RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: P and R will Co-exist and Q being the Bridge

Wednesday, November 02, 2011

P and R will Co-exist and Q being the Bridge

(Shinji Miura, Ricoh's Executive Vice President)

See this latest interview with the top management of Ricoh:-

http://www.itmedia.co.jp/news/articles/1110/28/news085.html

(in Japanese, Google-translated English Page Here)

So, it is re-iterated again that the two camera brands will be kept and to be co-existent. And, it is heard for the first time that the Pentax Q is named as it is placed between the Alphabets P (for Pentax) and R (for Ricoh), which has the meaning to serve as a bridge between the two.

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Sammy · 697 weeks ago

I don't think this is a good step. Ricoh should do it as Sony did it with Minolta in the past and create purely new portfolio. It would be more refreshing than keeping Pentax and going the same road without any changes.

8 replies · active 696 weeks ago

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Alexander Evensen · 697 weeks ago

What's wrong with the route Pentax is/was on? The K-x was fantastic, the K-r as well, and also the K-5. Before that, the K10D was awesome as well.

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Denis · 697 weeks ago

You have low standards if call those «fantastic».

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Alexander Evensen · 697 weeks ago

Yes, cameras being at the top of their class when released are usually very good cameras.

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Sammy · 697 weeks ago

For me personally the last good Pentax camera was K20D and eventually K200D. After this point issues with Pentax cameras are more emphasized than before. I was Pentax shooter long time and I had nice set of FA* primes and DA* zooms in the past, but after release of noisy, but faster K-7 I'm gone. The lack of upgrade to FF body and use of dated AF system was for me no go, but still I'm occasionally shooting with Pentax gear and what I really like are the colors of Pentax and accurate WB. What I really think Pentax needs most is to refresh their portfolio with new and better lenses and make something exceptionally interesting what persuades people to buy Pentax. In the second line they need to strengthen their quality control and turn it 180 degrees to make it better because the situation now I think is critical. I have several issues with my Pentax gear and I'm reading about lot of complaints on their QC still. At the last in our country has Pentax no good reputation so Ricoh brand with something new and refreshing with true Pentax spirit included would sell better. So this is my opinion why they should do something similar with Pentax as Sony did with Minolta in the past, but may to keep the brand name. Actually I'm happy that Ricoh bought Pentax and I hope the ice will melt and Pentax will shine again. Ricoh is powerful company and has the experiences and knowledge to make better cameras for the world.

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Alexander Evensen · 697 weeks ago

I had the K10D, the K-x and now the K-5, and they were all great. The K-x had extremely good ISO performance and was very fast for what it was, that's why I went for it and sold my K10D to get it. Then later the K-5 for the same reasons, and the K-5, but it also had the great body, like the K10D had a great body, only a bit smaller. The K-5 also has an improved AF system over all the previous models.

Yes, some lenses has some problems, but customer service, at least here in Norway, can fix the lenses that has problems. No brands are free of fault, so I don't think you'll get less faults with other brands.

I don't see why a full frame system is so sought after. It can't be ISO performance, that improves on all kinds of cameras always, and the performance now on the K-5 is superior to full frame only very few years ago, and they used full frame then without moaning about it. I doubt it's the depth of field, but it might be, and that's pretty much the only legit reason AFAIK. Specially since Pentax is know for making smaller cameras than others, it can't be the body, which for Nikon and Canon makes for big camera bodies for their full frame cameras, which I doubt would have been the case for an eventual Pentax full frame body.

What about the bigger view finder for full frame cameras? Maybe, but if you want a big view finder, go medium format, otherwise the difference isn't very big IMO. I just don't see the reason for the moaning about a full frame body.

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PRICOH LTD. · 697 weeks ago

If a Pentax owner wants bigger sensor, why go medium format when for same money one can buy either Nikon D700, D3s, D3x, or Canon 5D Mark II, 1Ds Mark III, or Sony A900 all for less money than Pentax 645D AND WITH SPARE CHANGE to then buy lenses brand new too.

Ricoh is too busy with their PQR flagship, The Q.

Nothing new on K Mount front, no idea whats happening till end of year in April 2012 for Ricoh.

Pentax Ricoh misses another Christmas shopping season, well for me and my family and I own Pentax K mount lenses.

As Pentaxians continually make excuses for Pentax, then Hoya, and now Ricoh they should expect business as usual.

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Denis · 697 weeks ago

> Specially since Pentax is know for making smaller cameras than others

But they are much larger than mirrorless cams. And pentax PDAF is so bad that EVIL CDAF is outperform it even in terms of speed and, of course, accuracy. I see no reason to buy pentax today. No one f%cking reason.

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aurele · 696 weeks ago

"But they are much larger than mirrorless cams."

-> probably because they have a Mirror :-)

"I see no reason to buy pentax today. No one f%cking reason."

-> no one force you to buy it.

Pentax is, by far, a very small company compared to Canon, Nikon and Sony. They don't have as much money, as many ingenieer, as them.

And for Sony/minolta it took 2years for Sony to fully absorbe Minolta and build a real good line up. During the 1st year they did only 1 (or 2 ?) body, and almost no new lense.

Be patient with Pentax, and if you want to see if the grass is greener elswhere, just do it, and stop complaining :-)

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Piotr · 697 weeks ago

What's wrong?
lens portfolio:
no new lenses,
bad quality control at lenses factory // unstable quality
good old discontinued lenses left without successor.