This year I was able to go to CP+ on the Friday rather than the Saturday. I was hoping that a weekday would make it easier to get around and see things. It was, but still got busy after midday. The nature of the crowd is a bit different on the Friday. There seemed to be more pros, industry people and elderly people. On the other hand there were fewer couples and casual visitors in general. I guess it is what you would expect of a weekday.
The Ricoh Imaging Booth
The Ricoh booth was the same size and position as the previous year, but the layout was different. The space was divided into three zones with the GR at the front, Theta in the middle and Pentax at the back. There stage area and a small gallery behind it. Overall there was quite a lot to see. You’ve probably seen the revised roadmaps and 85mm mock-up already. The 85mm had a black plastic disk where the glass should be, but a staff member told me this is normal procedure because they don’t want people spying on the optical formula. The booth was busy the whole time I was there.
GR III
The first thing I did was to queue up for a bit and try out the GR III. As a user of the very first GR Digital model, I’m very happy about the smaller dimensions than the GR II. Because it has more weight in it, it has a better feeling of solidity. There is still a huge amount of customisation available. The touch screen is very responsive, and I was pleased to find that you can use the screen one handed with your thumb without too much difficulty - no need to adjust your grip. One aspect I had not heard mentioned before was manual focus. I found this easier and more intuitive now, because the circular wheel around the D-pad can be used for this purpose. It’s still a bit fiddly, but better than up/down buttons. Overall the GR III was every bit as good as I’d hoped for and I’m going to buy one.
KP Custom Model
So far the coverage of this seems completely to have missed the point. These two guys are proposing the idea of a kind of a sub-brand offering bespoke customisation. The KP they are showing is just an illustration of this idea. They’ve even made up a logo for the brand. They are experimenting with the kind of tweaks and tuning that car/bike enthusiasts do to soup up their machines. They realize these will never be mass produced as mainstream cameras, but they are trying to gauge interest. That KP in his hand has a cool replacement mount made of some shiny grey carbon material. It was quite interesting. They were very keen to speak English to me, and seemed to love the fact I was still using a K-01.
Theta Z1
While the whole booth was busy, this part seemed to be busiest, perhaps because it was so small. They had small explanatory presentations and some deconstructed Z1s. It’s really impressive how they use prisms to package so small. The little OLED screen looks cool too. I’d like to see one on a K-mount camera in future.
Pentax 100-year Anniversary
Given that most of the recent releases have been Ricoh products, Pentax was a bit overshadowed by the GR II and the Z1 this time, but they did have reasonable amount of space, with a counter to try out the new lenses. A number of the presentations focused on Pentax and the new lenses in particular. There was also promotion for Pentax 100. Between presentations they were showing was a nice video on the screen with people holding a selection of Pentax cameras over the years. The images changing timed to drum beats. It was bright and cheerful and I hope they make it available online soon. They said they are not planning a specific anniversary model. Their new models will be forward looking, not commemorative. For the celebrations, there will be events around the world in the months leading up to the actual date in November.
Other manufacturers
I looked round all the other manufacturers. The tone of their stands were much the same as previous years (bland corporate), and they are all pretty much the same as each other. Now that all the companies are primarily pushing mirrorless mounts, it feels like they are coming out with near-identical systems. The only thing that differentiates them is FPS, bitrates and so on. The galleries show that all of these cameras are capable of taking fantastic images to be displayed at any reasonable size. So what sets anyone apart now? It seems to me that Ricoh/Pentax is really the only company that is making cameras that feel different to use. As Pentaxians, I think it’s time to stop wishing that Pentax would emulate the other makers and appreciate Ricoh/Pentax for its own strengths.
From my own perspective it was quite a good CP+. I‘m totally positive about the changes to the GR III. Also a new standard zoom for APS-C is something I would potentially be very interested in, so I'm glad it was added to the roadmap. And most of all, I think both Ricoh and Pentax remain unique brands that I can happily associate with.