[rawr]

No disaster?

Well, no big disaster's since Ricoh took over. Certainly nothing camera related on the scale of the D600 snafu, for example, nor business related on the scale of the Olympus loss-hiding fraud that almost took down the company. That's what I mean.

Obviously there have been product problems, but the K-30/K-50 aperture block stuff, SDM issues, K-5 sensor-stain, various bounce flash issues and so on were relatively modest issues. Plus those products mostly evolved pre-Ricoh.

[Kunzite]

Pentax gave up on SDM well before Ricoh, FTR.
And I agree, at least some of the issues mentioned were not disasters.

[Tatouzou]

Pentax gave up on SDM well before Ricoh, FTR.
And I agree, at least some of the issues mentioned were not disasters.

They were not disasters but they were never acknowledged as design failures.
Thus, even if now they seem to have been fixed, customers who experienced these SDM or aperture motor issues either changed brand or became unconfident in SDM lenses or entry level cameras MTBF.

[Nicolas06]

They were not disasters but they were never acknowledged as design failures.
Thus, even if now they seem to have been fixed, customers who experienced these SDM or aperture motor issues either changed brand or became unconfident in SDM lenses or entry level cameras MTBF.

or the whole brand altogether... Half of the AF bad reputation issues is SDM, the other half is that the K3 AF should have been introduced 3-5 years earlier (at least in K5, ideally in K7).

[filmamigo]

Feel free to go if you don't feel comfortable with Pentax.

But perspective is important. Pentax have a venerated position in the history of photography, but that respect does not accrue from being the biggest, the best capitalized, or the fastest-moving company. The Pentax culture is conservative. For decades it was built on delivering a bulletproof student/art camera (K1000) and a bulletproof pro camera (6x7) that hit a sweet spot that did not require radical rethinks over the years. Pentax's move into DSLRs was carefully considered. They could have had one of the first DSLRs, and jumped into full frame straight away. When the sensor was problematic, Pentax pulled back. Contax didn't and it doomed them. Pentax took their time to get back into DSLR, and the history from the *ist D to the K1 has been of careful, slow iteration. They find what works, stick with it, and innovate around the edges in ways that are meaningful to working photographers. This approach either suits you, or it doesn't. Because it's a culture that's unlikely to change. I suggest that Ricoh has a very compatible culture to Pentax, taking a similar approach. So I don't expect any changes in strategy.

You mention jumping to Canikon. I can't speak to Canon, but whether you like their products or not, they are the elephant in the room. The system is huge, the "mindspace" of the brand is equally huge. Canon invested in the system, and bought that mindspace, largely through sports. And Canon have never wavered in that strategy. Buying Canon is safe. It's like the old saying from IT management -- noone ever got fired for buying Microsoft. Ditto Canon.

Nikon is a different story from Canon. Nikon has a deep system and has good mindshare -- basically inheriting the photojournalist slot from Leica by building a series of rugged SLRs. The brand positioning for the D6 and the D800 doesn't seem any different than they have had for decades, whether that's the F5/F100 or the F2. But Nikon users don't have the same "carefree" attitude as Canon users and you may find yourself haunted by similar doubts as you have with Pentax. Concerns commonly voiced on Nikon sites/forums include:

- Nikon is an "all eggs in one basket" company. They don't have the deep pockets or diversification that Canon (and ironically Ricoh) have, to weather storms in the photography world.
- Nikon isn't committed to building out the lens portfolio (especially DX / APS crop lenses)
- Nikon is slow to adopt useful / novel features (mirrorless, in body image stabilisation, etc) enticing users to more exciting platforms
- Nikon doesn't take video seriously
- Nikon holds onto flagship bodies for too long, letting other companies leapfrog (D300s ....)
- Nikon has poor software and doesn't understand the "digital native" kids and the connected world

Some of these criticisms sound familiar to Pentax shooters.

I think that Pentax is actually in a really good position - that is compatible with it's historic strategy. It has the 645Z, offering a solid and respected tool that is unapologetically for professional shooters; the K1 for the discerning small format shooter, and a small selection of entry level cameras that have enough novelty and value to build (or hold) the entry level customer. We'd all love Pentax to spend a bit more on marketing, but unless Pentax decides to "own" the next Olympics and repeat Canon's strategy, there is no point going head-to-head against their mindshare.

