Ricoh to buy Pentax from Hoya.

[hugh]

Exact same thought here, so that makes two similar ignorant takes 🙂

I think this is good news... two companies which can use each other. Pentax can use Ricoh's "innovation" and Ricoh could use Pentax's marketing and distribution. Well, that is my ignorant take on the issue. 😉

Talk to anyone behind a camera counter even aware of the current Pentax line-up and they'll tell you their marketing and distribution are almost nonexistent. I live between Sacramento and Tahoe and will have to drive to either Reno or San Jose (much further from me than San Francisco) to check out and possibly purchase a real live K-5 which is what I intend to do in the next few weeks. I think Ricoh's done some fine compact P&S cams (I have a CX2) and thinks out of the box (same for Pentax in some ways as well) and I have hopes for this development. It's a good thing it's another photographic company and not a luxury bag/cosmetics brand or some such nonsense taking ownership of Pentax IMO.

 

[eddie1960]

Nikon and Canon make 24mm f1.4's that are optically fantastic, and a similar size as the da 14mm. They also make 20mm f2.8's. The pentax 35mm f2 isn't made anymore - it's not listed on the pentax websites. On an aps-c camera that equates to a 50mm lens with f2.8 depth of field - miles off what a f1.4 lens can offer. Canon has the 50mm f1.2L which is a fantastic optic. Nikons 1.4 50 is very good too.

See what I mean?

Pentax Canada shows the 35 f2.0 still active, along with the 50 1.4, the 31 1.9, the 43 1.9, the 77 1.9 - all FA lenses
In DFa (digitally optimized full frame)
macro 50 2.8 and WR macro 100 2.8

The 14 2.8 is a really nice lens BTW, it was my first purchase when i went digital (when FF wasn't even an option with anyone)

That being said I think the Ricoh buyout has lots of good things going for it. The Hoya buyout was hostile and was solely aimed at getting the medical division (given the aging Population i can see wanting to own another eyeglass optics company lol)
Hoya really did the bare minimum to raise the profile and make the division profitable so they could sell it. As for market share numbers are deceptive, Pentax does absolutely crap in the huge point and shoot market, always have. The DSLR share has actually jumped under hoya to about 10% share, and that is the market Ricoh has stated they want to pursue. Personally i love the idea of a second generation GXR system under the pwentax name with a k mount module (i have 25 lenses) and an M mount
give me access to more than enough glass to satisfy my lba for a long time. even better if Ricoh manages to incorporate Wr and Sr tech into the units, with a possible eye to a FF version
I'm not a huge fan boy (i've owned and still own a lot of various brands) but i have always like pentax product, and the k7/k5 are killer bodies with great ergonomics IMO
not as nice as a good RF can be, but then again it won't set me back $8000 to get a body and a lens.
The really big win I see is Ricoh has the funds and the inclination at this point to pursue a growth strategy, that is something Hoya never had

 

[eddie1960]

Ricoh could have produced K-mount GXR modules with or without buying Pentax, the K mount licenses are available royalty-free.

Something will have to go. Ricoh has four interchangeable-something camera lines now - Pentax Q, Pentax K DSLRs, Pentax 645 Medium format, and the Ricoh GXR.

The Q is too new, and the due diligence for the merger has been going on for a while; if they wanted to ditch the Q, it would never have hit the market, they'd just have dumped it and laid off the Q engineers. So the Q is here to stay. Maybe they'll make a small-sensor Q module for the GXR, it shouldn't be major trouble.

For the 645D the future looks rather grim now, I guess.

And I don't think they'll ditch their own GXR only to get a foothold in the presently rather unrewarding DSLR market. So the future of the Pentax DSLRs depends on how many different interchangeable-something systems Ricoh think they need in their portfolio.

What makes you think the 645D future looks grim. Ricoh stated they wanted to grow the ILC business. the 6456D falls under that umbrella (and it's been a successful unit so far, the real need being lenses) I think they could easily give a digital rework (like the DFA k mounts) to a number of older 645 designs and get them to market as lens availability is the biggest weakness at this point for the 645 sales. At least it is a (somewhat)camera company and not a capital fund that took them over (like Hasselblad)
Pentax needs to improve some distribution (like the US) but in other countries they actually have pretty decent distribution (there are at least 5 big camera stores downtown toronto carrying the brand - but no big box generic retailers which isn't a bad thing)
They need to get rep and ad support to the distribution to get the presence though

 

[eddie1960]

All I want to know is will they make the Pentax limited lenses in M mount for their GXR. 😉

Well they did make the one in m39 (the 43 limited)
it would be nice to see IMO (if it's produced in wty to actually be able to find one 😛)

 

[semilog]

FYI, E-5 has 1.15x mag. viewfinder. Has been frozen, thawed, thrown into mud, cleaned up in a shower, etc. And yes, it has in-body image stabilization.

I know. An aside:

I have and heavily use a couple of Olympus DSLRs, actually. My only complaints are: (1) Oly is not making any more DSLRs (not a big deal to me, actually); (2) the weather-sealed Oly's (E1/3/5) are gigantic compared to the svelte, streamlined K-5 and K-7; (3) Olympus's prime range has been really anemic. There are two absolutely superlative lenses (50/2 macro, 150/2), and that's about it unless you want a zoom. There's not even a fast normal, other than the gigantic and pricey Panasonic/Leica25 Summilux.

The only reasons to get into the system are: (1) you like the earlier Kodak frame-transfer sensors, warts and all; (2) The 150/2; (3) the zooms (e.g., 12-60 SWD).

Reasons 1 (E-500) and 3 (12-60 SWD):

20110703-_7032451 by Semilog, on Flickr

As an aside, why get worked up, semilog? this is just a forum discussion. You are welcome to be the one who *always* make sense, I have no problem with that. For the most part I enjoy reading your posts. 🙂

Thanks for your kind comments. I was (over?)reacting to your suggestion above that Pentax's designs are derivative or me-too. I disagree, strongly, and I don't even shoot their stuff. I think you were genuinely unfair to a company that's done some of the very best work on camera ergonomics over the years and right up to the present. To say nothing of the Limited lenses which are really unusual and cool offerings. A K-5 with a 31 Limited would be pretty much a dream setup for a lot of work.

 

[semilog]

There is always the argument that if Pentax made the same type of stuff as Canon and Nikon, people wouldn't buy it. Such a small company needs to differentiate their products in some way. Pentax does this primarily through high build quality and small size.

Yup. Pentax did that in the film days, too.

Another interesting point is that Pentax and Hoya both have always had tremendous strengths in lens-coating technology, while both Ricoh and Pentax have long traditions of making lenses with exceptionally pleasant signatures.

And don't forget that all of the Ricoh film SLRs were K-mount! I still have and use a Ricoh KR-5 Super as my dreadful-weather film camera. The 50/2 on the KR-5 didn't have beautiful build quality but it was sharp as hell – I liked it better than the Pentax 50/1.8 that is on the camera now, and that lens is no slouch.

 

[rxmd]

And don't forget that all of the Ricoh film SLRs were K-mount!

I think that doesn't really warrant much interpretation, it was because the K-mount was available royalty-free to anybody. Everybody and their mother built K-mount SLRs, including the Soviets and the Chinese.

 

[semilog]

^--- I 'm aware of that. Nevertheless, Ricoh has already built lenses that fit on current Pentax DSLRs, and they have built film SLRs that can take current Pentax lenses.

Institutional memory is important.

 

[gavinlg]

http://www.youtube.com/user/DigitalRevCom#p/u/0/XrN7xiHGg80