[JMS]

I sold a K200D last Friday!

[k100d]

if pentax doesn't save pentax, it looks like samsung will keep the mount

[KA5TXL]

After reading the pages of distrought diction in the 'Ben's leaving Pentax' thread I ask this to you, the Pentaxians out there, old and new, can WE save Pentax?

Well I have added to my collection of Pentax equipment a DA* 16-50, 50-135, and a K20D over the last 3 months. But I as I read Ben's thread I thought of when it was announced the Dale Jr was leaving DEI Racing and wasn't going to be sponsored by Budwieser anymore. I'm not going to buy anymore or any less Bud based on who they choose to sponsor. Of course if they could sponsor me so I could fish full time that might change

Larry

[séamuis]

if pentax doesn't save pentax, it looks like samsung will keep the mount

do you really think that Pentax would just hand over the K mount? cause that sounds down right ridiculous. People, Pentax survived for a number of years and went from 'The' camera people used, to being virtually unknown is the US. They are now nipping at the heels of the 'pro' companies, do you really think they are going anywhere? NO. Are they going to be the same as they have been in the past. NO. but we can only wait and see what happens. this is just a camera company were talking about here and most of us are just amature photographers. we aren't talking about a family business here. the way I see it, my cameras and lenses are going to continue to work and provide me with enjoyment no matter what happens to or how the company that manufactured them changes.

[k100d]

do you really think that Pentax would just hand over the K mount? cause that sounds down right ridiculous. People, Pentax survived for a number of years and went from 'The' camera people used, to being virtually unknown is the US. They are now nipping at the heels of the 'pro' companies, do you really think they are going anywhere? NO. Are they going to be the same as they have been in the past. NO. but we can only wait and see what happens. this is just a camera company were talking about here and most of us are just amature photographers. we aren't talking about a family business here. the way I see it, my cameras and lenses are going to continue to work and provide me with enjoyment no matter what happens to or how the company that manufactured them changes.

perhaps you took my comment a bit too seriously and i didn't expand enough. i did read somewhere recently that the patents for the k-mount have expired, and so anyone is free to use them. i think pentax will be fine, they just need to improve their marketting because they definitely have a strong product. but in the unlikely event of all this doom and gloom and Pentax is gone, Samsung has the resources to continue the k-mount if need be and so that no one is left cold with only lenses

[rparmar]

I sold at least one K100 Super merely by letting someone know that there was a cheap digital body for all their old lenses. A lot of causal photographers, the type who do not frequent forums or read magazines, likely don't know that.

The other way I get the word out is simply to shoot photos and let people see me with my Pentax shoulder strap. Sometimes that does wonders!

[ftpaddict]

Even more so when they see my black t-shirt with an 11 inch Pentax logo on the back.

[noblepa]

perhaps you took my comment a bit too seriously and i didn't expand enough. i did read somewhere recently that the patents for the k-mount have expired, and so anyone is free to use them. i think pentax will be fine, they just need to improve their marketting because they definitely have a strong product. but in the unlikely event of all this doom and gloom and Pentax is gone, Samsung has the resources to continue the k-mount if need be and so that no one is left cold with only lenses

The patents for the original k-mount, as used in the K-1000, may have expired, but I'm sure that at least some of the changes made to the system over the years (lens information, autofocus, SDM motors) are, in themselves, patentable. Those patents have probably NOT expired. So, neither Samsung or anyone else could use the k-mount, in its current form, without a license from Pentax.

Given that Samsung presently makes cameras that use the current k-mount, it seems obvious that they already have such a license from Pentax. I have no idea what the terms of the license might be, or how long it is in effect, but, even if Hoya decided tomorrow to exit the camera business, ala Konica-Minolta, Samsung would still have the right to make cameras using the Pentax design.

Besides, if Hoya ever does (let's hope not) exit the camera market, it would still make business sense for them to license the mount, if someone wanted to use it. That's easy money. No R & D, no manufacturing costs, no product liability; just sit back and rake in the license fees. Granted, compared to Hoya's other businesses, this would be peanuts, but I doubt that they would refuse any company that wanted to license the patents.

