[cali92rs]

And just to pile on:
RICOH RANKS NUMBER ONE IN U.S. COPIER MARKET

If you want to break out old marketing materials from a company's own website here is a newer one than the one you quoted:
http://usa.canon.com/CUSA/assets/app/html/market_share/Canon_2013_MktShare_Brochure.pdf

But regardless i probably will never buy a copier...but I will buy a camera.
And it will be harder and harder to justify buying a Pentax when even Pentax supports admit that their products are very much geard toward asian consumers.

[ChristianRock]

cali92rs - According to your signature you don't even use digital cameras. What are you trying to accomplish here?

[RonHendriks1966]

The K-30 was introduced June, 2012 at $899 with the kit zoom.

The K-50, which was essentially a K-30 in a new wrapper, debuted at $779 with kit zoom one year later.

The K-S1 launched at $799 with kit zoom, $100 less than the K-30, $20 more than the K-50 - but new sensor, new image processor, new AF, new IBIS, etc

In the way our economy is working now I think that they should start lower, $699 at max. The current startprice overhere for 699 euro is to hi I think. If they wanted to put the camera in that pricerange they shoukld have put some more futures from the K-3 inside (metering and AF).

[cali92rs]

cali92rs - According to your signature you don't even use digital cameras. What are you trying to accomplish here?

I update my signature once every other year.
What am i trying to accomplish?
Oh you know, solve world hunger, end wars and poverty etc.

Or just kill time and talk about cameras. And yourself? Here to defend a giant corporation that doesn't need our help?

[ChristianRock]

I update my signature once every other year.
What am i trying to accomplish?
Oh you know, solve world hunger, end wars and poverty etc.

Or just kill time and talk about cameras. And yourself? Here to defend a giant corporation that doesn't need our help?

What does class warfare have to do with anything?

I'm here obviously wasting my time thinking this is a nice forum for people who like to shoot with Pentax cameras and share their love for photography.

[cali92rs]

What does class warfare have to do with anything?

I'm here obviously wasting my time thinking this is a nice forum for people who like to shoot with Pentax cameras and share their love for photography.

The "ending world hunger" part was sarcasm.

I like Pentax, and I like the people here...that does not mean I agree with the direction Ricoh is taking.

---------- Post added 10-02-14 at 01:04 PM ----------

Either way, it makes your comment that "their business machines don't have a large presence in the U.S." look more than a little foolish.

Congrats, you win a gold star...you managed to debunk one throwaway sentence which I already mentioned wasn't a big deal.
A Ricoh copier can be in every office in America, that does not mean that you can walk into any Camera store, Target, Best Buy etc and actually buy a Pentax camera. Or if I turn on a T.V or read a newspaper that I will find an advertisement for a Pentax camera.

[monochrome]

that does not mean that you can walk into any Camera store, Target, Best Buy etc and actually buy a Pentax camera. Or if I turn on a T.V or read a newspaper that I will find an advertisement for a Pentax camera.

Uhmmm - we already have two or three camera companies that meet that need. Do we really need another?* There are 2.5MM people in the St. Louis Metro area - not much by most standards. There are two Subaru dealers here. Thankfully one is them minutes from my house - but if I lived in the suburbs where all the soccer moms live it would be 45 minutes just to see one, much less buy it or to get dealer service.

I don't shake my fist at Fuji Heavy Industries every time I see the brand sales rankings.



*Right now they can't do it whether we need another or not.

---

Last edited by monochrome; 10-02-2014 at 01:33 PM.

[ChristianRock]

The "ending world hunger" part was sarcasm.

I like Pentax, and I like the people here...that does not mean I agree with the direction Ricoh is taking.

---------- Post added 10-02-14 at 01:04 PM ----------



Congrats, you win a gold star...you managed to debunk one throwaway sentence which I already mentioned wasn't a big deal.
A Ricoh copier can be in every office in America, that does not mean that you can walk into any Camera store, Target, Best Buy etc and actually buy a Pentax camera. Or if I turn on a T.V or read a newspaper that I will find an advertisement for a Pentax camera.

