[subsea]

I went to the PhotoPlus Expo 2018 in NYC today and spoke to the Ricoh/Pentax reps, among others. I've got a few pictures from the show, as well. First impressions were that the show was relatively crowded. Needless to say, the biggest exhibitors were Nikon, Canon and Sony, with Olympus and Fuji close behind. The Ricoh/Pentax space was tiny in comparison to the big three, being only about 10-15% of the space of each of the others. The big three exhibits were mobbed; standing room only. Pentax seemed to have a steady stream of visitors, but one or two at a time. The only time that Pentax seemed to have a higher number of visitors was when one of the reps was making a presentation and people passing by would stop to hear what was being said. The presentations were drastically different. The big three all had models on stage with the presenter taking and showing images as they were taken. Visitors were allowed to use the demo cameras and take their own pictures, or even use their own cameras with their favorite settings for comparison. Olympus has been pushing their cameras for avian photography for a while and, in that vein, their model was a large bird of prey! Olympus was demonstrating their ability to focus on the bird's eyes as a highlight of their camera's capabilities.

Even B&H had a huge exhibit and they were busy making sales. I didn't notice much in the way of Pentax in the B & H exhibit, although to be fair, I didn't spend a lot of time (or money!) there. Directly across the aisle from Ricoh/Pentax was the ON1 booth, which was about the same size. They were busy pushing ON1 RAW 2019 by demoing some of its new capabilities and were taking pre-orders for it.

I spoke to the Pentax reps (there were 5 of them) and commented on the fact that their space was dwarfed by the displays of the other DSLR and MILC manufacturers. The response was that they didn't have the advertising resources the others have, which no one here should be surprised about. I specifically asked about a flagship APS-C DSLR to replace the K-3II and, unsurprisingly, didn't get much of a response. The rep did say that there are no plans to exit the APS-C domain, but he didn't have any information that he was willing or able to share regarding a follow-on. I commented to them about all of the angst on this forum about a K-3II follow-on and the rep said that he knows. He reads the posts on the forum, but doesn't/can't respond. One of the most interesting things to me was that he handed me a new Pentax brochure for K-mount Lenses and Accessories. The printing date for the brochure is October 2018, so it's hot off the presses. I've included a picture of the cover in this post.

I mentioned that ON1 was across the aisle from Ricoh/Pentax and I went over to ask them a few questions about some capabilities I felt were missing. First among them was the ability to handle Pixel Shift files. I ended up speaking to their Director of Engineering about it. He admitted that they hadn't done anything about it but also said that they are seeing more requests for it now that other companies are putting the capability into their cameras. He didn't realize that the K-1II allows hand-held pixel shift shots to be made. When I told him, he commented that the new capability may lead to additional requests for it. I'd recommend that anyone on the forum, who hasn't already done it, and uses ON1 and might be interested in using this capability on a K-1II go up to the ON1 web site and support the request for it. He said that he may look into it some more, but additional requests for it might boost his interest.

Now for the pictures. The first two show the Pentax side of the booth, with a surprising number of lenses on display. In the foreground of the first picture you can see a K-1II, with one of the new 50mm lenses on it, displayed under some running water to highlight the Pentax weather resistance. The second picture highlights all of the lenses. The third image shows the extent of the demonstration area at the back of the booth. There were about 5 rows of chairs available for viewers behind me. The fourth image shows the GR/Theta portion of the display, which was on the other side of the wall holding the lenses. The last image is the cover of the new lens and accessory brochure. Unfortunately, the brochure doesn't include a roadmap for the future. That being said, even the rep said that he hasn't seen something like this from Pentax in a long time!

As a quick aside. I also spoke to the Sigma rep and asked him about the possibility of more lenses supporting Pentax and he quickly shot that down due to the tiny market share Pentax holds. He also expressed some disappointment in that, because he said that he started with Pentax (a Spotmatic) and has a collection of old Pentax lenses and bodies. Again, no surprises in that response.

