[monochrome]

"In the DPI interview Jim stated it took longer to integrate the two design/engineering teams than he anticipated. "

That isn't an indication of anything good.


Maybe all this repricing is about trying to cut losses. Maybe Ricoh didn't get what they thought they paid for. Maybe they have to somehow maximize profit with what they have instead of what they they thought they were getting. Maybe, if the Ricoh discovered that Pentax engineers didn't have anything in the pipeline they really needed then they can sell or retire the brand and take what they can salvage and make it part of the Ricoh brand. It wouldn't be the first time a company that was considered somewhat venerable was subsumed by another.

It's all supposition.

The only fact of the matter is the price of lenses went up without anything being "value added" to them which means their value actually went down.

Jim stated to me and seven other members, personally, unequivocally, Tuesday, April 30th, "Pentax is committed to Q-mount, K-mount and 645-mount."

Any idea that they will retire the Pentax brand, that it is dead, that it isn't profitable, that there isn't value, that Ricoh didn't do its Due Diligence, that there isn't a long-term strategy and a vision and that the entire enterprise isn't working very, very hard to realize that vision is just plain wrong.

I don't know any other way to say it.

[Medium FormatPro]

In my opinion, a big part of the problem is that what Hoya did was NOT yesterday, it was a couple years ago, a decade in technological terms. Other brands move on with exciting products while Pentax raises prices on old lenses and releases DSLRs that were designed under Hoya.

In other words, Pentax wants to sell us a brand new 2013 computer with a Pentium 4

[monochrome]

Screw it. I can't hold back the tide.

[lukulele]

Mr. Malcolm hosted a 1 1/4 hour GoToMeeting Conference Call just this last Tuesday, April 30.

James Malcolm Conference Call with Q User Group

Thanks for the info and write-up monochrome

[digital029art]

If they raise prices on k mount glass, that leaves room in between Q (Queen) mount and K (King) mount for a new "up-to-date" mount ("Prince" = P mount ?? lol) with reasonably priced lenses for the bulk of sales that will no doubt be the mirrorless cams of the future (all makers incidentally). K mount and any future DSLRs will get a higher price point .. that's the only thing I'm thinking makes any sense in all this .. notice they are heavily discounting the super-cheap plastic 35+50's .. could they be replaced with even cheaper new-mount versions?

[monochrome]

notice they are heavily discounting the super-cheap plastic 35+50's

????? I don't think Pentax makes super-cheap plastic anything - certainly not the FA50/1.4, which is a legendary lens. The DA35/2.4 falls into the "Plastic Fantastic" (for its price) category.

I also doubt Pentax will introduce another mount any time soon - Q, K and 645 are it.

Q IS their mirrorless system.

[digital029art]

????? I don't think Pentax makes super-cheap plastic anything - certainly not the FA50/1.4, which is a legendary lens. The DA35/2.4 falls into the "Plastic Fantastic" (for its price) category.

I also doubt Pentax will introduce another mount any time soon - Q, K and 645 are it.

Q IS their mirrorless system.

Yeah that's what I mean .. the two "Plastic Fantastic" lenses (not that there's anything wrong with them - but they are cheap). The comparison was intended vs more substantial-build previous offerings!
Let's face it - the Q system alone won't cut it. Pentax will have to have an APS-C (or even FX mirrorless) to compete. 645 is a tiny niche, the beloved K mount is long in the tooth .. a clean slate, brand new all electronic mount would enable moving towards the future, enabling true class-leading performance. The current lineup of k-5/k-30 (nice but no longer leading the way - an inadequate offering if you ask me) is just a stop-gap.
IMHO, this is the best time for Pentax to launch a whole new system!

(with K adapter, of course!)

[ytango]

We're NOT PRAC's customers.

PRAC sells product on their webstore, directly to end user. So we are their customers. End users might not be their main or most profitable customers, but we are still their customers. And all marketing/finance/business semantics aside, without end users all their middlemen "customers" are nothing.

I want the experience Mungenast gives me and I don't want to play the Consumer Reports Car Buying Guide, internet dickering, price-trading, screw the salesman for $300 game.

Some folks like to pay a premium for pampering and the luxury experience; the trinket souvenir tossed in as an afterthought is just a bonus. Nothing wrong with that. Other folks want to buy a useful tool at a good price so they can use it to make stuff. Also nothing wrong with that.

