RICOH to buy PENTAX

[K10D]

Hot gossip?
No, it's true.

http://www.hoya.co.jp/english/news/l...0000001fwi.pdf

Best regards

[I @ M]

eeeew, that doesn't sound all that good to me. I wonder where the Tokina alliance falls in with all those entities now?

[darkbhudda]

Read the article on Reuters about it: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...7I10G620110701

It does sound like they'll take a more active role in Pentax which could be good or bad. Just as long as they keep producing awesome cameras I'll be happy.

[Tannin]

Quite possibly good news for Pentax. But - as Andrew says - the concern here is for Tokina. We don't want to lose those quite-often excellent lenses!

[swifty]

Yea.. this was certainly unexpected. But not necessarily a bad thing. Ricoh has always had a rep for producing high quality and very photographer centric products.
I wonder if there will be any major changes to Pentax's imaging products with a new owner. It'd be interesting the direction Ricoh takes.

[Kym]

Back in the day Ricoh made K-mount lenses and DSLRs (albeit with a pin that needs to be removed for compatibility)

Not sure if this is good or bad.

http://pentaxdslrs.blogspot.com/2011...ed-pentax.html Yvon's view

Hi Pentaxian friends.
12.59 AM, California time. Here I am in my bed, reading my emails and surfing the internet on my new iPad 2.I can't believe it...Ricoh just purchased Pentax from Hoya. It's all over the Internet, and you can read the news on other sites listed on the right side of this page.
This comes as a big surprize to me. I didn't see it coming.

Yvon usually gets the good oil early

From Rick .... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/0...7HG15720110616

Maybe Hoya need the capital for this expansion?

More info... Ricoh are much bigger than Hoya, a bit more than 50% the size of Canon and bigger than Nikon.

This has to be good for Pentax. I for one welcome our new overlords

[crf529]

I think this is a good thing.

Seem's from the press release the Ricoh have solid direction and want to bring Pentax somwhat to the forefront, in comparison to dwindling somewhere near the back under Hoya's presence. Ricoh probably have the cash to pull it off too.

[Kym]

Ricoh announcement http://www.ricoh.com/release/2011/pdf/0701.pdf

Strategic objectives for Ricoh
The goal of the Acquisition is to establish a firmer presence in the consumer business, which has been a considerable challenge for Ricoh.

Ricoh believes that the borderline between office and home will fade and this will be reflected in a major change in products and services. Ricoh aims to provide more consumer–oriented offerings not only in the field of digital cameras but also video conferencing systems, network appliances, and others, to their customers around the world. The Acquisition is the first step in this direction.

Ricoh intends to maximize the synergy from the merger between Ricoh’s digital camera business and PENTAX Imaging System Business in various ways.
1) Strengthening the digital camera business
- Enhanced interchangeable-lens cameras to meet expected future growth
- Expansion of product lineup and interchangeable lens portfolio

2) Creation of new business delivering added value to consumers
- Creation and development of value-added businesses such as making it easy to view, save and retouch photos.

3) Other benefits
- Possible entry into the image archiving business using medium format digital cameras
- Expansion of security related products

[knumbnutz]

They can start by bringing Pentax in via Ricoh distributors rather than CRK.

FWIW, as long as Pentax is pentax and Ricoh is ricoh then all is good, just dont want to see another Minolta.

I also think Pentax has a far better camera business than Ricoh, so hopefully they will keep it as such.

[Kym]

They can start by bringing Pentax in via Ricoh distributors rather than CRK.

Yes, could be good

FWIW, as long as Pentax is pentax and Ricoh is ricoh then all is good, just dont want to see another Minolta.

Pentax DSLRs for sure, but the compact market is a different game

I also think Pentax has a far better camera business than Ricoh, so hopefully they will keep it as such.

Yes, I would hope so. See the Ricoh announcement above.

[Cage]

I always felt Pentax and Hoya were 'strange bedfellows'.

Here's hoping the Ricoh affiliation will strengthen the Pentax imaging line of products.

Now for starters may I suggest a brilliant yet affordable 500mm f4/5.6 to take advantage of the K5's higher ISO capability.

[Kym]

Or even the build-to-order FA* 600mm f/4 !!!

