[Shakey]

Interesting regarding the effect on buying behavior that something like this can cause. Someone pointed out that people would suddenly stop buying Pentax. I have to admit I was in serious consideration mode of buying the 150-450 and that article made me stop thinking about it immediately. I hope they start marketing themselves in a much more purposeful way to show they are committed and attract a stronger following.
They have great products so tell people about them.

[pres589]

I assume something was cancelled to create means of production that were underutilized. What's the state of Q now?

[normhead]

Interesting regarding the effect on buying behavior that something like this can cause. Someone pointed out that people would suddenly stop buying Pentax. I have to admit I was in serious consideration mode of buying the 150-450 and that article made me stop thinking about it immediately. I hope they start marketing themselves in a much more purposeful way to show they are committed and attract a stronger following.
They have great products so tell people about them.

I was the opposite. I was thinking of scraping together funds for a 15-30. It's not the lens I want, I want something 3,5-4.5 and much more portable, but if they are going to scale back, I'd want the 15-30 before they go under.

[gm4life]

A little bit of wrong and false news, and the world collapses for some people..haha!

Ricoh/Pentax are here to stay! I just renewed my contract with them..And its a LONG term one

Good! I am just not expecting stuff at firesale prices!

[normhead]

A little bit of wrong and false news, and the world collapses for some people..haha!

Ricoh/Pentax are here to stay! I just renewed my contract with them..And its a LONG term one

Congrats kenspo,

[clackers]

. I have to admit I was in serious consideration mode of buying the 150-450 and that article made me stop thinking about it immediately. .

Scuttlebutt's insidious, isn't it?

[Daikokuya]

Well, I know another article which quotes Ricoh CEO Yamashita's comments today on the future of camera business. It's not so bright. Here it is.

????????????????19?????????????

I'd translate if you want. I'm not spreading fake news. I think this is important for Pentax users. If you want to complain, say it to Ricoh.

[GlassJunkie]

I know that most will yawn or throw shoes at their monitors over my post, but having worked in Japan for years, I have a certain take on the Initial release the clarification releases, and Ricoh Pentax' behavior over the past 3 years. THis is how I read the tea leaves on this round of news/fake news.

Predictions: The K mount DFA Lenses will come and will be higher on the quality spectrum than anything that we saw under HOYA. Remember the CEO's comments 2 years ago about reducing bottom end cameras AND entering/expanding the upper end of the DSLR market to the professional tool level. (since: 645Z, 645Z to 100mp coming, K-1, KP (makes total sense now), K3-xxx imminent. Flashes changing, high end glass coming.

Pentax is going to be positioned increasingly in Japan, like Leica is in its space. They (RP) are simply doing what they said they will do.

WG is dead, Ricoh branded compacts are dead, WG-M2 is likely dead unless they can pass Hero 5 specs with only one iteration (and keep ruggedization) and successfully position as a "professional's model. Theta will grow, and already could provide game changing automotive and military technology component platforms. Possible police body-cams also, with wider FOV.

Pentax will (even with alliances like Tamron), produce better glass than the market mean, sigma remains unimportant. Ever see a Siggy on a Leica?

Watch for continued cooperation with Cactus, METZ, Arca plate manufacturers, Fotodiox, Battery grip sub-cmponent makers) wildlife photo accessory firms. Another of the CEO's several years ago comments (verified by R&D) was a push to be the best choice for outdoor/ wildlife DSLRs.

MILC (unless APSc far better than 16mp) with an EVF, is not likely. FF more unlikely.

I still believe a bigger deal is to be had with RP investing in LEICA. Leica has all of the HVA characteristics that RP needs/wants, Panasonic has no mainstream DSLR (other than M43) play, and no interest in building one. M 4/3 has commodized the cheap sensor (sub APSc/FF) space.

Also I repeat the dirty little secret that SONY rarely discussed, but has underscored by it's actions... It makes cameras as advocacy products for sensor market demonstration. Their per-unit losses on photographic platforms are large.

Man is this fun. RP is just getting started.....IMHO

[normhead]

Well, I know another article which quotes Ricoh CEO Yamashita's comments today on the future of camera business. It's not so bright. Here it is.

