Originally posted by MarkJerling I think they compete as well as they want to compete. Pentax is a niche brand. Ricoh most likely has no appetite for a huge share of the market. Even if they grew the brand 10% year on year, they'd still be a small player. It's a fine balance between keeping your shareholders happy and keeping the customers happy. Most of us are very happy customers, so they must be doing something right. Sure - there are things they can do better.
But, let's speculate. If you don't think Ricoh is the right sort of owner for Pentax, who do you suggest? You'll need a big Japanese company with deep pockets and something to gain out of owning a well known brand of optical devices. I'd love to hear your suggestions.
At this point when it comes to sales of advanced amateur/pro camera equipment, and I include Canikon sales too... from what I understand sales aren't what they used to be ....and possibly will never be.
I was very happy when Ricoh bought Pentax from Hoya and I believe Ricoh has been good for Pentax. Pentax is surviving and as you say is a niche brand, which is ok for me. I hope Ricoh keeps developing and cranking out Pentax equipment and I hope they continue to make the equipment at the current, high standard they do.
I'm a very long term customer of Pentax, bought my first Pentax..new... an S1a in 1968, which I still have and it still works. Of course that was back when Pentax was the 'Canon' of fine camera equipment, meaning at the, or close to the top of the total sales.
I could bemoan as to how the mighty have fallen since those heady days of Pentax being the sales leader, but I'm not.
Pentax has evolved to where it is now and I tell you...walking around with my K1, D FA Pentax 100 F 2.8 Macro/ 28-105 lenses last week while on holiday on the Alberta prairies...taking pics of everything from vintage cars, 'portraits' of my young grandson in low available indoor light, old architectural buildings, disinterested cattle, etc...I found my K1 and those lenses that I took with me on our travels...a marvel.
A marvel to me, in how fast the AF worked, the superb image quality and the natural ergonomics of my K1 with battery grip. The phrase that pops into my brain when I handle my K1...is something out of the 1960's sportscar magazines I used to read..when they would say about a car's controls...'everything falls readily to hand..'..and with the K1...it does.
So to sum up...what more can an avid, old guy photographer like me want ? Nothing really...my Pentax digital works very well for me...and I think my standards are more than adequate.
I'm happy where Pentax has landed in the world of photography. They seem to be surviving nicely, albeit at a slower pace than the big wheels. In some respects they are a 'secret' known only to Pentaxians ...and I kind of like being part of a secret society.
Les