[monochrome]

It is a weird place to be.

We have a company who has been virtually silent, compared to how they used to operate, kind of announce a new product that the majority of its consumers want, and then go silent again.

It's not really fair to the consumer either. We have a few months till the projected release....maybe.

The sooner one accepts they aren’t like the larger camera companies, they don’t want to be, and they won’t do the same things as the bigger companies the sooner these concerns abate.

Ricoh actively markets only in Japan. Elsewhere around the world they usually depend on viral marketing but currently are in the middle of a low-key anniversary campaign. For a company that doesn’t market outside Japan they sure do seem to be marketing outside Japan.

All will be revealed shortly before CP+ - including several surprises not telegraphed yet - say in late January.

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Last edited by monochrome; 10-27-2019 at 12:27 PM.

[Kunzite]

We have a company who has been virtually silent, compared to how they used to operate, kind of announce a new product that the majority of its consumers want, and then go silent again.

It's not really fair to the consumer either. We have a few months till the projected release....maybe.

They did something very similar with the K-1, so what's the issue? And others are doing the same thing - Canon and Nikon both announced the development of their next flagship cameras.

What exactly is it not fair to the consumer? Not releasing the products when the consumer wants, as opposed to when they're ready? Not switching strategies as the consumer is imagining he want them to make this or that but he won't buy the real product anyway? Not saying something every week, even though the development takes way longer?

[morenjavi]

Thanks for the report!

[Larrymc]

Nice report, but to be fair, I don't think you will find an employee of any company tell you that the ship is sinking.

Way to throw a wet blanket on everything......thanks, Man. I can tell you right now you can tell how a company is doing by how the Reps react during events like this!

[clickclick]

Actually feel for the parties involved, they've been quite communicative compared to the not too distant pass.

[ecostigny]

I'm sure we'd like the reps to spill all the beans (Like Hagrid repeatedly did in the first Harry Potter movie: "I shouldn't have said that"), but then they would probably be ex-reps.

Thanks for the report. I liked the insights on lens development and their heightened standards.

We'll just have to be patient until closer to CP+ and do what everyone else does on this web site: SPECULATE!

[Zygonyx]

Thanks for sharing, bdery

[dantonvb]

Thanks for the nice report.

[Urs]

Thanks for your report! Much appreciated!

[HoutHans]

Many thanks for going there and sharing this!

[Mistral75]

It is a weird place to be.

We have a company who has been virtually silent, compared to how they used to operate, kind of announce a new product that the majority of its consumers want, and then go silent again.

It's not really fair to the consumer either. We have a few months till the projected release....maybe.

That's not specific to Ricoh. Nikon announced the development of their D6 on the 4th of September and have been silent about this camera since then.

[wstruth]

It's nice to see they're actively marketing somewhere. i would be nice if they came south of the border.

[sergysergy]

Thanks for the detailed report!

[bdery]

A lot of things to comment on. Here goes!

Thanks for the followup! If you need the older SMC version of the DA 10-17 for your testing, I have one that I can lend you. Just send me a PM if you're interested.

Thanks. That wasn't the scope of the review, otherwise I would have been overwhelmed The older review, of the SMC, is still there.

Thanks for the report!

I'm looking forward to your fisheye review. If you can swing a comparison with the SMC version, that would be invaluable.

See above. I think the review will stand well on its own.

Great report Bernard, I am glad that they were willing to spend some time talking to you about these things. Do you have any prior relationships with the reps or were they more willing to speak to you since you write here in the forums.

As a matter of fact, I had talked to one of them the week prior, on a topic unrelated to the show (a strange issue with my K-1 mk2). But given how open, interested and polite as they were, I believe I would have received a great welcome no matter what.

So I guess by the end of January we should know all specs, msrp and release date? I was hoping it would be this year still, but well...

"All specs" is pushing it. "More info" is more likely.

I am planning to visit the Salon in Laval on Saturday this week. I'll make a day trip to Montreal.

I'm sure you'll enjoy it. The other big companies were there too, it was fun (funny) to see how big Sony mirrorless lenses are. The people from Gentec (who seem to distribute just about everything, from Sigma to Lowepro and Manfrotto) were also friendly.

Thank you for your report! Also I liked you asking about the 60-250 as I also had the same question! I would prefer a new 60-250/4 over the new 70-200/4

Yep, me too. Not gonna happen I think. Probably because the new trend for these lenses is internal zoom.

Wait, so they didn't say Pentax is doomed?

Not even once.

This actually makes me very jealous. My local camera shows aren't this well done.

This one is pretty nice, for a small city. There's also a photo contest, a lot of talks and presentations (big, too big focus on influencers this year, I'd say, but still nice).

I was very impressed that they had the 11-18mm and the HD 35mm but they didn't have much of their slightly older stock not even the Limiteds

They had a few limited. In fact all the DA ones, and the 77 in silver. I almost offered to swap my own black version for their silver

The sooner one accepts they aren’t like the larger camera companies, they don’t want to be, and they won’t do the same things as the bigger companies the sooner these concerns abate.

Correct. At one point in the discussion, someone came up with the analogy of Subaru vs Toyota (very apt in regards to weather sealing). Toyota is immensely bigger, but Subaru still releases great cars that people enjoy.

[bobmaxja]

Thank you. I believe for a small province , their quite a lot of Pentax fan