[lesmore49]

The statement from Ricoh can mean all sorts of things, we don't know, at this point all is speculation. I fervently hope that it means that Ricoh will focus on the K mount DSLR and the MF lines, but.....

Are DSLR K mounts and MF...'consumer' lines or...?

Just makes me think, I chose to get a K-1 over a 5D111 a few months ago. Hmmmmnnn...well we will see over the next while what all this means. I hope for the best.

[monochrome]

Good to see.

I am also rather puzzled by this line in the original news article:



What does it mean? I am guessing this doesn't mean cameras in cars (dash cams etc), but is something related to the use of cameras and robots in the automotive production line? Or are they anticipating that stuff like self-driving cars are going to take-off, and will require lots of cameras (and lenses) in the near future?

50 billion yen in sales by 2020 is about $450m USD, so they seem to anticipate good business from that in only about 3 years. Very strange.

Automotive technology will change radically in the next model iteration. Backup cameras will project into rear view mirrors full-time, not the dash, for instance. Cameras will replace other external sensors that control lane drift alerts, protective braking, interactive Cruise Control that maintains safe distance, etc. Machine vision allows processing orders of magnitude more information than current distance-sensing tech. Machine vision is not limited to robotic manufacturing.

Vehicles 'talking to each other' and self-driving is two complete generations away (third model iteratio out, or 12-15 years).

[Not a Number]

Seems like we went through this with Nikon just a short while ago. Where's all the doom and gloom talk now?

Nikon Experiences 'Extraordinary Losses,' Will Restructure Company - PentaxForums.com

[nocturnal]

I never liked Ricoh anyway and never wanted the name of a photocopy machine company on my camera or lenses.

Long live Asahi Pentax 😁

[rawr]

Backup cameras will project into rear view mirrors full-time, not the dash, for instance. Cameras will replace other external sensors that control lane drift alerts, protective braking, interactive Cruise control that maintains safe distance, etc.

Ugh. And probably all running on Android and talking online. More stuff to go wrong and/or get hacked.

Either way, I think Ricoh are optimistic. Mobile phone grade cameras will be adequate for that category of use, and they will all come from China. Plus 2020 isn't that far away, and by their own admission Ricoh haven't even made any product yet in that category.

[OoKU]

今日の午後、リコー本体の新社長から中期の事業方針説明があるそうだ。そこで何らかの説明やq&a出てきて、正確な情報が分かるかと。前回のパナさんの記事でも、「事業部間の移管」を「事業部の解体」と、全く違う内容だったので、ともかく午後以降に出てくる正確な情報を待ちましょう

[RobA_Oz]

今日の午後、リコー本体の新社長から中期の事業方針説明があるそうだ。そこで何らかの説明やq&a出てきて、正確な情報が分かるかと。前回のパナさんの記事でも、「事業部間の移管」を「事業部の解体」と、全く違う内容だったので、ともかく午後以降に出てくる正確な情報を待ちましょう

Thanks for that clarification...

---------- Post added 12th Apr 2017 at 01:15 PM ----------

The statement from Ricoh can mean all sorts of things, we don't know, at this point all is speculation. I fervently hope that it means that Ricoh will focus on the K mount DSLR and the MF lines, but.....

Are DSLR K mounts and MF...'consumer' lines or...?

Just makes me think, I chose to get a K-1 over a 5D111 a few months ago. Hmmmmnnn...well we will see over the next while what all this means. I hope for the best.

"High value-adding product" could simply mean that there'll be an emphasis on the K-1 and 645 lines to provide a good return on investment. The pricing of lenses for those models supports that possibility.

[pakinjapan]

今日の午後、リコー本体の新社長から中期の事業方針説明があるそうだ。そこで何らかの説明やq&a出てきて、正確な情報が分かるかと。前回のパナさんの記事でも、「事業部間の移管」を「事業部の解体」と、全く違う内容だったので、ともかく午後以降に出てくる正確な情報を待ちましょう

cool, will wait.

[volosong]

Asahi Kogaku Goshi Kaisha in 1919 . . .

Asahi Optical Co., Ltd. in 1938 , , ,

Honeywell Corporation, (U.S. importer in 50's, 60's and 70's) . . .

Samsung in 2005 . . .

Hoya Corporation in 2008 . . .

RIcoh Imaging Company in 2011 . . .

. . . and still my choice in SLR/DSLR K-mount cameras survive. I fully expect it to continue to do so.

Looking forward in two and a half more years to the 100th anniversary of Pentax.

(Still . . . I may pick up a second K-1 body for a future backup, just in case. Lenses endure. I'm still using some M series glass from my first MX purchased in the mid 70's.)

[monochrome]

Ugh. And probably all running on Android and talking online. More stuff to go wrong and/or get hacked.

Either way, I think Ricoh are optimistic. Mobile phone grade cameras will be adequate for that category of use, and they will all come from China. Plus 2020 isn't that far away, and by their own admission Ricoh haven't even made any product yet in that category.

I had earlier commented (and deleted) that NA light vehicle sales peaked for this cycle in 3Q2017. We're entering a tough (comparative) year for US auto sales, so Ricoh could have timed this decision better (I wrote).

OTOH Toyota is investing $1.3B in their KY Plant that makes 500,000 vehicles a year, mostly Camrys, to set up for the next iteration. The next Camry, for 2018 model year, will have more machine vision, but it is just a start. Too late, but I imagine Ricoh thinks they'll step into the current round of component bidding for models scheduled for 2020. At 75,000,000 light vehicles a year manufactured globally they don't need a huge share of the market, and they may be extending Theta tech. IIRC the PF interview inferred B2B has taken some of the Theta development projects away from Imaging. Hmmmmmmm.

[volosong]

今日の午後、リコー本体の新社長から中期の事業方針説明があるそうだ。そこで何らかの説明やq&a出てきて、正確な情報が分かるかと。前回のパナさんの記事でも、「事業部間の移管」を「事業部の解体」と、全く違う内容だったので、ともかく午後以降に出てくる正確な情報を待ちましょう

From translate.google.com

This afternoon, the new president of the Ricoh main body seems to have a medium-term business policy explanation. So I got some explanation and q & a, so I knew accurate information. In Pana 's article in the last time, wait for accurate information coming out after the afternoon anyway because it was completely different contents of "transfer between business divisions" to "division of business division"

[monochrome]

From translate.google.com

Google is a unique and indecipherable dialect.

[bwgv001]

I guess people just guess from the sale of K1 only. I will listen to the news more than what people say.
this is Ricoh Japan stock out look. check out the 5 years chart and see the drop in 2016 and it stay there until today. that pretty much support the news.
7752:Tokyo Stock Quote - Ricoh Co Ltd - Bloomberg Markets

but if you add other camera makers like Nikon, Canon, Fuji Ricoh is not doing worse. I would say Canon and Nikon do worse.

[Daikokuya]

This is official: Ricoh scales down Pentax.

????????????????????????????? (in Japanese)

Ricoh is planning to narrow down Pentax lineups, Yamashita CEO says.

[kiwi_jono]

I'm surprised DP Review not yet run with the speculation - and it is just that so far.

Assuming, for a moment, that this will not impact Pentax DSLRs, they better get the message straight quickly or they will lose significant sales over this.