Ricoh/Pentax Announces New Film Cameras

It looks like they’re gonna be starting at the bottom with a compact camera and then slowly adding features as they move up until it gets to a full feature still camera.
I don’t think that that would be the route that I would go due to the fact that fads come and go. I’d just settle on a platform, give it a few features and go for it. If It survives evolve it a little bit.
 
Crazy Leica Fox said:
How about compromise and call it Konica Minolta? That would be a brand that's sure to succeed in the camera industry!
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The Konica-Minolta merger just seemed to signal the death of both venerable brands.

I would love to see the resurrection of Minolta-branded cameras, as I have had numerous Autocords (still have two) and many manual-focus 35mm SLRs (SR-Ts and electronic models). I also have three Minolta handheld meters.

Even so, I have a lot of respect for the Pentax brand and would love to see a new Pentax film SLR.

- Murray
 
KoNickon said:
Ricoh surely knows how to build a film camera. They made a lot of good ones over a long period of time, even if the name didn't have the cachet of Pentax (but they have outlasted a lot of bigger names, obviously).
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As someone who has been around Leicas for most of his adult life, the Ricoh GR came as a complete surprise. Surely one of the best compacts of the period. Perhaps it wouldn't be stretching the imagination to imagine a re-launch with an emphasis on longevity this time round.

I was frightened into selling mine before it broke. Sometimes I wonder if it is still working...
 
I love my Pentax system. The last of K-1000 were very badly made, the 50mm lens garbage in results and construction! It was a simple camera, originally very well constructed in the Spotmatic.
price will determine! I think though Too late. That goes for most cameras film or digital. The PHONE!
 
Freakscene said:
...The jet black K-3 iii kit sold out in a few hours via UBgoe: https://ubgoe.com/projects/146 Having the cash in your hand from fans is a great way for a company to protect against insolvency.
Marty
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Even though I live in Japan I was not familiar with this Jet Black K-3 III camera & lens thing, so I googled it (of course). Holy bat-sh1t! That is one of the coolest cameras I have ever seen - damn!

My hat's off to Pentax. And, a thank you to Marty for bringing it to my attention.

All the best,
Mike
 
leicapixie said:
I love my Pentax system. The last of K-1000 were very badly made, the 50mm lens garbage in results and construction! It was a simple camera, originally very well constructed in the Spotmatic.
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I remember reading an article back in the 90s comparing an original K1000 to a later "made in China" one. Not only there were more plastic parts involved (which wasnt much of an issue as it was deemed to be of good quality plastic in non essential places) but the machining of certain parts was less precise on the later models.

Very similar conclusion about an SRT and a Chinese equivalent to whom Minolta sold the licence and some machinery.
 
This is encouraging, for sure. Was at Walmart the other day and they actually had a section selling vinyl records, so as the film niche grows don't be too grouchy about where things might end up. My take is it makes more sense for the big players like Fuji to license new production runs of older cameras like the 645Zi to smaller, upstart camera companies that don't need huge sales to satisfy shareholders.
 
In the video "Film Project #01", the disassembled chassis shown appears to be that of a circa 1985 Pentax P3/P30 SLR. But near the end of the video, there's a very quick glimpse of an unfamiliar, 3D-printed camera with stubby wind crank. Which certainly suggests that they're already produced something tangible. But whether it's sufficiently polished and production-ready is another matter. Perhaps it's something similar in spirit to the Olympus XA2?
 
I’m excited about this announcement, but still a little worried.

The elephant in the room that they didn’t discuss in the video is the loss of manufacturing infrastructure. Where are they going to get suitable shutters, P&S autofocus and motorized film advance systems? The Reflex kickstarter died because the infrastructure had disappeared. Can Pentax meet Copal’s minimum order quantity for a non-digital shutter? I don’t even know who made the other stuff. I would not expect a ‘90s to ‘00s style P&S like the GR1, nor an autofocus SLR with motorized film advance like the MZ-5. Whatever they end up making, it’s going to be novel.
 
Dralowid said:
As someone who has been around Leicas for most of his adult life, the Ricoh GR came as a complete surprise. Surely one of the best compacts of the period. Perhaps it wouldn't be stretching the imagination to imagine a re-launch with an emphasis on longevity this time round.

I was frightened into selling mine before it broke. Sometimes I wonder if it is still working...
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Yes. If Ricoh/Pentax intends to start with a compact camera, an amazing choice would be the revival of the film GR series - perhaps a slightly revised model plus a parts and repair service for all those people whose GR no longer works. That would be welcomed and would be an astonishing unprecedented action in the world of camera manufacturing.

However, I have the impression they would start with something simple - a Pentax version of a Canonet 28 perhaps. Manual setting of shutter speed, aperture, manual winding and hopefully a rangefinder rather than scale focusing.

If it’s to be a simple but capable SLR, a re-issue of their 35mm MX would be nice.
 
Here is a street shot from Tokyo, of the new Pentax analog 4x5 film rangefinder. Where can I sign up for the pre-order? All the Hipsters are gonna have one! ;-). SW
 

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Steevo said:
Here is a street shot from Tokyo, of the new Pentax analog 4x5 film rangefinder. Where can I sign up for the pre-order? All the Hipsters are gonna have one! ;-). SW
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Yikes! What is that? Looks big enough for 4x5 but then with that short focal length it’s got to be an ultrawide.

Pre-ordering now…
 
Steevo said:
Here is a street shot from Tokyo, of the new Pentax analog 4x5 film rangefinder. Where can I sign up for the pre-order? All the Hipsters are gonna have one! ;-). SW
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Is this for real? "the new Pentax analog 4x5 film rangefinder" -- as if this was a generally known thing. I have never heard of this.
 
Steevo said:
Here is a street shot from Tokyo, of the new Pentax analog 4x5 film rangefinder. Where can I sign up for the pre-order? All the Hipsters are gonna have one! ;-). SW
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Looks like a one-off homemade kluge, a category of cameras dear to my heart! If someone offered me one, I'd snap it up in a heartbeat. Maybe a Contax IIA and a Speed Graphic hooked up for a night, and this camera is the love child?
 
A great pocket camera would be good. I have Rollei and Ricoh which can't be repaired nowadays.

Not so sure about a new SLR, given the huge numbers of excellent second hand cameras out there.
 
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