[c.a.m]

Nope. A Gofundme account , photoshop skills, promise a "new film SLR" and you're golden.

Rats. I thought I'd be able to pull a fast one with practical skills and systems engineering rigour.

I guess I'll tender my resignation to the Project Manager @ThorSanchez.


- Craig

[Sir Nameless]

About the requirements, any chance we could agree on those?

This has got to be the funniest thing I've read all day haha!

[bertwert]

Whelp, if Pentax won't do anything I guess it's up to us. Let's reverse engineer some cameras, bang out some firmware code, open source the darned things, and build our own K-new and truckload o' lenses.

Who's with me!?!?

I can do the cold environmental testing, up here in the very white and cold Canada.

[bertwert]

About the requirements, any chance we could agree on those?

Nope.

[FozzFoster]

They are all hurting..
It's hard to be a niche product in a hurting market.
I'm glad they are doing what they do. I appreciate what they offer.
I don't need the latest and greatest. I just need what works for me and I already have a bunch of great gear.
Whatever their turn over cycle is will work for me, it's not like I want to buy a new body every year..

[Vmax911]

I think the quarter millenia will be when the real party happens!

[aaronjamesgray]

Don't feed the troll, guys. We obviously know new things are coming. Some people are just impatient and have to know everything right now.

[ThorSanchez]

I'm in.

I'm a (retired) engineer, I know how to solder, I can operate screwdrivers and wrenches, and I have experience reviewing requirements documents. I don't have any experience with 3D printing, but I'm pretty good with maple, walnut, and oak. Would any of that be useful in the endeavour?

I'm a working engineer. Okay, a working manager who supervises engineers.

I have a 3D printer. It's broken, but parts are on order. It only prints things up to 120mm on a side, so we'll have to make compact cameras. I also have a passing knowledge of BASIC Stamp microcontrollers, also Linux.

All this and a few rolls of duct tape and we're only 4-5 years from finishing an *istD equivalent in my garage. Let's go!

---------- Post added 12-06-19 at 03:09 PM ----------

c.a.m. You get to do the wooden grip. Task 1 down.

About the requirements, any chance we could agree on those?

We're not actually going to do good systems engineering, are we? You know, like define all your requirements before you start building stuff? Can't we all just get in a room with a six pack, a CAD program, and see what we come up with a few hours?

---------- Post added 12-06-19 at 03:09 PM ----------

Rats. I thought I'd be able to pull a fast one with practical skills and systems engineering rigour.

I guess I'll tender my resignation to the Project Manager @ThorSanchez.


- Craig

I'm tearing it up. You can't quit until we're two years behind schedule and $30M over budget.

[c.a.m]

I'm tearing it up. You can't quit until we're two years behind schedule and $30M over budget.

Alright, I'll stay. But only if I get to travel to Japan to consult with the Ricoh Imaging guys. Maybe we can develop a joint project, based on a common user Requirements Statement. Oops, there I go again -- spouting off that silly systems stuff again. I guess any sort of design review is out of the question?

[beachgardener]

not over yet, the 100 celebration in Sydney on Monday, then it might be over. just have to wait patiently

[ThorSanchez]

Alright, I'll stay. But only if I get to travel to Japan to consult with the Ricoh Imaging guys. Maybe we can develop a joint project, based on a common user Requirements Statement. Oops, there I go again -- spouting off that silly systems stuff again. I guess any sort of design review is out of the question?

I work for the DoD, so while we might not do any real systems engineering, we're going to have 12 formal design reviews. Each three full days, with 14 managers and 5 engineers present. Some of them will be paying attention. 25-page checklist including detailed entry and exit criteria for each. And to close out each review we need wet signatures from 22 different competency leads, each of which can just sit on the document for three weeks, or refuse to sign.

[c.a.m]

I work for the DoD...

Hehe. I retired from an R&D agency. Through several collaborative programs with various DoD/Service agencies (including S&T, RD&E, and acq), I became fairly familiar with all of that. Dare I say CONOPS...

Maybe we should let the thread return to the theme of the OP...

[Madaboutpix]

So, we're now past the Pentax 100 years anniversary entertainment. Again complete silence after Pentax 100.
No new camera model, no new lens model. Now , what should we do?

Er, what exactly is different from the situation before? We knew that K-new was coming as the next APS-C flagship in the first half of 2020, which should qualify as a new camera model. As for new lenses, refer to the latest K Mount roadmap. Otherwise, as already suggested in this thread, you might want to grab your existing camera(s), go out, and create some magic, I guess.

[Kerrowdown]

Now, what should we do?

All plan our own ways to get through the next 100...

[Kevin B123]

Maybe we should let the thread return to the theme of the OP...

OK. In four hours flat we expressed the desire to outperform Ricoh and make the K-new ourselves.
Abandoned the requirements (wise choice, that way we can satisfy no-one all of the time) hired and fired the project team and didn't run over our zero budget. Dilbert would call that a success

Next up, let's wait and see what Ricoh can manage, while taking pics with our, frankly very good existing cameras?