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11-23-2019, 10:33 AM - 10 Likes   #1
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Pentax 100 Year Celebration event in Watford, UK

I attended the Pentax 100 Year Celebration event in Watford today. it was held at SRS Microsystems and was a great day for the many Pentaxians who made the journey from all over the UK, as well as a guy who flew in from Sweden!

Mr Takahashi, President of Ricoh Imaging, flew in for the event - he was only over in the UK for 7 hours before flying back to Japan tonight. That's quite a commitment and was greatly appreciated by all.

He spoke about the new APSC camera and brought one over with him, but it was inside its glass case as in previous events in other parts of the world. He talked about Pentax staying committed to DSLR's and said that they were not moving into mirrorless as he believes that many people prefer the OVF over any other system. He didn't even say, "Well, one day we will". It just doesn't appear to be something that Pentax is going to spend money on. He talked about the new APSC as being a premium product and it seems that that is the direction they are moving in - money will come from building and selling premium cameras rather than low cost entry-level models in the way that Canon and Nikon do. Pentax as a brand is definitely moving into a premium position. It may turn out to be one of the shrewdest moves in an ever-shrinking market. There is still a lot of profit to be made.

I looked carefully at the camera in its glass case but cannot add any more than has been written in previous posts. The rear screen does not appear to articulate but that doesn't mean that it will not in the future. We just don't know. Once again the name was blacked out by black tape.

Happily, I got a photograph with him for my kids, who were mighty impressed that I was going to meet the President, even if he was the President of Ricoh Imaging!

11-23-2019, 10:41 AM   #2
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Thank you for the report.
11-23-2019, 10:46 AM - 2 Likes   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by Jeff Quote
Mr Takahashi, President of Ricoh Imaging, flew in for the event
I suppose he flew to the UK instead of Paris is because he prefers Fish&Chips over Crème Brulée, that's only a supposition of course. Apparently Mr Takahashi was already visiting SRS in June this year.



---------- Post added 23-11-19 at 18:49 ----------

QuoteOriginally posted by Jeff Quote
He talked about Pentax staying committed to DSLR's and said that they were not moving into mirrorless as he believes that many people prefer the OVF over any other system. He didn't even say, "Well, one day we will".
The problem with surveying Pentaxian opinion is that they say they don't want a mirrorless because Ricoh doesn't make one. The next day Ricoh would make a mirroless Pentax model , everyone would say that mirrorless is great.

Last edited by biz-engineer; 11-23-2019 at 11:03 AM.
11-23-2019, 11:02 AM - 1 Like   #4
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thanks a lot for the report- I'm impressed the he flew in for that - but SRS are a very good customer who give Pentax equal billing with other brands, if not higher - so good move!

11-23-2019, 11:29 AM   #5
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Oooooooh, so envious! I did get an invitation from SRS-microsystems (as I'm sure everyone in the customer database did), and I really, really wanted to go. But I couldn't really justify going to the UK.

Sounds so great. I do hope we get specifications soon. And... a release date.
11-23-2019, 11:40 AM - 5 Likes   #6
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Never have I seen so many Pentaxians in the same place!

A thoroughly enjoyable day: good quality workshops and seminars, cake, celebratory fizz to toast, some really good discounts on lenses (ok, I did succumb to a 70-200..), buffet lunch, goodie bag...

Aside of the celebration side of it, it felt good to talk to other Pentaxians and make sure Mr Takahashi left with a positive view of the enthusiasm and number of brand supporters in the UK.

Big shout out to the team at SRS - they put on a memorable do.
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11-23-2019, 01:53 PM - 1 Like   #7
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I throughly enjoyed it too. Good talks from the ambassadors and I must have tried on £8K of lenses. Now I would like to aquire the 15-30 some time. A well attended event and nice to talk to some pentaxians.

11-23-2019, 02:19 PM - 5 Likes   #8
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Great day out - SRS and Ricoh really put on an interesting set of briefs and workshops. And kudos to Ricoh Imaging president making the round trip.
The new APSC looks like a slightly shrunk K-1. Looks good!
Some photos, but lighting was sub-optimal.The KP-J is a prize to be given for a photo competition in UK next year.
:-)
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11-23-2019, 02:33 PM   #9
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I would have liked to attend this event, but not possible. Thanks for the reports and images.
11-23-2019, 03:34 PM   #10
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That is one impressive cake, love the border of slrs. Thank you for the reports and pictures.
11-23-2019, 04:10 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by Jeff Quote
I attended the Pentax 100 Year Celebration event in Watford today. it was held at SRS Microsystems and was a great day for the many Pentaxians who made the journey
QuoteOriginally posted by HippyHippo Quote
Never have I seen so many Pentaxians in the same place!
QuoteOriginally posted by phoebus Quote
Great day out - SRS and Ricoh really put on an interesting set of briefs and workshops.
Thanks to all for your interesting reports.

Regrettably, I was unable to make the trip over , but if I had been in the UK for other reasons, I would have made the effort to attend.

I'm not surprised at the great event put on by SRS. I've always had a very positive impression of the company. While I was in London on business several years ago -- two different occasions -- I tried to carve out time to take the train to Watford to visit them and perhaps purchase some stuff. Alas, my work duties took precedence (imagine...!) and I remained in the big city.

Thanks again for the great reports.

- Craig

PS. Should we be disappointed that none of you tried to pry that flippy screen out? Didn't you think about creating a diversion?

Last edited by c.a.m; 11-23-2019 at 04:23 PM. Reason: typo
11-23-2019, 04:16 PM   #12
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It was in the perspex case and minded😊. The president did say it was a non working copy too.
11-23-2019, 04:42 PM   #13
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Thanks for the reports, to all who attended.

Looks like an enjoyable event. And that cake.
11-23-2019, 08:23 PM - 2 Likes   #14
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Thanks for the report and pics of the day's events. I can appreciate the 'not going mirrorless' route. Unless Pentax could come up with something that eg Sony (who are probably the market leaders) haven't done already and match or excel their other features it's a pointless task epecially given the resources that Sony seem to have. Then again, I guess, all brands are feeling the 'Sony' effect in the marketplace.
11-24-2019, 02:50 AM - 3 Likes   #15
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Few pics of the new camera from me. Mr. president didn't give any details in his introduction but said 'maybe you can find out some things when you look at it from the front or the back' so I tried to focus on the mirror box and, suffice to say, my hands were pretty shaky. 6400 iso didn't help,but perhaps you are able to see more than me... one thing that seemed interesting is the new feature under the viewfinder, which from one picture looks like it has some numbers in there, but I wasn't able to see much more with the FA28, other users may have better detailed pics.

As others said, this was a most pleasurable event and amazing to see so many of us in one place. I will post some pictures of the crowd soon.

Oh, something else, Mr. president said: they are aiming for this camera to be the best in class. At least that's how I understood his words.
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Last edited by davidsladek; 11-24-2019 at 02:54 AM. Reason: added text
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