????????????????19?????????????

I'd translate if you want. I'm not spreading fake news. I think this is important for Pentax users. If you want to complain, say it to Ricoh.

How about 3 or 4 bullet points? you don't have to translate the whole article, but something more than "It's not so bright." would be appreciated.

[boriscleto]

How about 3 or 4 bullet points? you don't have to translate the whole article, but something more than "It's not so bright." would be appreciated.

Why not just

• Pentax is Dooomed™

?

[GlassJunkie]

How about 3 or 4 bullet points? you don't have to translate the whole article, but something more than "It's not so bright." would be appreciated.

Google Translate:
Ricoh aims to avoid the deficit by structural reform Mid-2007 2017/4/12 12: 39


Ricoh announced its medium-term management plan to announce operating income of more than 100 billion yen in FY 2019 on the 12th. Yoshinori President Yoshinori Yamashita at a press conference held in Tokyo on 12th talks about the sense of a sense of crisis that "in this fiscal year it will be a loss of tens of billion yen", reorganizing unprofitable business such as camera business and reorganizing sales structure And explained the structural reform plan.


Ricoh's operating profit for FY 2004 is expected to be 30 billion yen. In the office equipment business, which Ricoh is the mainstay, the market expansion has slowed down and the tough situation continues due to intensified competition with other companies in the same industry. As a result, the company predicts that operating profit will be reduced by several tens of billion yen in the future.
In order to avoid the deficit, we also intensified structural reforms intensively during FY 2005, and decided to achieve cost reduction of 100 billion yen in FY 2007. The cost of structural reform is assumed to be 450 to 50 billion yen.
Ricoh is competing with Canon, etc. for the top in global market share, but President Yamashita intends to change its strategy from the pursuit of scale. "We are prepared for a decline in sales," he said. In North America, we are reducing the number of 1,300 people and promoting the efficiency of sales networks.


For camera business in which the deficit continues, we will discover demand for enterprises such as "Theta" which can shoot 360 degree images. However, with regard to consumer cameras deployed in Pentax brands etc., we have denied withdrawal at the moment.
President Yamashita said that it will narrow down the model of the camera. For businesses other than the foundation including cameras, "we are beginning to consider what we really should do," said the policy to proceed with arrangement in the next three years. Regarding the reorganization and organization of the camera business industry, he said, "We recognize it as a challenge to be considered."
Ricoh has not achieved its performance targets for the fourth consecutive term. In FY 2004, we revised down our performance targets four times. In retrospecting this situation, President Yamashita said that he will undertake fundamental reforms, including "relying on self-denial and breaking away from past management" and reviewing the management structure. As the market environment remains severe, the extent to which structural reforms can be promoted in the past year is likely to determine the continuation of Ricoh in the future.


I like this....

[Franc]

i stopped reading after i saw that Ron was at it again

[beholder3]

How about 3 or 4 bullet points?

The only relevant part is in line with their published statement, which proves the initial blog article and the opening post here a lie:

For the camera business in which the deficit continues, we will discover demand for enterprises such as the "Theta" camera that can shoot 360-degree images. However, with regard to consumer cameras deployed in Pentax brands etc., we have denied withdrawal at the moment. President Yamashita said that it will narrow down the model of the camera.

Google Übersetzer

RICOH is focusing its resource on the high added value products such as PENTAX and GR that are appreciated by the existing users and photo hobbyists. RICOH is also a market leader of input deviceｓ in the VR or AR market with its "RICOH THETA" where we can see rapid growth, and will keep on expanding the business even more in this field.

[Erictator]

I was the opposite. I was thinking of scraping together funds for a 15-30. It's not the lens I want, I want something 3,5-4.5 and much more portable, but if they are going to scale back, I'd want the 15-30 before they go under.

Heh, almost read my mind... I was planning on watching the classifieds closely for fire sales by those panic'ed enough to jump ship because of a bit of poorly stated and badly translated news.
Eric

[normhead]

However, with regard to consumer cameras deployed in Pentax brands etc., we have denied withdrawal at the moment.

That's all we need know. A sure sign Pentax is holding it's own.
Let the prognosticators make their predictions and wail and gnash their teeth.