Moderators: if you think this belongs somewhere else, please move it. Thanks.

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Last edited by subsea; 12-24-2018 at 01:55 PM.

[Adam]

Looks like they've redesigned the booth a bit since prior years. I really like the clear branding, both on the Pentax and Ricoh sides. The displays do make the products look quite attractive.

[jpzk]

I specifically asked about a flagship ASP-C DSLR to replace the K-3II and, unsurprisingly, didn't get much of a response. The rep did say that there are no plans to exit the ASP-C domain, but he didn't have any information that he was willing or able to share regarding a follow-on. I commented to them about all of the angst on this forum about a K-3II follow-on and the rep said that he knows. He reads the posts on the forum, but doesn't/can't respond.

Not surprised by this "answer".
Either he knows something which he can't talk about or he knows nothing.
Thanks for the complete report! Cheers!

[Larrymc]

I specifically asked about a flagship ASP-C DSLR to replace the K-3II and, unsurprisingly, didn't get much of a response. The rep did say that there are no plans to exit the ASP-C domain, but he didn't have any information that he was willing or able to share regarding a follow-on. I commented to them about all of the angst on this forum about a K-3II follow-on and the rep said that he knows. He reads the posts on the forum, but doesn't/can't respond.

Not surprised by this "answer".
Either he knows something which he can't talk about or he knows nothing.
Thanks for the complete report! Cheers!

Lets hope its the "he knows something which he can't talk about" rather than the other!

[mee]

I specifically asked about a flagship ASP-C DSLR to replace the K-3II and, unsurprisingly, didn't get much of a response. The rep did say that there are no plans to exit the ASP-C domain, but he didn't have any information that he was willing or able to share regarding a follow-on. I commented to them about all of the angst on this forum about a K-3II follow-on and the rep said that he knows. He reads the posts on the forum, but doesn't/can't respond.

Not surprised by this "answer".
Either he knows something which he can't talk about or he knows nothing.

That clears it up.

[reh321]

Lets hope its the "he knows something which he can't talk about" rather than the other!

This is consistent with the {disappointing} report from Photokina.
Their unwillingness to repeat the report from CP+ is unnerving.

[reh321]

I spoke to the Pentax reps (there were 5 of them)

All of the reps I see appear to be Caucasian.
Were any of the reps Asian?
Any sense of where these guys came from?
Are any of them based in Japan?

[subsea]

All of the reps I see appear to be Caucasian.
Were any of the reps Asian?
Any sense of where these guys came from?
Are any of them based in Japan?

All Caucasian. None with any indication that they came from the Far East.

[clackers]

All Caucasian. None with any indication that they came from the Far East.

So they're "out of the loop", then.

[subsea]

So they're "out of the loop", then.

Frankly, with the exception of the statement that they weren’t getting out of the APS-C business, I lean more to “didn’t know” than to “couldn’t say.”

[Kunzite]

Hmm... at Photokina, their (also tiny) stand had a steady flow of visitors, being quite busy.

I guess quite a few K-1 II users would pay for a (not outrageously priced) RAW software supporting Pentax' Dynamic Pixel Shift Resolution. Currently there is none; it stinks of "missed opportunity" here.

[PJ1]

The Pentax brochure is good news. I have three of those that I picked up in the early 1980s. They make for a nice nostalgic read. I doubt Ricoh/Pentax would be investing in that kind of marketing tool unless it had something in the pipeline that would make it worthwhile.

[Kunzite]

Was it the new one, with the D FA* 50mm in it?
The Japanese brochure (available for download at RI's Japanese site, lens section) was updated a while ago. The English brochure available at the same site is still the old one.

Also, there's quite a bit of marketing material being added to the Japanese sites (some of it translated into English).

[Madaboutpix]

Thanks a lot indeed for the comprehensive report, Mark!

[steve_k]

Great job.