantime, other players are putting up great shows, filled with all their best and latest and with bubbling enthusiasm.

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Last edited by Uluru; 09-14-2013 at 06:58 AM.

[monochrome]

Ricoh Imaging Americas Corporation is a subsidiary of Ricoh Imaging Company, Ltd.. It is owned by the parent company. Jim Malcolm is an Executive Vice President of Ricoh Imaging Company Ltd. Link to corproate subsidiary structure at the time of acquisition.

C. R. Kennedy Pty Ltd. is a separate company entirely which has a contract to distribute Pentax products in a specific territory that includes Australia. See the relationship statement in then lower right of the page.

Note that the web presence doesn't seem to mention Ricoh. It seems to treat Pentax as a brand name, not a subsidiary.

[Uluru]

It's irrelevant who they are legally. At least CR Kennedy did put some kind of booth in Melbourne Expo, and Ricoh Imaging Americas will not even attend PhotoPlus in New York. What I want to say, is, the quality of presence is not dictated by the legal status of the representative, but by willingness of Ricoh Japan to invest in current shows. If they believe their offer isn't up to scratch to go against other exhibitors, or if it doesn't give them any edge over them, they won't bother with it so openly.
PS. I'm not sure if this is correct, but I believe it may be.

[monochrome]

I think the problem is twofold; Pentax never had money to put up a show or invest in brand recognition, so they shared distributors and service centres overseas with others and whoknowswhat. Now with Ricoh, the problem stays. Add to that that Ricoh has never been a consumer-oriented brand that knows the importance of putting up the good show in photo expos outside Japan.

Not correct in the USA and EU and Asia. Asahi had subsidiaries after 1971 in USA, for instance, when Honeywell contract was ended.

Thus in this instance, they didn't even bother to help their distributors to hire some event company to do the work and imagine how the user experience of Ricoh's photography oriented products may look like. In all honesty, I think even them in Japan still don't know it yet either. In USA, they don't exhibit this October — in the season full of announcements from everywhere, people will have no chance to see and try new products from Ricoh; well, not even the current products.

There are other ways to demonstrate products, as we will see in the US very soon.

(Does this mean their announcement will come even later than PhotoPlus in New York?)

I don't know, and I think it's really pointless we spend so much time tinkering about it.
In the meantime, other players are putting up great shows, filled with all their best and latest and with bubbling enthusiasm.

Maybe Ricoh doesn't see the value (yet) paying a bunch of money to show products to journalists who have no interest (yet) in reviewing them, nor to Dealers who have no interest (yet) in stocking them. If as a company you can't (yet) do the things necessary to complete the Agreements negotiated at the shows (which is the real reason you go to the shows) then why spend the money to exhibit? You are better off doing something else with the money (see inserted comment above).

[fisheye freak]

Photokina is September NEXT year. Just have to sweat it out for all the big releases in tech goodies. I hope the wait is worth it.Can Pentax catch up? Are we going to get close to a camera that has everything? Is there going to be an announcement of a killer piece of technology, eg curved sensors that would revolutionize imaging in general(no more spherical aberrations, centre resolution the same as edge resolution, no more corrections for flat field needed, best performance wide open) that would make all current equipment obsolete and make everyone else look like dinosaurs selling second rate equipment? At least there will be the usual "leak" of new products in the leadup. Big question, if there is the knockout blow in the offing, will it be announced beforehand to make the "proud" announcements of the rest look like wannabees or wait for the event itself to make the rest look limp? Which one will get the limelight better to get the free advertising from the media scrambling over each other to get out a story?

[Belnan]

I really hope we don't have to wait that long. That would be depressing.

Speeaking of no presence at imaging shows etc. All the major companies have large exhibits at the photoplus expo in New York. I could find any metion of Ricoh/Pentax at all. Can anyone confirm this, it just seems so unlikely.

[Schraubstock]

Would a distributor put on a show as good as the company they represent?

Perhaps not, but they could do a whole lot better than what CRK did in Melbourne without spending a whole lot more money.

For example, Pentax gear was on display in glass cabinets only and the stand was sandwiched between Sandisk and Sigma. When people go to shows such as this one they go there in the hope/understanding to have a chance to handle the gear they are thinking of buying. But when it is busy they don't want to wait their turn until the rep is free to hand out the gear they are interested in. They also don't want to get the feeling the rep is standing over them while they hold and play with the item of their desire. So in the end they just walk away. As I did.

CRK are the distributor for Sigma in OZ and there was a nice display of Sigma lenses albeit behind glass. You would think they would bother to have at least a few of the Sigma lenses that are not competing with Pentax gear on display with Pentax mounts (like long zooms and primes) so when people come in with their Pentax cams they can have a try. Or if people don't come in with their K-5 for example to have a cam ready for them to use. But no such luck.

What's the matter with these people don't they know what these shows are all about ? I don't need an events company to figure this out.

Greetings

[rawr]

don't they know what these shows are all about

It should be simple. They could just look at what Canikon were doing..

[Bob from Aus]

Everyone above is right.

I was there on Friday. They pulled out what ever I wanted to use and test. The WG3 on display at 10am wouldn't work so they brought another in by the afternoon that I could test (has been ordered Friday night). I am not sure if Sony was there. I spent 6 hours at the show and didn't come across the stall. Nikon, Olympus, Sigma and of course pentax were all helpful and friendly. The chaps from Fuji didn't really know what they were doing. Canon was useless so if I do buy a video camera, it won't be from them. The best thing about the pentax display is was always busy. I would have loved to have helped out (and did a bit).

I used my Sd card to take photos with the Q7 and the WG3 so all in all I had a good run.

The news I got is the Sigma chap believes that sigma will come out with a 150 mm macro for pentax. That's top of my lens priority list.