[Mistral75]

There are only 20 Sanada Himo hand straps left.

Sold out.

[Kunzite]

This is pretty ominous camera.

Not ominous enough - I'd have preferred some dark red accents.

[Serkevan]

BTW, what was that big lens in 1:21 Doubt something new, but maybe :P

I'd say it looks like the DA* 300/4, but it has a sticker or something shiny on the barrel side.

---------- Post added 04-19-22 at 04:14 AM ----------

Not ominous enough - I'd have preferred some dark red accents.

With adequate breather and/or lightsaber sound effects when turning the camera on.

[JPT]

The video is quite fun. The two female colleagues at the beginning like it because they like wearing black and one of them chooses black everything. Most other people just say "It's really black!" and "It looks cool!"

When Wakashiro-san shows the camera to the second shy lens designer and tries to sell him first on the camera and then on just the hot shoe, there are some little lenses face down on the desk at the left of the screen in front of his bottle of coffee (same brand of bottled coffee I use to stay awake at work). I wonder what they are? They look like prototypes, but I guess they might just be old stuff.

The last scene is quite amusing. He shows it to the president and the president mockingly berates him, saying something like "So you think it's OK to make a camera where you can't see the brand logo?"

[Mistral75]

(...) BTW, what was that big lens in 1:21 Doubt something new, but maybe :P

I'd say it looks like the DA* 300/4, but it has a sticker or something shiny on the barrel side.

The one in front of the two GR boxes? If so, it's not a sticker, it's another object. The lens itself looks like a DA★ 300mm f/4 ED [IF] SDM.

(...)

When Wakashiro-san shows the camera to the second shy lens designer and tries to sell him first on the camera and then on just the hot shoe, there are some little lenses face down on the desk at the left of the screen in front of his bottle of coffee (same brand of bottled coffee I use to stay awake at work). I wonder what they are? They look like prototypes, but I guess they might just be old stuff.

(...)

In any case, the rear element of the two closest lenses looks quite large. The third one is a different lens. I can't remember where or when but I saw those once. Wasn't it in a video published during Covid lockdown?

[Ronald Oakes]

Reminds me of something akin to a merger of the Wuhan Virology Lab , Nutty Professor , and Back to the Future.
Maybe this is the marketing wave of the Future ? .... Bravo ! Bravo !

[deus ursus]

In any case, the rear element of the two closest lenses looks quite large. The third one is a different lens. I can't remember where or when but I saw those once. Wasn't it in a video published during Covid lockdown?

It looks like two M lenses (or K).

---

Last edited by deus ursus; 04-19-2022 at 07:06 AM. Reason: Corrected misspelling

[house]

It looks like two M lenses (or K).

Agree, you can see the typical rubber knurling and the silver ring.

The video itself is funny. Vibes from The Office but without the extreme cringe. Very everyday feel. I like it. Doesn't do much to counter those who suggest Pentax marketing is done by staff with other jobs



Is this the DA1650PLM? Sure is a beast if it is.

[gatorguy]

Is this the DA1650PLM? Sure is a beast if it is.

The 16-50 PLM is roughly comparable to the Pentax 50-135 in size and weight. That's a lens you're probably familiar with, so IMO not so "beastly". The 50-135 is slightly longer than the 16-50, while it's very slightly lighter than the PLM at 685g compared to 712g, the weight difference effectively negligible.

[Mistral75]

Real Sound report on the K-3 Mark III Jet Black Edition, relayed by the 'Pentax by Ricoh Imaging' Facebook account:

PENTAXがロゴまで真っ黒な一眼レフをつくった理由とは　クラウドファンディングで232台限定発売｜Real Sound｜リアルサウンド テック

Machine translation: The reason why PENTAX made a black single-lens reflex camera up to the logo of which only 232 units will be released by crowdfunding ｜ Real Sound ｜ Real Sound Tech

Page 2 is about the j Limited Sanada Himo hand strap.

There is also a Facebook post announcing the completion of the j Limited Sanada Himo hand strap crowdfunding project:

ペンタックス (PENTAX by RICOH IMAGING) - Publications | Facebook

［Sold Out.]
The Ubugoe crowdfunding 'J limited Sanada Himo hand strap' has reached its planned quantity and orders will no longer be accepted.
Thank you very much for your support!
We will continue to keep you posted on the progress of the project, so please look forward to it!

[gatorguy]

If they do a very limited release of the Jet Black outside of Japan as they're considering I could foresee several more being sold, even some to those not currently Pentax users which could only be a good thing. Get a little free promotion. Even in this forum alone it wouldn't surprise me if a dozen or more get purchased. Certainly an attention-getter.

[kwb]

Wow, quite a lot happened since I posted in the News and Rumors the last time (which was a month ago)!

It's interesting that they chose to use Ubugoe as their crowdfunding platform even though they used Makuake in the past. Makuake takes 20% out of your sales as a fee. Ubugoe on the other hand offsets that to the purchasers, i.e. the purchaser's fee would be 5% of the product price plus a fixed fee of 330 JPY.

As a project owner, if you sell one K-3III Jet Black at 300000 JPY, you'll receive 300000 if you're with Ubugoe but only 240000 JPY on Makuake. OTOH, as a purchaser, you'll pay 315330 on Ubugoe (300000 product, 330+0.05*300000=15330 fee) but it's just 300000 on Makuake. BTW this 300000 includes tax and shipping.

Another interesting thing about Ubugoe is that it allows the purchasers to pay "kokoro zuke" in addition to the product price. It's like a tip that goes directly to the project owner, Ubugoe doesn't take 5% fee from that.

[Mistral75]

An update after 29 days. There is an increase in weekly orders, save for the Sanada Himo hand straps, the orders of which reached the 250 unit limit on Tuesday. The main reasons might be:

• the various items being showcased in the Ricoh Imaging Tokyo and Osaka stores (1);
• several (now daily) posts on social networks promoting the Jet Black Ubugoe campaign;
• the end of the campaigns approaching.

Both Ubugoe campaigns will end next Wednesday at 23:59 JST (14:59 UTC).

(1) which is an important input to be taken into consideration by Ricoh Imaging in their shift towards an online business model.

[Mistral75]

This is the end (of the Ubugoe campaigns), my friends, the end.

There was a rush in orders during the last two days. The outcome is as follows:

• K-3 Mark III Jet Black Edition combos: 119 orders (51% of the limit of 232 units)
• Black O-HC177 hot shoe covers: 317 orders (16% of the limit of 2,000 units)
• j Limited Sanada Himo hand straps: the limit of 250 units was reached on Tuesday the 19th, eight days before the campaign's end.

Altogether, with ¥39.5m raised (approx. $308,000 / €292,000) this operation is a success.

[Serkevan]

This is the end (of the Ubugoe campaigns), my friends, the end.

There was a rush in orders during the last two days. The outcome is as follows:

• K-3 Mark III Jet Black Edition combos: 119 orders (51% of the limit of 232 units)
• Black O-HC177 hot shoe covers: 317 orders (16% of the limit of 2,000 units)
• j Limited Sanada Himo hand straps: the limit of 250 units was reached on Tuesday the 19th, eight days before the campaign's end.

Altogether, with ¥39.5m raised (approx. $308,000 / €292,000) this operation is a success.

Honestly, a production run of 120 extra K-3iii kits in a different paint will cost Ricoh Imaging approximately a bag of peanuts over making normal ones, so I'd say it's a very decent result.