[BrendanPK]

if pentax doesn't save pentax, it looks like samsung will keep the mount

Sad thing is this is the truth. Pentax will stick around, but I have a horrable feeling that I will be getting a samsung before long (1-2yr max) Samsung has made a comitment to compeat for the promarket and they will. They will not let sony have the 3rd spot without a fight. Samsung has the $$ to go and say to any lens co. here make this and these and that in a Kmount with SDM and sealed and than turn around, come out with a pro-body and a pro-body back-up (a D3/D300 combo) and run with the big boys.
All reports from the original k-mount camp are that they are content with the mid-market (K20/K200D slightly above the "rebel p+s" user) and will probably develop a nitch leica-esk market with bodies and lenses.

Either way, Long-Live the Kmount no matter who's name is taped over on the pentaprism housing

[regken]

Either way, Long-Live the Kmount no matter who's name is taped over on the pentaprism housing

Wow! It only took 2 pages and 23 posts to get to the right answer. Personally I could care less about Pentax as a company. By not supplying an upgrade to revision 8.1 for the K10D, turning out new lenses that need to be returned for poor QC, and overpricing the K20D by at least $350 they haven't done any of us any favors lately.
We can't save Pentax but we might be able to help Samsung jump on the k mount a little faster by starting to purchase anything you want with the Samsung name on it rather then the Pentax name. I plan on buying a K20D, I mean a GX-20 as soon as it hits $900. The same goes for any new lenses I want, I'll wait until they are available with the Samsung name on them.

Ken

[lol101]

do you really think that Pentax would just hand over the K mount? cause that sounds down right ridiculous. People, Pentax survived for a number of years and went from 'The' camera people used, to being virtually unknown is the US. They are now nipping at the heels of the 'pro' companies, do you really think they are going anywhere? NO. Are they going to be the same as they have been in the past. NO. but we can only wait and see what happens. this is just a camera company were talking about here and most of us are just amature photographers. we aren't talking about a family business here. the way I see it, my cameras and lenses are going to continue to work and provide me with enjoyment no matter what happens to or how the company that manufactured them changes.

I may be wrong but I think the K-mount is in the public domain and hence doesn't belong to Pentax anymore.

So far, Samsung needs Pentax because of their experience designing SLRs and that will remain true for some time.

After that...

As I see it, in worst case scenario, Pentax/Hoya leaves the camera bussiness and becomes a lens supplier and Samsung take the camera bussiness. Wheather or not Samsung would be up to the task without pentax on its side is another story (althought I would say yes)

[Venturi]

Okay, I don't know dick about what is in store for Pentax Imaging the company or its product line. But lets say for the sake of propagating vicious rumors that they are about to bow slowly out of the DSLR game...

So far, Samsung needs Pentax because of their experience designing SLRs and that will remain true for some time.
After that...

Something tells me that if this is "the plan" that it won't take long at all. Samsung used to be the techy kid that all the other computer/electronics companies beat up on at the playground. And I was there to goad the others on too - except now I have a 40" Samsung LCD in the living room and 2 22" Samsungs on my desk and a Samsung DVD RW drive in my tower...
All of a sudden they have become front runners in everything from hard drives and cdroms to LCD HDTV and this all happened in just a couple years really. I doubt that if they are positioning to take over for Pentax on the Digital Camera front that it will be very long at all. And if they do and maintain both the QA they themselves have built up lately and the quality reputation those of us that grew up with Pentax remember I will likely welcome them whole heartedly.

[séamuis]

where exactly are all these 'pentax is on its way out' feelings coming from? what evidence is there to warrant these rumors? pentax/hoya have made it very clear that the camera division is going nowhere but forward in the foreseeable future.

[wlachan]

Nothing can save Pentax if they keep having excuses for no keeping the AF performance on par with Canon & Nikon (doesn't even have to match their flagship models). IMHO, the AF issue alone is the most critical factor that caused the downfall of Pentax in the last 2 decades. The P-TTL protocol and ill-made AF-540FGZ need some thorough revisions as well. Feel free to disagree with me however.