[normhead]

I'm sure they have something, but I don't know how much of a plan they have

Exactly... you don't know. It could be a really detailed plan covering the next 50 years or a few notes on a napkin, yet you continue to speculate.

Norm: Interesting, good feedback/stories. I'm not that serious about doing the above. I imagine I could assemble a pretty competent kit for, say, $4k if I include my existing DA 15 and K-5 II. That's including a couple good flashes, a monopod, and a tripod.

I don't know that I'd really want to do the wedding thing though. And I can definitely understand someone only making his money from photography being very careful about the gear purchase process.

Honestly I'd like to get a bit more serious about the hobby and get more shooting gigs but I'm not putting much effort into that sort of thing right now. So shame on me.

When I was getting close to retiring, my daughter got married. It had been 15 years since I'd shot a wedding, and I just wondered if it could be a retirement project. I got permission from the hired help to act as a second shooter, follow him around etc. I got some really good images, and a clear understanding that, nothing has changed. I still don't want be a wedding photographer. It was tolerable only because it was for my daughter.

So that's what I'd recommend. Find a guy you can take along with and see if you think you'd enjoy being the boss. Wedding photographers are the self appointed bosses of weddings. You simply have to get the shots and nothing can be allowed to get in your way. Different photographers accomplish that different ways, some are dictators, some are manipulators, style doesn't matter much, you're doing a job and it has to get done.

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Last edited by normhead; 09-18-2017 at 08:27 AM.

[Rondec]

But we do know what the plan is: there's the lens roadmap, Ricoh's statements about forthcoming lenses, and the history of recent releases (which tend to show a bias toward delaying a launch rather than shipping crap on time).

The real issue is that the plan does not have hard release dates because even the top execs at Ricoh do not know when the design and manufacturing engineers will reach the desired performance/quality/cost targets for the products.

I do understand that. It is just understandable if folks were pretty excited on the release of the K-1 and have cooled in the intervening year and a half. The road map says they are working on certain projects. It just doesn't say when they will come to fruition and so far it has been slow going.

[Kunzite]

The D FA* 70-200 pretty much proves that estimates can't be accurate
We were told when they planned to release the D FA* 50mm f/1.4, though.

[normhead]

The D FA* 70-200 pretty much proves that estimates can't be accurate
We were told when they planned to release the D FA* 50mm f/1.4, though.

It also proves that they do get it done in the end.

[Kunzite]

Sure; I expect them to launch the lenses on the roadmap; and I expect news at CP+ about when.

[beholder3]

Someone mentioned being serious. If anyone claims to be serious he wont be spending his time in speculation threads. He wont wait for a future product.

Honestly it is only geeks (the majority) and fanboys who wait for any company to sell any product maybe sometime in the future.

If you need a new washing machine for your pro business (think hotel) then you go and buy what is out there. You do not hope Siemens/Bosch is going to produce a better one in two years.
And washing machines are much more serious than consumer photo toys even can get.

These speculation threads are the equivalent of tabloids. It's only that tabloid authors tend to know more about what they write. Including Loch Ness monsters.
And the tabloid articles tend to less concentrate on explaining how the author is a professional expert and knows exactly how all sea monsters on the world feel like.

Now, more popcorn to enjoy the show.

[normhead]

Honestly it is only geeks (the majority) and fanboys who wait for any company to sell any product maybe sometime in the future.

So , do you suppose their is going to be line ups at the Pentax store of people wanting to be the first to buy a DFA* 85 ƒ1.4 nicknamed the "Millhouse Nixon."

If you need a new washing machine for your pro business (think hotel) then you go and buy what is out there. You do not hope Siemens/Bosch is going to produce a better one in two years.
And washing machines are much more serious than consumer photo toys even can get.

Now you tell me, after my hotel chain went under.

These speculation threads are the equivalent of tabloids. It's only that tabloid authors tend to know more about what they write. Including Loch Ness monsters.
And the tabloid articles tend to less concentrate on explaining how the author is a professional expert and knows exactly how all sea monsters on the world feel like.

I read once that national Inquirer pays 10 scientists to use their names on anything they write. They all sit around on a friday night thinking of really bizarre stuff. Then when they publish it they wrote "10 scientists agree>" But the 10 Scientists never even saw the story. They just rented out their names.

Now, more popcorn to enjoy the show.

I usually save the popcorn until after dinner. There's no Blue Jays game tonight. this thread really has to pick it up a bit if I'm going to watch it instead of a movie.

Did you know, if you don't put butter on it, popcorn has only 90 calories for 4 cups? You can pig out and diet at the same time. 10 scientists agree.





.

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Last edited by normhead; 09-18-2017 at 10:20 AM.

[Rondec]

Someone mentioned being serious. If anyone claims to be serious he wont be spending his time in speculation threads. He wont wait for a future product.

Honestly it is only geeks (the majority) and fanboys who wait for any company to sell any product maybe sometime in the future.

If you need a new washing machine for your pro business (think hotel) then you go and buy what is out there. You do not hope Siemens/Bosch is going to produce a better one in two years.
And washing machines are much more serious than consumer photo toys even can get.

These speculation threads are the equivalent of tabloids. It's only that tabloid authors tend to know more about what they write. Including Loch Ness monsters.
And the tabloid articles tend to less concentrate on explaining how the author is a professional expert and knows exactly how all sea monsters on the world feel like.

Now, more popcorn to enjoy the show.

I suppose. I am a hobby-ist photographer even though my wife shoots professionally, but I still do take photos every day. For me, it isn't a necessity, but I enjoy photography and enjoy getting new lenses even if I probably have enough right now.