[Jeff Lopez]

Pentax Richoh Germany produces the best Youtube ads on the whole world@
When stressed up, search the Ricoh Pentax ads..nice music, kind like anime show openings..

[biz-engineer]

They were not disasters but they were never acknowledged as design failures. Thus, even if now they seem to have been fixed, customers who experienced these SDM

SDM issues lasted for a decade because there was no official fix that could be identified on the name version of the lenses (i.e mark II or something like that), for a customer, there is absolutely no way to know if the SDM version could turn into a failure after some months or years of use, whether the lens was new or second hand. Result was a lack of confidence in any of those DA* SDM lens, hard to resell second hand. I can understand that it would be costly to recall some lenses for a fix , but it impact the brand image and impact long terms sales, especially in the interchangeable lenses business, customers don't switch easily because of the cost involved in switching; once a customer left to canon/nikon, it's very hard to get it back, that's many years of sales lost. Wrong short term calculation by Pentax.

DFA AF motors "seems" to be more robust (perhaps too little history to say).

---

Last edited by biz-engineer; 03-27-2017 at 12:24 PM.

[monochrome]

I think we have to make a clean break at 7-1-2015. Anything that happened before that, Ricoh inherited. We can't keep blaming them for cheap parts like SDM and the K30 actuator and K-5 lens release button forever - at the same time as we won't give them credit for fixing the K-3 mirror slap and saying there 'hasn't been enough time' to evaluate D.C. Motors.

I swear I could lift the SDM paragraph and paste it into a 2008 post and no one would know.

If you're that stressed and you've lost confidence so completely that you think a 12 year old lens focus motor will make Ricoh pull the plug - for your own mental health - change brands.

[Kunzite]

For our mental health, I'd say

[biz-engineer]

If you're that stressed and you've lost confidence so completely that you think a 12 year old lens focus motor will make Ricoh pull the plug - for your own mental health - change brands.

It's not me, it's the folks coming up here saying their SDM isn't up to speed and want to swap brands

[ZombieArmy]

It's not me, it's the folks coming up here saying their SDM isn't up to speed and want to swap brands

And people say AMD graphics cards run hot and have bad drivers, despite the former not being true since the 290x and the latter since like 2009.

But the Pentax issues aren't as big in everyone's mind, and AMD manages to survive despite the negative attitude so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[monochrome]

It's not me, it's the folks coming up here saying their SDM isn't up to speed and want to swap brands

I'm just saying for our own we'll-being we all need to make peace with our choices and make them work.

And I'm selfish. I've learned too much from you in such a short time to hear your angst and not wish you well.

[pathdoc]

All the sowing of fear, uncertainty and doubt make me sick and tired. Go, OP. Sell your Pentax gear and buy what you think will make you happy. We will all be waiting for the end of March 2022, to see how you stand at the end of your five-year amortisation cycle. Do report.

[mee]

And people say AMD graphics cards run hot and have bad drivers, despite the former not being true since the 290x and the latter since like 2009.

But the Pentax issues aren't as big in everyone's mind, and AMD manages to survive despite the negative attitude so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The difference is AMD continued to advance through iterative steps while Pentax (Ricoh) was stuck with a faulty design that they never bothered to resolve.

It seems the SDM of old is the SDM of today... What I mean by that is, if you buy a DA* lens with SDM on it (today) it is the same design as was in 2008. It isn't as Ricoh saw the issue and updated the lens with say a DC motor or the like. They have an inventory of still-on-the-market 'legacy' lenses that are designed to use SDM.

---------- Post added 03-27-17 at 06:26 PM ----------

All the sowing of fear, uncertainty and doubt make me sick and tired. Go, OP. Sell your Pentax gear and buy what you think will make you happy. We will all be waiting for the end of March 2022, to see how you stand at the end of your five-year amortisation cycle. Do report.

Or you could just toss them on the ignore list if such posts really haunt your psyche that much. Easy peasey lemon squeezey.

[automorphism]

My style of photography isn't much dependent on camera brands. I find most of my equipment: manual flashes, tripod, light stands, triggers, filters, etc. aren't tied to the brand. The only thing that is tied to the brand is the lenses because of the lens mount. I like Pentax, but I am planning on getting a Canon/Nikon just for some of the longer lenses I want to try in that system. I think in a lot of bags there may be room for multiple systems, depending on applications.