[kenspo]

Alice Cooper from earlier this evening. Mark II with 16-50mm F/2.8

Attached Images

 

[Kunzite]

I, personally, would not benefit directly if Ricoh/Pentax would start an aggressive marketing campaign. And I can buy what I wish - as long as I have the money - from a brick-and-mortar store. No chance I would quit Pentax, unless things would become much worse (and they won't, IMHO).

However, Pentax should strengthen their position, and perhaps JimmyDranox' idea should be pursued. Adam is on the wrong continent, perhaps Kenspo can help - hopefully we can convince Pentax Europe of the need to better support their distributors and find solutions to raise brand awareness.

[kenspo]

Pentax Europe is aware. Be shure of that! Will follow up on that one with them!

[JinDesu]

Alice Cooper from earlier this evening. Mark II with 16-50mm F/2.8

Man, you do magic with your camera, Ken!

[jatrax]

Alice Cooper from earlier this evening. Mark II with 16-50mm F/2.8

Kenspo, that is a great picture. You must have a nice camera..............

[kenspo]

Man, you do magic with your camera, Ken!

Thank you very much The people beside me in the photopit, stand there with their big full frames..and dont get anything better They laughed at me the first concerts with Pentax. They dont laugh anymore now

---------- Post added 07-01-15 at 10:52 PM ----------

Kenspo, that is a great picture. You must have a nice camera..............

That i have sir!!

[Kunzite]

At times I'm talking with our local distributor, it's enlightening to know both sides of the story Some might disagree, but I don't see a better replacement (definitely not those companies where Pentax would be a 2nd, or even nth priority brand). I trust them. They just need bold-ish plans and the means to implement those
I do see issues, unfortunately no obvious solution Part of it it's the products, misplaced or too expensive - K-S1 comes to mind (I still find it a competent nice little camera, by the way). Part of it it's the service - nowhere near the old Breda office, people say. And, of course, advertising - which Romanian enthusiasts are impervious to.

I really hope Pentax Europe is aware, and working on improving things. I'll support them the only way I can - by occasionally buying their products and reminding people that Pentax still exists and is making excellent products.

P.S. Alice Cooper - 67 and going strong

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Last edited by Kunzite; 07-01-2015 at 02:11 PM.

[Biro]

My Pentax stuff still does what I want bought it to do, and will for a long time to come. Why would I sell it?
Ricoh/Pentax may be doomed, with it's current offerings I'm on the positive side If it's not dead yet, nothing they've done in the last two years is going to kill it. I buy stuff to use it, not to sell it. It's not that kind of investment.

Of course, our Pentax stuff still does what we want it to do. That's never been an issue for most of us. The question is if Ricoh is going to allow the business to slip away, then why not sell the gear now when one can get something for it? Mind you, I'm not saying I'm doing that - only that that the kind of episode Ron related to us makes me think about it. But one thing is for sure: Ricoh is currently running Pentax as a hobby business. Perhaps that will change. But they're taking their sweet time with it.

[Kunzite]

Adding a new FF product line would make a really weird way of letting the business to slip away...

[jatrax]

The question is if Ricoh is going to allow the business to slip away, then why not sell the gear now when one can get something for it? Mind you, I'm not saying I'm doing that - only that that the kind of episode Ron related to us makes me think about it. But one thing is for sure: Ricoh is currently running Pentax as a hobby business. Perhaps that will change. But they're taking their sweet time with it.

Man, what happened to all the enthusiasm on this forum? One comment about an event that Ricoh mishandled and we go from "FF coming soon, yeah" to "business slipping away"

And "hobby business" comments simply show no concept of reality. No major corporation is going to run a division as a "hobby". Whose hobby is it? The CEO? Sorry, no. They are running it to make money.

Adding a new FF product line would make a really weird way of letting the business to slip away...

Yeah, FF camera coming and two new FF, professional level lenses shown. More on the lens road map. Innovative cameras (whether we like them or not) released. Just slipping away.....

[JPT]

Saying that cameras are a "hobby business" for Ricoh has never made sense to me. If they just wanted to maintain a token presence in cameras, they didn't need to buy Pentax for that. They could have just kept making GXRs and GRs. When they bought Pentax, it was a significant commitment that they'll want to see results from sooner or later.

B&M camera stores are closing all over the world. The only ones that do well are the ones that also have a good web presence. I just don't think it makes sense for Ricoh to spend gross amounts of money chasing a distribution channel that isn't that important any more.

[reh321]

B&M camera stores are closing all over the world. The only ones that do well are the ones that also have a good web presence. I just don't think it makes sense for Ricoh to spend gross amounts of money chasing a distribution channel that isn't that important any more.

I guess the response to that depends on what is involved in "chasing". A current problem for a lot of those stores is the people who come in and become familiar with a camera there, but buy on-line; that is bad for the store but fine for the camera company. Right now, Pentax is almost invisible in that setting; by that I mean that almost any store I go into has Canon and Nikon, and some have Sony, but someone who is unfamiliar with Pentax will remain unfamiliar. Ricoh needs some way of getting people familiar with the name Pentax again.

[Nicolas06]

Of course, our Pentax stuff still does what we want it to do. That's never been an issue for most of us. The question is if Ricoh is going to allow the business to slip away, then why not sell the gear now when one can get something for it? Mind you, I'm not saying I'm doing that - only that that the kind of episode Ron related to us makes me think about it. But one thing is for sure: Ricoh is currently running Pentax as a hobby business. Perhaps that will change. But they're taking their sweet time with it.

Man you don't own camera gear to earn money, but to use it. If you sell because blahblahblah but you are less comfortable with your new gear or you had to put more money into the system to get back the equivalent then you have just made a bad trade.

If Pentax is loosing value, it is the best time to buy stuff at a bargain and get more gear for less.

The guys that make money selling cameras and lenses are merchants, not photographers. And they don't care the brand, they just add a margin on everything they re-sell in exange for brick and mortar access or a working online website and fast delivery... And managing the return, falty units and so on.

[jbinpg]

Ken - Is that Gene Simmonds on bass behind Alice Cooper?

[normhead]

I saw Alice cooper 40 years ago at the Exhibition Grounds. He was the warm up band for Moby Grape. He threw a dead chicken that landed beside me. Two teeny boppers beside me were totally grossed out. So, my question is, is the guy still abusing dead livestock?