RiceHigh's Pentax Blog: Pentax Ricoh Digital Camera Products Shuffle

Friday, July 13, 2012

Pentax Ricoh Digital Camera Products Shuffle

"Noboru Akabane, President of Pentax Imaging Ricoh, announced plans to abolish future Pentax compact digital cameras and focus on DSLRs. All future compact cameras will be under the Ricoh brand while DSLR and mirrorless camera will be under the Pentax name."

Japanese Asahi News reports (log-in required to read article).

Via Photo Rumors via Digicame Info (Japanese).

So, this will soon marks an end to the Optio series of Pentax DCs. Yet another really very sad thing for Pentax fans, for sure! :-(

Btw, as a genuine die-hard supporter of the brand (not by mouth, but by purchases and actions! ;-p), I have the first Optio model of theirs and almost the last, see below:-

Originally posted: The World First / Pentax First: My (Obsolete) Pentax Collection

Originally posted: My Take (Tick) on the WG-1 GPS! ;-)

I need to say once again it is super sad after all!! >_<

Comments (21)

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+7 Vote up Vote down

opiparopepino 58p · 664 weeks ago

If Pentax focuses on DSLR's, means more time, money and engineers for DSLRs... It sounds good to me.

+4 Vote up Vote down

Luck · 664 weeks ago

I'v seen no reason to buy Pentax compact back in the film days, in the '80 and '90, so I see no reason to buy now crappy small format compact camera.
I'm interested only in true DSLR, FF35 first, and 645D second.
I do not care at all about so coled DSLR APS-C.

1 reply · active 664 weeks ago

+1 Vote up Vote down

jaad75 · 664 weeks ago

There is nothing in DSLR definition that says about sensor size. So FourThirds or APS-C DSLRs are not "less DSLR" or so called DSLRs, they are just the same DSLRs as so called full frame DSLRs.

-3 Vote up Vote down

Rob · 664 weeks ago

Wow I just bought a WG-2 and it is excellent. Sad day indeed.

+5 Vote up Vote down

jaad75 · 664 weeks ago

I see nothing sad about this news. It's actually pretty good.

+3 Vote up Vote down

Yvon Bourque · 664 weeks ago

This is a good thing. You just have to recognize that Ricoh and Pentax is one company. There is no point in competing with each other. I'm sure the Optio line will mutate into Ricoh with the same capabilities. Pentax will have a better chance to push the limits of the DSLRs and Mirror-less, and who knows...maybe full frame.

3 replies · active 663 weeks ago

-3 Vote up Vote down

daedbird · 664 weeks ago

I think you are wrong. There is something to say about those buyers out there who are brand loyal, even if the internals are similar to another brand. I buy Pentax because I like the company, and have been shooting with them since my youth. Others may give the brand a look (even the point and shoot) because they had a K1000. I don't feel that same pull with Ricohs, even if I know they are the same company.

Its like when they decided to downsize GM - They got rid of Pontiac, even though it was the second best selling nameplate, all because Buick is bigger in China. I had a pull to Pontiac because of cars I grew up with, but really am not as brand loyal to the GM brand, so I may go buy a Ford instead.

Some user menus, and some cases, the cost to create two packages is not much. And if this is a case of unified marketing, why would you not have the DSLR and compact programs under the same name? Nikon does it. Canon does it. Sony does it. And quite frankly, for most consumers Pentax means cameras and Ricoh means copiers.

+5 Vote up Vote down

MrBig · 664 weeks ago

Brand loyalty makes no sense whatsoever to me.

+1 Vote up Vote down

Jeff · 663 weeks ago

Wow, a voice of sanity in the wilderness.

+5 Vote up Vote down

Michael A. · 664 weeks ago

Latest cellphones are cooking P&S to death. Just a smart business call by Ricoh. Time to intro that FF Pentax! :o)

+2 Vote up Vote down

anonymous · 664 weeks ago

GXR is dead? That will be really sad.

+1 Vote up Vote down

bananacam · 664 weeks ago

nooo! pentax sucks at mirrorless :(
GXR M-mount FTW!

-2 Vote up Vote down

snappertim · 664 weeks ago

With smart phone cameras at 11 or 12 mp whats the point of a dedecated compact camera, GXR and K01 will have to go full frame to avoid being over run by smart phones and this means more resources for DSLR.
Regards Snappertim

1 reply · active 664 weeks ago

+3 Vote up Vote down

Simon · 664 weeks ago

Sounds crazy, but the Nokia 808 delivers sharper pictures than a D800 mit a 50mm @ f8. P&S cameras will vanish!

0 Vote up Vote down

Jeff · 663 weeks ago

I was surprised when I read your Pentax Collection article
"the first AFSLR that had a central crossed AF sensor was the film *ist, which was launched as late as in 2003"

I looked up the MZ-S, brochure and specs states:
"SAFOX VII autofocus system featuring an extra-wide AF frame with six autofocus points: five points aligned horizontally, and an additional point above the middle point."
Doesn't say if the af points are crossed. Given the MZ-S was a top of the line camera, and other mfg.'s had at least one cross sensor in their mid level cameras and higher, not having a cross sensor in the MZ-S was really behind the competition.

0 Vote up Vote down

Lauren · 663 weeks ago

Rice, the EI-100 predates the Optio 330. To be a die-hard Pentaxian you need the "Genesis trinity" EI-100, EI-200/HP618 and EI-2000/HP912. To be hard-core-bad-ass you need an EI-C90. I've got all of them. ;)

3 replies · active 663 weeks ago

+1 Vote up Vote down

RiceHigh 110p · 663 weeks ago

Those were the days, when Pentax still had a larger customer base and was healthier (relatively). Btw, what is the latest Pentax gear of yours?

0 Vote up Vote down

Lauren · 663 weeks ago

LOL. The latest gear or as in the newest? That's a tough one since I mix collecting with getting new stuff. I think the latest gear is an old SF1 with a lens and flash that I scored cheap - $50. The latest *new* thing is probably the Sigma 50-500 or maybe my new Gimbal. Dunno. ;) I'm probably going to pick up the K30 in the next couple of weeks as my "Run-and-Gun" camera, but the Q keeps going down in price, so I might pick one up as a collector piece. ;)

+1 Vote up Vote down

RiceHigh 110p · 663 weeks ago

What's difference between "latest" and "newest"? Does it really matter? :-o

0 Vote up Vote down

stan · 623 weeks ago

Do you have a comparsion result between that optio 330 with smartphone 5Mp camera?
I am curious, which one better, the real digital camera or a phone with camera?

1 reply · active 623 weeks ago

+1 Vote up Vote down

RiceHigh 110p · 623 weeks ago

The Optio 330 is still better.

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Friday, July 13, 2012

Pentax Ricoh Digital Camera Products Shuffle

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