[Imp]

Here is an interview that Imaging Resource has conducted with Ricoh (I'm sure someone has posted this already, but bear with me).

Part of the review is about Pentax and video mode. Here is what was said about video improvements:

Ricoh: If the demand is great enough.
DE: If the demand is there, yeah.
Ricoh: What do you think, will you...
DE: I think there would be demand for it, but I also don't know what the Pentax customers specifically would want. I suspect many are very traditional still photographers, so I can't really predict the demand, but it's something we can ask our readers.
Ricoh: Ah, yes please.
DE: We can ask people to comment and say, especially if someone's considering purchasing a K-1, is clean HDMI important?
Ricoh: So can you ask your reader about that?

Please go to the comments section and let Ricoh know what is important to you!

Ricoh Q&A @ CP+ 2016: The Pentax K-1 design story; video feedback solicited; sub-frame lens test update

[monochrome]

Here is an interview that Imaging Resource has conducted with Ricoh (I'm sure someone has posted this already, but bear with me).

Part of the review is about Pentax and video mode. Here is what was said about video improvements:

Please go to the comments section and let Ricoh know what is important to you!

Ricoh Q&A @ CP+ 2016: The Pentax K-1 design story; video feedback solicited; sub-frame lens test update

Even if I don't want Pentax to waste money on video?

[Imp]

Even if I don't want Pentax to waste money on video?

Hey - I said tell them what's important to you. If it is so important to you that Pentax doesn't invest a bit in R&D in video to bring them back up to speed with current cameras - let them know that, and congratulate them on their current achievements!

[monochrome]

What we forget is they aren't idiots. They're really good engineers and designers and very good businessmen. I'm quite certain they have their reasons to downplay video; I'd bet they're well thought out and tactical decisions within their overall strategy. They don't feel a need to share their reasons with us.

Some of us want Pentax to be just like the other guys. Maybe they think, "We already have the other guys. We don't need another other guys." They've pretty clearly said, I think, they build stills cameras as a brand identifier.

It might be something as trivial as,"It isn't only what we have that makes Pentax different. It's what we don't have."

I don't believe it's quite that facile. I believe there is some engineering hurdle to do with some other feature. They probably already know what to do to fix video, but doing so would take away something else that they think is more important. Maybe there isn't room to surface mount some component, maybe as said above it is heat. Maybe it's the way they tuned the Milbeaut processor.

And being Japanese they're just not going to answer the question directly.

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Last edited by monochrome; 03-31-2016 at 07:27 PM.

[mikeSF]

...

It might be something as trivial as,"It isn't only what we have that makes Pentax different. It's what we don't have."

...

this exact mindset is what propelled marginal companies like Southwest Airlines, Ikea, Curves, Yellowtail Wine, etc... into a leadership role in their respective industries. The concept of not trying to catch up to the status quo but shift the market expectation slightly to fit your unique offering is powerful. I read about this in a book called "Blue Ocean Strategy"...check it out.

[monochrome]

this exact mindset is what propelled marginal companies like Southwest Airlines, Ikea, Curves, Yellowtail Wine, etc... into a leadership role in their respective industries. The concept of not trying to catch up to the status quo but shift the market expectation slightly to fit your unique offering is powerful. I read about this in a book called "Blue Market Strategy"...check it out.

You nailed it. I've read the book. I PREFER Southwest now, we finally got an IKEA, my wife drinks Yellowtail, and . . . I shoot Pentax.

[Imp]

we finally got an IKEA

As in... you bought a store?

[mikeSF]

You nailed it. I've read the book. I PREFER Southwest now, we finally got an IKEA, my wife drinks Yellowtail, and . . . I shoot Pentax.

i think Ricoh-Pentax are smart not to try to assimilate into becoming another Nikon/Canon. Their clever innovations set them apart and if properly marketed, could draw consumers from beyond the usual DSLR-buying target demographic.
Of course, how they will do that remains to be seen.

[monochrome]

Subaru and Mini's US marketing strategy also fit. We'll need to see some intentional marketing actions, but the K-1 Special Site is a start.

[Imp]

i think Ricoh-Pentax are smart not to try to assimilate into becoming another Nikon/Canon. Their clever innovations set them apart and if properly marketed, could draw consumers from beyond the usual DSLR-buying target demographic. Of course, how they will do that remains to be seen.

Very Smart. IMO I don't feel succumbing to video is becoming like Canikon - Pentax is different in that it offers tons of features at a low pricepoint, with amazing ergonomics. I feel videographers would love the intuitive layout of a Pentax, for video. Using my school's T2i for short films is such a pain - I can't even set a custom Kelvin white balance! And say you've got a setting like the white balance you're trying to change, and its in a graphic layout like an info screen - to get to the second line of options, you can't just press the down button - you have to press the side button and go all the way through the first row to get to the second! If that made any sense . Pentax has put SO much thought into the design and layout, the cameras are glorious to use.

I guess i'm just trying to say, with Pentax being such a feature rich brand, they're really missing out on a feature that could POTENTIALLY attract a lot of low-budget filmmakers. MAYBE.
Just my opinion, no need to tear it apart. I could be dead wrong, video could by horribly difficult to implement, and i'm sure pentax knows what they're doing... but that's how I feel.

[monochrome]

As in... you bought a store?

Yeah, pretty much.

[monochrome]

@Imp
I think their solution for the video market will be a Ricoh product with some Pentax DNA.

[mikeSF]

@Imp
I think their solution for the video market will be a Ricoh product with some Pentax DNA.

this. not by trying to make a DSLR into something it isnt, but by innovating a dedicated video solution that can use the full gamut of K-mount lenses.

[Imp]

That would be great, I'd love that innovation.

[Steve.Ledger]

this. not by trying to make a DSLR into something it isnt, but by innovating a dedicated video solution that can use the full gamut of K-mount lenses.

A DSLR is a Digital Single Reflex Camera. Broken down that means it's 'digital' so is using an electronic sensor to capture light and a built-in computer to convert it to a visible colour image rather than using analog film. It has a 'Single lens' which channels and focuses light into the body and 'reflex' mirror system which flips up out of the way to flood the sensor with that light when the shutter button is depressed and finally it's a 'camera' which is a device to capture graphic images from photons, IOW: a device for recording visual images. Up until recently, that's all it was capable of doing due to the limits of technology so no-where is it written that it should continue to only be capable of capturing a single or a few single images per second. Today's technology is now advanced enough for the device to capture 24 to 60 smaller 'still' images per second and save them as a stream-able file in a container with an extension that is recognized on a computer to do so. It doesn't require any expensive additional hardware, it's mostly software and computing power via an upgraded image processing chip. It's called innovation, development, enhancement and invention. The continuing evolution of an idea. It's what we as humans do - it makes us who we are.. Tool makers supreme.
Comments such as yours remind me of the Luddites: "a person opposed to increased industrialization or new technology." It just makes no sense whatsoever. We'd have not got to the moon or mars, we'd have no digital SLRs, phones that do more than make receive voice calls without this distinctly human trait to innovate..
I don't mean to sound sarcastic, but I get tired and frankly p*ssed off from seeing such arguments from those who have no interest in DSLR video and therefore no business posting negative comments in a DSLR video related forum while they hold such opinions. Comments like yours are not objective or helpful in any way. Please stick to the 'stills' forum sections if that's your interest, (there's a larger choice) and leave this area to those who like to be positive about video. Finally, adding the capability for a modern DSLR to save images as video streams is not making a DSLR something it isn't, it's making it into something it is and is far cheaper, requires less RnD and be more widely sold than a dedicated video system which can use K-mount lenses.