I was there in NYC on Thursday, and stopped by the Ricoh-Pentax booth. They were not even there last year, so that's a good sign in and of itself. Almost everything was under glass, including the very interesting new FF camera---a highly developed mock-up, probably nearly final on the outside by the looks of it.
What was not under glass was a very prominently displayed 645Z and 3 lenses, on its own platform by itself and with at least one rep/manager with it at all times doing the explanations and interface with show attendees. Very good. Also good were their shirts, which were either t-shirts or polo shirts with Pentax Medium Format" printed or embroidered onto them. Just a small thing showing a bit of commitment on the part of Ricoh.
A number of things I talked about with one manager were off the record, as there was a journalist there, so I am sorry not to be able to identify the Pentax guy. But I can report some things he said. Please understand them as maybe more than a rumor, but maybe also let's wait and see. Nevertheless, it was very encouraging:
- He confirmed that Z sales were not just beyond expectations, but way, way beyond. Ricoh was delighted.
- He openly discussed Ricoh's commitment to the Pentax brand, and stated that the decision had been made to drop the Ricoh part of branding and stick with Pentax. The booth however had Ricoh on it...
- He said that the worst damage was done under Hoya (no news there), but refined that by saying the worst of the damage was done in North America with the dismantling of the distribution networks, followed by the service centers. He said both are coming back: Ricoh understands the mistake and is committed to rebuilding both. I begged him to pass along what many of us feel about the Z, that the support may be its only major weak spot---it's ridiculous for the cameras to have to go to Japan and disappear from the user for months. He completely agreed, and said that they were going to bring back service in North America, although don't know when. Can't speak for the rest of the world, sorry.
- Pentax remains a strong brand in Japan, and is doing ok in Europe. It's North America where it has hit rock bottom, but that may be turning around. They are very hopeful about the new FF camera, and I must say by the looks of it on the outside so am I. Check out the threads on it here at these forums. He claimed MSRP would be about $2400, street around $1900. That is a very sharp price point. 36mp, with some special features. That will be pretty doggone competitive. Pentax bodies have been well spec'd in APSC for a while. This looks better.
- The most interesting tidbit: remember the speculation about a Sony medium format rangefinder style camera, from about 18 months to 2 years ago? It appeared on several rumor sites. Well, maybe that is moving over to Pentax! He said it is a "hope" on the reps and outside-of-Japan managers parts that this may happen. Apparently it has been discussed seriously, and that it has been discussed as a mirrorless camera, much smaller than the Z. Maybe a fixed lens camera.
- Pursuant to the above, we briefly discussed mirrorless Pentax, and I got from him a strong impression that they would not be pursuing that avenue in the smaller formats (the Q was a throwback to the old 110, if any of you remember that little gadget from the '70's).
- I asked about leaf shutter lenses, and got the impression none were planned. He pointed to Pentax's new "partnership" with Priolite. It was news to me that it was a "partnership". I mentioned that it was more of a studio solution, and he mentioned that there were now "several" portable strobe options available for HSS, with wireless, now available (which I'll have to investigate...). So my take-away was that the direction was going to be dealing with HSS on the flash side of things, not with new lenses.
Finally, there was on his part a lot of talk about how Pentax wanted to be a brand for those who are passionate about photography. He openly disdained some of the entry level offerings of other brands and a strategy of a "race to the bottom". He said the Theta was the camera they hoped would appeal to "the masses" (I am really not sure about that one, personally...), but it was prominently displayed at the booth.
But my take-away---and this is just me putting some pieces together in my own mind, is that it looked like Pentax was going to try to leverage its long-standing "difference" and legacy value in Japan, where it remains highly regarded by the photography faithful, to offer a line of serious photographic tools from apsc through medium format, and mostly do it through the more traditional dslr model, with mirrorless reserved ("hopefully" ! ) for the medium format segment where it would have no competition. They aren't too worried about Canon right now, or Nikon---seeing both as vulnerable, Nikon more so: Pentax has already hit their low and is now bouncing back, thanks to Ricoh's deep pockets and commitment to imaging for various reasons. And they are not interested in competing "directly" with Sony, which they see as a very different kind of company, not photographically centered but electronics centered (he was critical of Sony's best stuff as being insufficiently geared towards photographers . I disagree with him there, being on my 3rd Sony camera...but he has a minor point that is maybe correct).
Well, that's it for now. Not sure how interested any of you will be about this, probably less so than those on the other forums. Sort of a Medium Format thing, a breed apart :-}
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