By that logic every non-Canon camera should have a "Sony Inside" sticker on it. Am I Sony's or Seiko's or some glass maker's customer?

Oh, I didn't realize Fuji and Phase One and Hassleblad and Leica and the 645d and Red and Arri are all using Sony sensors now. My bad.

[monochrome]

2 1/3 years. 6 posts.

We are ultimately PRI's Brand customers. Dealers are PRAC's Direct customers.

Obviously the Company Rep has to stimulate sell-through to generate a restocking commission - I was once a wholesaler. You know this as well as I do.

The Pentax Webstore is a Pentax Dealer, separate from Pentax Ricoh Americas Corp. The Webstore is PRAC's customer.

If I may amend my mildly incorrect post - By your logic many dSLR's should have a "Sony Inside" sticker on the front.

BFD. You get the point.

[Sankon]

Still a lot of hand-wringing over Pentax USA actions being extrapolated into theories and judgements about Pentax ( a company that sells in other countries too ...)

My experience: Pentax is represented in every camera shop here ( Japan ). Full range usually, including lenses. Ricoh likewise, you'll find the GRD ( black and white ) and the GXR ( plus all it's lensors ) and the other compacts all on display, with knowledgeable staff. In perhaps the largest store in Tokyo, where an entire floor the size of a football field is dedicated to cameras, the top-selling camera when I visited recently was ...

The Pentax Q10

Pentax USA may or may not be ballsing things up, but it doesn't necessarily follow that Pentax as a company is daft/doomed/inept. There is more to it than the US market.

[monochrome]

There is more to it than the US market.

Well you know how Socio-centric Americans are. Within even that, how self-centered Americans are.

If I don't think something is right then it d*&*^d well better be fixed NOW - and pay me for my trouble and pain and suffering, too - because I'm your CUSTOMER!! You HAVE to do what I want at the price I want to pay. Otherwise you are doomed, because I'm the most important person in the world! Listen to me!! LISTEN TO ME!!

[cali92rs]

Still a lot of hand-wringing over Pentax USA actions being extrapolated into theories and judgements about Pentax ( a company that sells in other countries too ...)

My experience: Pentax is represented in every camera shop here ( Japan ). Full range usually, including lenses. Ricoh likewise, you'll find the GRD ( black and white ) and the GXR ( plus all it's lensors ) and the other compacts all on display, with knowledgeable staff. In perhaps the largest store in Tokyo, where an entire floor the size of a football field is dedicated to cameras, the top-selling camera when I visited recently was ...

The Pentax Q10

Pentax USA may or may not be ballsing things up, but it doesn't necessarily follow that Pentax as a company is daft/doomed/inept. There is more to it than the US market.

All that and Pentax still has single digit market share...obviously there's markets outside of Japan where pentax must not be doing so hot.

[monochrome]

All that and Pentax still has single digit market share...obviously there's markets outside of Japan where pentax must not be has not been doing so hot.

Driving while looking in the Rear View Mirror is not recommended. .

[patrickw]

Well you know how Socio-centric Americans are. Within even that, how self-centered Americans are.

If I don't think something is right then it d*&*^d well better be fixed NOW - and pay me for my trouble and pain and suffering, too - because I'm your CUSTOMER!! You HAVE to do what I want at the price I want to pay. Otherwise you are doomed, because I'm the most important person in the world! Listen to me!! LISTEN TO ME!!

Yes, it's quite an indictment of the American character that Pentax raised their lens prices by nearly 50% overnight and it isn't accepted with a smile and a shrug. As soon as Pentax comes to your nuanced understanding of Americans they will realize there's only one reasonable choice to be made, and that's to withdraw from the U.S. market entirely.

[monochrome]

Yes, it's quite an indictment of the American character that Pentax raised their lens prices by nearly 50% overnight and it isn't accepted with a smile and a shrug. As soon as Pentax comes to your nuanced understanding of Americans they will realize there's only one reasonable choice to be made, and that's to withdraw from the U.S. market entirely.

So PRI-ROTW should give us a better deal just because we're .... Americans?

And actually, some advertised (i.e. internet posted) lens prices were raised between 18% and 50%, while others were reduced by 9% and 23%. As I have surmised before, I think this is inventory management in front of some new product releases.

Frankly they must not really care what a few frequent posters on an internet Forum think or they wouldn't have done this a third time.