Originally posted by Tan68 + since this thread is, or may be, no longer safe for work : Kodak is like a traveling companion for hire while Pentax is the brand to take home to meet the parents. It just aint right to use the same descriptor for both Kodak & Pentax :^|
So what you're saying is that Kodak is a hooker where Pentax is just a golddigger engaged in serial monogamous relationships?
Please, everybody, get some sense of relevance and proportionality into this discussion. I have used Pentax cameras for nearly 45 years, the last 12 of which spent on the digital side. I have (and still do) owned other cameras as well. This is not about being precious about whether a nameplate indicates a company, brand, division or anything else. Just like with cars, one just uses the brand that happens to fit one's requirements at any given time, rethinking the whole thing the next time a purchase comes in sight.
I loved Saab when they were still an independent Swedish car manufacturer, they even kept making decent cars when the brand was sold off to GM and following that, to an independent entrepreneur who eventually ran it into the ground. No earth-shakes resulted, the world just shrugged and continued doing what it does best. Not saying Pentax is like Saab but the overall similarities do exist.
Even one of my previous employers got delisted from the Dow Jones, a company which stood at the basis of that very index and had been a major industrial force for over 120 years, now selling off divisions like crazy.
Nothing lasts forever and life goes on...