[Pontoneer]

There have been rumours over the last few days of a K-1 Mk ii. There has been debate over the possible name for such a camera ; if indeed it is an update of the K-1 , then why not K-1 Super ?

It occurs to me that we are approaching the centenary of the founding of Asahi at the end of next year .

Just as the LX was named to commemorate the 60th anniversary when it came out , how fitting would it be for them to launch a class leading professional camera , above the K-1 , in November 2019 and call it the Pentax C ?

Then again they could resurrect the Asahi name and use it as an Uber brand , just as Mercedes did with Maybach , VW did with Audi or Toyota did with Lexus , and brand the new top camera as the Asahi C .

It could be a Japanese Super brand , built to compete head on with the likes of Leica or Hasselblad ; and what better name with 100 years of illustrious history behind it ?

[AldaCZ]

I like super K os K-SUPER ?hmm

[Madaboutpix]

To my mind, it is always good to keep a viable balance between tradition and modernity. "Asahi" would point back to the Pentax brand's roots, but would also smack a bit of idle nostalgia rather than connoting cutting-edge technology. (Yeah, sure, Asahi, at its time, was pretty innovative.)

Besides, I don't see the need for a premium brand above Pentax, when the latter already aims to be premium. If something like the 645Z is not premium, although I know perfectly well that it is one of the lower-priced tickets to MF, I don't know what premium is. I also wouldn't like the thought that anything in the line-up that is just "Pentax", rather than "Asahi" might be considered to be, well, merely the "cheap cr..., excuse me, stuff". Is the Pentax line-up really that big and diverse to justify that, and would it send the right message? Not even Canon or Nikon have established separate premium brands.

[Time Traveller]

Or perhaps reconsider the model names for FF and APS-C respectively. It could be KF-1, KF-2, KF-3, and so on for FF - and KA-1, KA-2, KA-3 and so on for APS-C ('F' for FF, 'A' for APS-C)? The 'C' for 'Century' perhaps as a 'Special Edition' celebrating the 100th birthday?

[ffking]

The 'C' for 'Century' perhaps as a 'Special Edition' celebrating the 100th birthday

Yeah, you'd want to avoid the KFC

[Time Traveller]

Yeah, you'd want to avoid the KFC

KF-C ('Special Edition') would be nice!

[Pontoneer]

To my mind, it is always good to keep a viable balance between tradition and modernity. "Asahi" would point back to the Pentax brand's roots, but would also smack a bit of idle nostalgia rather than connoting cutting-edge technology. (Yeah, sure, Asahi, at its time, was pretty innovative.)

Besides, I don't see the need for a premium brand above Pentax, when the latter already aims to be premium. If something like the 645Z is not premium, although I know perfectly well that it is one of the lower-priced tickets to MF, I don't know what premium is. I also wouldn't like the thought that anything in the line-up that is just "Pentax", rather than "Asahi" might be considered to be, well, merely the "cheap cr..., excuse me, stuff". Is the Pentax line-up really that big and diverse to justify that, and would it send the right message? Not even Canon or Nikon have established separate premium brands.

Canon and Nikon were for many years the ‘also rans’ : Pentax outsold all of them put together . If Pentax established a separate premium brand , standing apart from their ‘ value for money ‘ brand , they could charge Leica or Hasselblad prices without needing to sell in large numbers : customers would be paying for exclusivity.

[aslyfox]

" L X " was for the 60th ??

and now it is suggested that " C " be used for 100th ??

I wonder why a Japanese company would use Roman Numerals for its designation

I wonder how well known the Roman Numeral system is known any way

[ffking]

" L X " was for the 60th ??

that is true

I wonder how well known the Roman Numeral system is known any way

probably not as well as 40 years ago, but better than the Japanese equivalent (world wide)

[Madaboutpix]

Canon and Nikon were for many years the ‘also rans’ : Pentax outsold all of them put together . If Pentax established a separate premium brand , standing apart from their ‘ value for money ‘ brand , they could charge Leica or Hasselblad prices without needing to sell in large numbers : customers would be paying for exclusivity.

As for Canon and Nikon: commonly known slice of photo history; I didn't argue it, nor does it add much to your reasoning.

The business model of real or perceived premium brands like Leica and Hasselblad isn't exactly news either. For the time being, it seems to work reasonably well for Leica; how much longer Hasselblad will be able to sustain it remains to be seen (I personally doubt it).

The elephant in the room, however, is whether we want cheap amateur gear plus an extra line of forbiddingly expensive photo jewellery for display cases, or rather a range of excellent amateur-to-expert-level real-photography tools. Needless to say, I prefer the latter approach.

Also, the photo jewellery part is already covered to some extent by the various Limited-edition bodies, silver finish, etc. (Tellingly enough, many of their owners seem to be using theirs as, well, photography tools. Go figure.)

[angerdan]

I'd just find out about the 100 years. Pentax was founded on 17th december 1938.

Here's an german article about the 90th anniversary:
fotoMagazin | Test Technik | Historie | 90 Jahre Pentax

I'd just find the 90 years Pentax thread
https://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/16-pentax-news-rumors/48869-november-200...l-90-year.html

[Kerrowdown]

built to compete head on with the likes of Leica or Hasselblad

Liking the sound of that...

[RonHendriks1966]

I'd just find out about the 100 years. Pentax was founded on 17th december 1938.

Here's an german article about the 90th anniversary:
fotoMagazin | Test Technik | Historie | 90 Jahre Pentax


I'd just find the 90 years Pentax thread
In November 2009 Pentax will be 90 year !!! - PentaxForums.com

Pentax was very big. They had 6000 employees! With the take over from Ricoh they where at 1500 if I remember right. Now I guess it will be maybe 1000 with slower sales.

[gofour3]

Asahi Kogaku Goshi Kaisha was founded in 1919, renamed to Asahi Optical Co. Ltd. in 1938. (The "AOCO" on the front of a Spotmatic or other bodies refer to that newer name)

Asahi on it's own is just a Japanese word that means morning sun. It's used on everything from a beer company to baseball teams. (We have a baseball team here in Vancouver using that name).

Not sure Ricoh would want to reuse a name form a former company that created Pentax?

Phil.