[rawr]

If the Flucard has been delayed due mainly to high demand for the device, I trust Ricoh will get the message about the number of customers who want Pentax tethering.

The popularity of this device is coming about not because it is a WiFi SD card. There are about 6 different wireless SD card brands in the market at the moment, so people aren't interested in the product just because it is a Pentax WiFi card. They want the camera remote control/tethering it offers, especially via iOS or Android. I hope Ricoh understands this.

If Pentax or Ricoh had worked with Adobe, Phase One and others in the past to enable tethered solutions for Pentax in Lightroom and Capture One, or produced some standalone software of their own for non-645D users, maybe even helped developers write tethering apps for Apple or Android, there may not be such troublesome demand for the Pentax O-FC1 Flucard today.

[panoguy]

Might be that Ricoh is asking Trek to build them around this new technology (Trek and Toshiba share development of these cards, all of which are made by Toshiba):

http://www.toshiba.com/us/press-release/100883

I'll gladly wait for Class 10 speeds...

[Adam]

A bit of bad news on the Ricoh website today. It's not entirely clear whether this is only for Japan or worldwide.

Google Translate

Not surprised by this news, but didn't some cameras already ship with a flucard overseas?

[Vylen]

Not surprised by this news, but didn't some cameras already ship with a flucard overseas?

That was with the standard 8gb version.

[monochrome]

If the Flucard has been delayed due mainly to high demand for the device, I trust Ricoh will get the message about the number of customers who want Pentax tethering.

The popularity of this device is coming about not because it is a WiFi SD card. There are about 6 different wireless SD card brands in the market at the moment, so people aren't interested in the product just because it is a Pentax WiFi card. They want the camera remote control/tethering it offers, especially via iOS or Android. I hope Ricoh understands this.

Of course you are correct, but Pentax never did any of that. It looks like Ricoh is trying to quickly close the gap left by several years of Hoya stasis, while at the same time paying attention to competition advances, which isn't sitting still waiting for Pentax to catch up.

My guess is the number of worthy projects is larger than the development hours available to complete them, so there is a form of project triage. Omissions such as tethering can be provided in a half-step such as the FluCard, then fully implemented later. Flash sync issues and flash in general, for instance (which is as much a shutter issue as an electronic one), can be started by introducing a First-Step new shutter design on the K3 and a further shutter improvement on a later camera (such as that which shall not be mentioned).

I'm trying to see what Ricoh is doing in the context of a long term plan, with many intermediate steps. I try not to view every new item or effort or change in isolation. There is a sense and a context to what they're doing - I want to see consistency and discipline and at least the appearance of a rational strategy. If they keep this up that should build confidence and identity - maybe a marginal but fearul (of Pentax or K-mount disappearing) buyer will move to Pentax if perceived risk is reduced.

[Adam]

That was with the standard 8gb version.

Which, according to Pentax USA, was a prototype. Very interesting...

[Winder]

Toshiba ups capacity and speed of its Wi-Fi SD card: Digital Photography Review

Toshiba Announces Next Generation FlashAir? II Wireless SD Card | Press Releases | Toshiba Laptops, Netbooks, Electronics & Accessories

New Class 10 Flash Air cards.

[Freak]

Which, according to Pentax USA, was a prototype. Very interesting...

I think their is some confusion. The 8Gb Flucards that shipped with Pentax cameras in Australia have been widely available for years, they are very similar to the EyeFi cards. They have no official association with Pentax and are not protoypes, and you can buy them on the internet for $40.

The 16Gb O-FC1 which is now delayed is exclusive to Pentax and will not only do the generic Flucard sharing (like the 8Gb cards), but control aperture/shutter etc via Phone/tablet. I believe there have been a few protoypes of the O-FC1 in Canada etc..

[Adam]

I think their is some confusion. The 8Gb Flucards that shipped with Pentax cameras in Australia have been widely available for years, they are very similar to the EyeFi cards. They have no official association with Pentax and are not protoypes, and you can buy them on the internet for $40.

The 16Gb O-FC1 which is now delayed is exclusive to Pentax and will not only do the generic Flucard sharing (like the 8Gb cards), but control aperture/shutter etc via Phone/tablet. I believe there have been a few protoypes of the O-FC1 in Canada etc..

Ah, so those 8Gb ones can't do the tethering?

What they had in the US was a 8Gb O-FC1 prototype, but they said that they could barely get it to work in their office. With the wifi at the show, it didn't work unfortunately.

[Freak]

Ah, so those 8Gb ones can't do the tethering?

That's correct.

What they had in the US was a 8Gb O-FC1 prototype, but they said that they could barely get it to work in their office. With the wifi at the show, it didn't work unfortunately.

Heheh, Being in the prototype stage, I guess that's understandable and the WiFi at trade shows is often very troublesome, so they can be forgiven for that too... But I do hope that when it's out of prototype stage and released it works well enough to warrant another $100

I guess we will have to wait until Feb/March to know more.

[RobA_Oz]

when people were talking about how great it was that Ricoh decided to charge people more for this feature and require a specific sd card always in the camera for it to work, i figured it would get delayed, then the first implementation would be less than ideal, then a year later after some revisions it would rival what other companies build into their cameras.

maybe I am just a pessimist, but it takes some skill to spin this into an advantage for the user. to me personally, it is rather meaningless and i won't sing the praises of a wifi sd card or built-in wifi, but to some it seems to matter.

That's drawing something of a long bow, which I admit is a bit of an effort for a pessimist.

The discussion (I wouldn't credit it with the description "argument") centred around the merits of working with an external supplier of plug-in devices, versus working with an internal or external team to build in a fixed device.

Both have pros and cons, but regardless of either, if you don't want what this feature has to offer, why should you pay for it? Perhaps more importantly for those who do, how difficult would the present situation be if a built-in device didn't work properly or couldn't be supplied? I don't think an objective consideration of the situation is spinning anything.

Oh well. One man's glass half full is another man's air gap.

[derekkite]

I wonder if someone at Ricoh asked for a demonstration of the thing, and it didn't work. And that someone told them to go fix it before selling it.

[snake]

I wonder if someone at Ricoh asked for a demonstration of the thing, and it didn't work. And that someone told them to go fix it before selling it.

Aren't there demonstrations of it working out there?

[rawr]

I wonder if someone at Ricoh asked for a demonstration of the thing, and it didn't work. And that someone told them to go fix it before selling it.

That 'someone' was probably this guy:

You Tube

You Tube

He seems to have been out-and-about recently. He probably experienced some Flucard problems himself, or they were brought to his attention by users.

[derekkite]

Aren't there demonstrations of it working out there?

One aspect was demonstrated, the ability to control the camera. There is far more involved. Imagine this scene:

Manager calls Pentax/Flucard guys and asks them to show me what it does.

Pentax Flucard guy shows up with a box containing a bunch of cards in the retail packaging, a K-3 and an Ipad that he tested down in the lab.

The manager takes the K-3, removes the Flucard. Gets out his phone. Opens a retail packaging, opens the instructions.

The Pentax/Flucard guy turns a different color. A white balance issue obviously.

20 minutes later the Pentax/Flucard guy leaves the office with all his stuff, and the release is delayed.

The manager's last question was What is the budget for support for this thing?

The Pentax/Flucard guy says Nothing until February.