I probably do spend too much time on PF, but it is the main place to find fellow Pentax enthusiasts to encourage and stimulate in further photography. And I suppose the speculation threads have a way of luring me in...

[normhead]

I suppose. I am a hobby-ist photographer even though my wife shoots professionally, but I still do take photos every day. For me, it isn't a necessity, but I enjoy photography and enjoy getting new lenses even if I probably have enough right now.

I probably do spend too much time on PF, but it is the main place to find fellow Pentax enthusiasts to encourage and stimulate in further photography. And I suppose the speculation threads have a way of luring me in...

Ya me too. I hate these threads, but i just can't stay away. It's the train wreck thing. "Don't look, don't look, damn I looked." Every now and then a mod does me a favour and locks me out.

Usually I pout for a few minutes and then go do something that's actually interesting.

[Wheatfield]

I think one of the problems is that Pentax got way too far behind in the Hoya years; Canon and Nikon (the former especially) have a zillion lenses from el cheapos to super duper pro ones. One of the reasons Pentax was able to compete so well in medium format is that the competitors didn't have a super deep lens lineup, so Pentax was able to get in easily with an equivalent modest offering. A super expansive set is not what users of MF need or want and so their offering was more than sufficient to be attractive.

I think Pentax trying to be anything and everything is destined for failure, in part because of the lagging AF performance and/or FPS compared to Nikon and Canon (so things like sports are not going to be a Pentax specialty). More than anything, Pentax doesn't have the 3rd party support to make it a serious contender in event photography, especially when it comes to flash support. As a result, developing a lens lineup that plays to your camera's strengths is the best strategy. I think that means portraits and landscapes, mostly things that don't move. Studio strobes can work with anything and all that stuff gets set manually anyway, so x-TTL support is just unnecessary, greatly expanding the 3rd party offerings to be sufficient.

Things like consumer-grade zooms just aren't really going to do much for the K-1. Sure, they sell well with the crowd that just wants an FF to have it, but this crowd doesn't make much money because they buy the body and one or two lenses and that's it. Canon can have that guy and it's not a terribly big loss.

Actually, Pentax started falling behind in the 1980s. It was the falling behind that led to their inability to stay in business and got them sold.

[photoptimist]

I do understand that. It is just understandable if folks were pretty excited on the release of the K-1 and have cooled in the intervening year and a half. The road map says they are working on certain projects. It just doesn't say when they will come to fruition and so far it has been slow going.

Quite true!

If all Ricoh were doing was slapping new coatings & motors on old lenses, they might be able to post a more aggressive and certain timeline of releases.

Instead, they seem to be attempting to create signature lenses of a quality and performance level that befits the K-1, pixel shift, and the needs of more discerning photographers in an era where only discerning photographers buy standalone cameras.

But that creates a very frustrating condition in the internet era when everyone expects game-changer products on a monthly basis.

[normhead]

Quite true!

If all Ricoh were doing was slapping new coatings & motors on old lenses, they might be able to post a more aggressive and certain timeline of releases.

Instead, they seem to be attempting to create signature lenses of a quality and performance level that befits the K-1, pixel shift, and the needs of more discerning photographers in an era where only discerning photographers buy standalone cameras.

But that creates a very frustrating condition in the internet era when everyone expects game-changer products on a monthly basis.

To see the truth of this just look at the K-P. Despite what some claim , this is not the successor to a a K-x generation camera. We once bought a K-x from a guy who was clearly better suited to a smart phone. The K-P is a worthy successor to a K-3 in everything but frame rate and buffer depth. It actually improves low light performance over the flagship. The old entry level models are just gone, not to be replaced.

Pentax has pushed their entry level to over $1000 CAD, and who knows what the next high performance model will cost in at if it has a higher frame rate and deeper buffer, and better AF. Would $1500 CAD be a decent guess? (The K-P is $1100 CAD.)

The K-x cost us $549. That class of camera is just gone. Also the 28-105 for the K-1 cost us $700 CAD. That's a "kit lens" that costs more than my whole white K-x package, camera and lens.

Pentax is now only manufacturing "you can't do this with your phone" cameras and lenses. Canon and Nikon seem to have missed the wake up call.

[Kunzite]

Actually, Pentax started falling behind in the 1980s. It was the falling behind that led to their inability to stay in business and got them sold.

Falling behind, yes. About the "inability to stay in business", I'm not so sure - they were unable to resist a hostile takeover, and even that happened largely because one of their major shareholder.
And they didn't got sold.

[Rondec]

Falling behind, yes. About the "inability to stay in business", I'm not so sure - they were unable to resist a hostile takeover, and even that happened largely because one of their major shareholder.
And they didn't got sold.

We're going pretty far afield, but Pentax's medical division carried the camera division for quite awhile, but the medical division also was what made Hoya want to take them over.

Even in the pre-Hoya days, Pentax was pretty conservative -- slow to jump on auto focus, slow to go digital, and so on. They were more about glass and released a whole lot of really nice glass. Back in those days, there was a pretty steady release of upper end glass and people would definitely buy Pentax cameras for the lenses. I suppose they still do, but it doesn't feel as though they stand out in the same way.

[pres589]

I could see the K-3-3 or whatever going for about 25% more, per street pricing, over the KP. I think the K-70 is the enthusiast camera and the KP is the head turner, geeky thing, like the K-01 or K-S2, etc. I wish Pentax could easily start producing a few of the FA lenses again, like the 20-35 for K-1 owners or FA 20 and *24's for everybody's benefit.