Attention seeker. You just keep changing your story to throw stones at Pentax, and when proven wrong, say "it's not a big deal anyway". That, sir, is the definition of a troll.

We get it, you like your XT-1 better than the K-5IIs that you sold. Wait, that things costs more than a K-3? And it doesn't even have a mirror?? And it's only 16MP??? What a ripoff.

[cali92rs]

Attention seeker. You just keep changing your story to throw stones at Pentax, and when proven wrong, say "it's not a big deal anyway". That, sir, is the definition of a troll.

We get it, you like your XT-1 better than the K-5IIs that you sold. Wait, that things costs more than a K-3? And it doesn't even have a mirror?? And it's only 16MP??? What a ripoff.

Attention seeker?? You can ignore me if you would like...really doesn't matter to me. Besides the whole copier thing, where was I wrong?

I don't think the X-T1 is a better camera than the K-5iis, and never said so. I like Fuji lenses, but there are plenty of things I dislike about Fuji.
The difference is, I don't care if you trash Fuji, Pentax, Chevy, Samsung or any other brand I happen to own.
Instead of calling others trolls, maybe you should ask yourself if it is worth getting upset over someone disparaging a corporation that has never sent you a penny for sticking up for them.

[ChristianRock]

I'm not defending Ricoh. I don't think anyone here is.

I'm just sick of that negativity and hijacking of the thread.

[JPT]

I really don't get this Asian versus Western thing. We've even had people on here saying that 28mm is an "Asian" focal length. People use their cameras in more or less the same way, regardless of where they are.

What surprises me is that there is such a lack of interest in photography in the USA in particular. The CIPA figures over the last 10 or so years show that US market going down from about 38% to about 24%, with Asia picking up the slack and Europe more or less stable (as proportions). If it is really true that there's no longer a market for $800 DSLRs in the USA, is it really worth Ricoh or anyone else expending much effort on it, because it's a relatively expensive place to put resources into. It's just a place to dump old stock.

I can only speak for Japan, but there is still a big market for entry DSLRs here. A lot of this is young couples when they have a kid. They'll just go into the shop and buy the camera that appeals to them. I think this is where the K-S1 will pick up sales. Pricing things to low in Japan will lead to suspicion that there is something wrong with the product. There's a reason why the K-500 was never introduced here.

And I think you'll see a cheaper model with K-3 tech soon. The K-50 is due for renewal and Ricoh made clear that the K-S1 is not part of the same line of products.

[ElJamoquio]

Shipments to North America of digital ILC's grew from 950k in 2004 to over 4,000k in 2013.

I dunno, maybe market share went down in between there, but the economy in the USA tanked as well. 2004 was about the peak of the curve.

[JPT]

It's a report published this February on the CIPA site that I'm referring to. Sorry, don't have time to find the link now.

[RonHendriks1966]

Shipments to North America of digital ILC's grew from 950k in 2004 to over 4,000k in 2013.

I dunno, maybe market share went down in between there, but the economy in the USA tanked as well. 2004 was about the peak of the curve.

It's a report published this February on the CIPA site that I'm referring to. Sorry, don't have time to find the link now.

I got this one:

http://www.cipa.jp/stats/documents/common/cr300.pdf

[JPT]

This is the one I was talking about.

http://www.cipa.jp/stats/documents/common/cr1000.pdf

See slide III-4 for the share of ILCs. Actually, my memory about the numbers was wrong - it was 42% down to 23%.It shows a steady shift in the balance across the years. Of course, it is natural that developing countries will gain share against developed, but what surprises me is how the Japan and European market have held up so much better than North America. It strikes me it can't be about poverty, because North America is every bit as wealthy as other regions, and probably more so. I can only conclude it is something to do with the level of interest in photography.