[Tannin]

One assumes that Pentax aren't stupid. Ditto the money men at Ricoh. Why would they spend waste good money on designing and developing a 500/4 or similar? It would cost a heap to do - because it needs to be in the same image quality ballpark as the truly excellent Canon and Nikon products already on the market - and achieve nothing - because anyone serious enough about wildlife to buy a $10,000 lens is going to be smart enough to buy a Nikon or a Canon one. Nothing wrong with Pentax lenses, I hasten to add, they are generally excellent, and nothing wrong with Pentax cameras either, but they use in-body IS which is known to be inferior to in-lens IS at longer focal lengths, and if you are spending $10,000, you want the best, not the nearest next-best.

Nope. Pentax/Ricoh will play it smart, and aim at targets they can get traction with. Something like a 400/5.6 would be sensible, and anything in the more general-purpose range would go well. I'm not sure where the gaps in the Pentax range are, but I'm talking staples like (e.g.) 70-200/4 and /2.8; 24ish-100ish/4; 15ish-80ish/4-5.6; and 70-300/4-5.6. Pentax need to focus on lenses worth less than two or three thousand - and I bet they do.

[crf529]

One of everything!

[I @ M]

They can start by bringing Pentax in via Ricoh distributors rather than CRK.

Yes, could be good

There is a bit of an assumption here on my behalf but if Ricoh are still being distributed by the same people that they used to be ( their website is down ) then CR Kennedy are the far better option as far as service goes.

This view of mine is based on having dealt with the present? distributor of Ricoh products as a retailer.

[Kym]

http://www.ricoh.com.au/ is up now

[I @ M]

http://www.ricoh.com.au/ is up now

That is the site for copiers etc, not for the camera distributors.

[arthurking83]

..... Pentax need to focus on lenses worth less than two or three thousand - and I bet they do.

I dunno whether the moneymen at Ricoh are stupid or not, but the there engineers do seem have a great sense of adventure. And with that they appear to produce some interesting products, albeit for a very small market niche.
Add to that, some semblance of intelligence from the engineers at Pentax(eg. the recent GPS product they've introduced ) and I think we'll eventually see some new products with strange features that may have some uses.


Lets just hope that they don't turn into another Cannikon and start churning out the same boring stuff.

[Kym]

Ricoh are much bigger than Nikon and over ½ the size of Canon (in terms of gross revenue) - that sort of financial depth will be telling.

[Cage]

One assumes that Pentax aren't stupid. Ditto the money men at Ricoh. Why would they spend waste good money on designing and developing a 500/4 or similar? It would cost a heap to do - because it needs to be in the same image quality ballpark as the truly excellent Canon and Nikon products already on the market - and achieve nothing - because anyone serious enough about wildlife to buy a $10,000 lens is going to be smart enough to buy a Nikon or a Canon one. Nothing wrong with Pentax lenses, I hasten to add, they are generally excellent, and nothing wrong with Pentax cameras either, but they use in-body IS which is known to be inferior to in-lens IS at longer focal lengths, and if you are spending $10,000, you want the best, not the nearest next-best.

Nope. Pentax/Ricoh will play it smart, and aim at targets they can get traction with. Something like a 400/5.6 would be sensible, and anything in the more general-purpose range would go well. I'm not sure where the gaps in the Pentax range are, but I'm talking staples like (e.g.) 70-200/4 and /2.8; 24ish-100ish/4; 15ish-80ish/4-5.6; and 70-300/4-5.6. Pentax need to focus on lenses worth less than two or three thousand - and I bet they do.

I concur with your comments Tannin but my wish was for a 500 (or 600) prime, f4 or f5.6, with better IQ than the Sigma xxx - 500 zooms, at around the $2500- $3000 mark, a sort of enthusiast/semi-pro job, but not a f2.8 behemoth @ $10,000. With their new 645D receiving such good reviews and facing the same shortage of glass as the K series, I'm sure some of the R & D could be shared between the two models.

At the moment the Pentax range finishes at 300mm with not even a T/C to extend it. You would have to be pedantic not to find something to suit your needs up to 300mm, if not with a prime, then from the fairly good range of quality zooms.