[Kunzite]

Ouch! No wonder the figures grew Sorry about that, and thank you for pointing it out.

I'm trying to compare consecutive quarters, instead of comparing with the same period a year before; because the 2016 was the K-1 year. And we have a "reduction in line-up" we know nothing about, but it's supposed to be a significant factor.
So we have (please correct me if I'm wrong... again):
Q1: 4.3 billion yen
Q2: 5.3 billion yen (9.6-4.3)
Q3: 5.3 billion yen (14.9-9.6)

---

Last edited by Kunzite; 02-01-2018 at 04:06 AM.

[Mistral75]

Yep, this is it. By the way, these figures were in my former post

[Kunzite]

I'm not good at reading everything today...

[Saltwater Images]

We are now over a year removed from the K-1's release date. It certainly has slowing sales and we are due for some upper end glass release as well as a K3 II replacement. If that made a splash, they could still have a nice fall/winter. The biggest concern is the slow pace. There was certainly a time when it seemed like Ricoh was making a new announcement every three months or so. Not so much now. We have ideas about what is coming, but it certainly doesn't seem to be arriving very fast.

I have been waiting to upgrade my aging K-5II for the past year. The K-3II is long in the tooth and l’d like a KP sensor with dual card slots and a K-3 size buffer. The lack of an APS-C flagship upgrade is impacting sales. The money the Chief Household Officer (my lovely wife) let me tuck aside for a new camera last fall - was spent on a trip instead....Instead of Ricoh capturing more of my share of wallet in 2017: Air Canada Vacations got the money that had been set aside for Pentax. I suspect there are more of us in the same boat...

[Kunzite]

The presentation is online (but it doesn't offer more information):
http://www.ricoh.com/IR/data/pre/pdf/h30q3_qa.pdf

There's an Investor Meeting presentation, too; mostly about printing, though Smart Vision is (barely) mentioned.
http://www.ricoh.com/IR/data/pre/pdf/ir_pre2018.pdf

[RonHendriks1966]

Smart Vision sales were down amid a lineup pare down.

Well that is probably ending of production of K-3ii and K-S2. Who knows maybe next to the trimmed down lineup is the K-1.

[MMVIII]

Yes, who knows... still interesting who still tells despite this...

[Kunzite]

You couldn't resist not to put a negative spin on it...
The K-S2 was replaced by the K-70. The K-3 was recently discontinued, but it's still available on some areas.
Regardless, no Pentax camera (not even 2 of them) can account for the significant decrease in sales in Smart Vision - of 44.9%. Unless you think they'd purposely remove the best sellers and keep the worst? That strategy would be on the same level as putting the K-1 on hold instead of releasing it.
So IMHO the answer lies elsewhere. Smart Vision, after all, is not just Ricoh Imaging, not only consumer cameras.

[Mistral75]

It's interesting to compare the results published by Ricoh on February 1st to those published by Fujifilm on January 31st since, as far as cameras and lenses are concerned, the two players are often compared (2nd tier players, emphasis on WR, small, high-end lenses, MF offering and more).

Let's have a look at this document: Earnings of FY2018/3 3Q - FUJIFILM Holdings Corporation, in particular pages 20 and 21.

What is of direct interest to us is the part of their Imaging Solutions segment named Electronic Imaging business: the Fujifilm X cameras (including the medium format GFX) and their lenses. There are two other businesses within their Imaging Solutions segment: Photo Imaging (films, papers, on-demand photograph printing solutions and above all the Instax ecosystem) and Optical Devices (industrial, cinema and video lenses) but they have no direct correspondences within the Ricoh Imaging portfolio.

The 9-month sales (April-December) of the Electronic Imaging business went from ¥48.7bn in 2016 to ¥68.3bn in 2017, i.e. a 40,3% increase.

Compared to the sales of Ricoh's Smart Vision business, Fujifilm's Electronic Imaging business went from 2.4x bigger in 2016 to 4.6x bigger in 2017.



---------- Post added 02-07-2018 at 03:59 PM ----------

(...)Smart Vision, after all, is not just Ricoh Imaging, not only consumer cameras.

???

Apart from Pentax cameras and lenses, Ricoh Theta, Ricoh GR, Ricoh WG and Ricoh-branded rugged compact cameras, what else do you think is included within Smart Vision?

[Kunzite]

Smart Vision contains "Digital and industrial cameras". Maybe the G800 series would fit, but I'm not assuming that is all.

[Mistral75]

In any case, the explanation put forward by Ricoh to explain the significant decrease in sales in Smart Vision is "Digital camera sales declined due to the reduction of lineup" (emphasis is mine).

In addition (i) "vehicular stereo cameras" are referred to as being part of "Industrial Products" and (ii) Smart Vision is small enough as it is to not suppose that there is anything significant included in Smart Vision in addition to Pentax cameras and lenses, Ricoh Theta, Ricoh GR, Ricoh WG and Ricoh-branded rugged compact cameras.

[Kunzite]

Smart Vision must include industrial cameras not included into Industrial Products. I already suggested the G800 series...

OK, then which Ricoh Imaging products could be responsible for a 40% decrease in sales?

[Chris Mak]

I have been waiting to upgrade my aging K-5II for the past year. The K-3II is long in the tooth and l’d like a KP sensor with dual card slots and a K-3 size buffer. The lack of an APS-C flagship upgrade is impacting sales. The money the Chief Household Officer (my lovely wife) let me tuck aside for a new camera last fall - was spent on a trip instead....Instead of Ricoh capturing more of my share of wallet in 2017: Air Canada Vacations got the money that had been set aside for Pentax. I suspect there are more of us in the same boat...

Some are waiting, some are leaving, some have left....
Had the K3 been an unbeatable timeless camera, the long wait for a successor would not have had much of a negative impact, but the truth is, based on my own experience, that the K3 has a buggy processor (lock-ups, mirror flopping, suffers a performance hit at AF level (let alone AF-C) with other than a fully charged battery), and has not so good high iso performance. And ultimately, the AF module is not precise enough for more advanced uses.
So with the D500 around the K3 has a bit of a hard task keeping Pentax APS-C shooters around.
I will buy a K3 successor on the spot, if it comes out before summer, but after that I'm not sure. There's the D500 you know... The K3 successor may be good enough for my purposes, but it will have to materialize, and if that is not working out...

Chris

[UncleVanya]

... but the truth is, based on my own experience, that the K3 has a buggy processor (lock-ups, mirror flopping, suffers a performance hit at AF level (let alone AF-C) with other than a fully charged battery), and has not so good high iso performance. And ultimately, the AF module is not precise enough for more advanced uses.

So with the D500 around the K3 has a bit of a hard task keeping Pentax APS-C shooters around.

Chris

First, anecdotal evidence is really hard to analyze in a meaningful way. I've had two k-3's. Both at the same time for a while, then I sold one off. Both never had any buggy problems like you mention. High iso has been fine, but that's very subjective.

Second, as an apsc shooter, what lenses would I use on my Nikon D500 that compare to the lineup of apsc specific lenses offered by Pentax? What replaces my 50-135? My DA 15? The d500 is also very pricey... As much or more than the K-1.

[RonHendriks1966]

OK, then which Ricoh Imaging products could be responsible for a 40% decrease in sales?

Well you said yourself that the K-1 was the big seller in 2016! So do the math.