Pentax Pro DSLR

[westclox]

Hi,

Any one here have any news of when Pentax is launching a flagship DSLR to compete with other makes? Even SONY is anouncing somthing like this.

[longko]

Rumors of K1D

http://www.pentaxforums.com/forums/p...-strategy.html

[creampuff]

While I believe they may have prototypes of a rumoured flagship model or have subsequent iterations for the K100D and K10D in the pipeline, the fact of the matter is that Pentax is currently in a position of catch-up. The K100D was delayed, the K10D was late, and as in any product development, there is a target volume for the company to break even and a target volume where profits are to be made. As much as the 2 cameras have garnered good reviews, I believe they may not yet have reached full profitability sales wise.

Therein lies the dilemma - Pentax needs to ramp up sales volume of the 2 cameras but in doing so, a wider user base will put more even more demand on the availability of lenses and related accessories. Introducing a newer model now makes no sense until they can adhere to their lens roadmap rollout. In other words they have to first satisfy existing K100D and K10D owners needs first before even coming out with a rumoured pro version. One sells a camera system, not an individual camera body. Besides, the K10D is more than sufficient for the needs of the working photographer or serious hobbyist features wise, so I would question the need for a pro body at the moment. What's the point of having a K1D when the camera is limited to a few lenses?

[cheekeen]

Do you guys think this is for real ? Or just a hoax ?

http://www.avbuzz.com/bbs/photo/photo-thread-77223.html

[istDeS]

Originally Posted by cheekeen Do you guys think this is for real ? Or just a hoax ? http://www.avbuzz.com/bbs/photo/photo-thread-77223.html

That is the pentax K-1 that was never lauched as Pentax marketing kills it off. They decided that camera is too expensive to find a market.

[cheekeen]

OIC

[ywcheong]

Saw this news that Pentax not developing pro DSLR
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...fer=technology

[VSonic06]

Originally Posted by ywcheong Saw this news that Pentax not developing pro DSLR http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...fer=technology

Wonder if they'll can the Digital 645?

[drakon09]

Thursday, May 10, 2007 3:20 a.m. (JST)

Pentax To Sell Tokyo HQ, Quit Low-Profit Ops To Lift Corp Value

TOKYO (Nikkei)--Pentax Corp. (7750) plans to sell its Tokyo headquarters and withdraw from less profitable businesses under strategies the camera maker has crafted to block a takeover bid by optical glass manufacturer Hoya Corp. (7741), The Nikkei learned Wednesday.

-the text of the article includes this statement -

"On top of this, Pentax will continue to overhaul less profitable businesses. It will abandon the development of medium-format single-lens reflex cameras designed for professional photographers and specialize in digital SLR offerings for new and intermediate users."
__________________


The 645 got canned. Looks like their new strategy would be focusing on entry to serious amateur.

[Zenten]

Originally Posted by drakon09 Thursday, May 10, 2007 3:20 a.m. (JST) Pentax To Sell Tokyo HQ, Quit Low-Profit Ops To Lift Corp Value TOKYO (Nikkei)--Pentax Corp. (7750) plans to sell its Tokyo headquarters and withdraw from less profitable businesses under strategies the camera maker has crafted to block a takeover bid by optical glass manufacturer Hoya Corp. (7741), The Nikkei learned Wednesday. -the text of the article includes this statement - "On top of this, Pentax will continue to overhaul less profitable businesses. It will abandon the development of medium-format single-lens reflex cameras designed for professional photographers and specialize in digital SLR offerings for new and intermediate users ............................. The 645 got canned. Looks like their new strategy would be focusing on entry to serious amateur.

........................... Good ........ I just saved myself $15K

[fengwei]

Originally Posted by drakon09 Thursday, May 10, 2007 3:20 a.m. (JST) Pentax To Sell Tokyo HQ, Quit Low-Profit Ops To Lift Corp Value TOKYO (Nikkei)--Pentax Corp. (7750) plans to sell its Tokyo headquarters and withdraw from less profitable businesses under strategies the camera maker has crafted to block a takeover bid by optical glass manufacturer Hoya Corp. (7741), The Nikkei learned Wednesday. -the text of the article includes this statement - "On top of this, Pentax will continue to overhaul less profitable businesses. It will abandon the development of medium-format single-lens reflex cameras designed for professional photographers and specialize in digital SLR offerings for new and intermediate users." __________________ The 645 got canned. Looks like their new strategy would be focusing on entry to serious amateur.

So far Nikkei was the only news resouce which has reported that Pentax would abandon the development of medium-format single-lens reflex camera designed for professional photographers. There is no other news or report which confirms this yet.

Here is the latest news from yesterday (after the Nikkei news):

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business...11TDY08005.htm

Quote:
The camera maker intends to focus on camera, medical equipment and optical component business fields, while withdrawing from unprofitable fields such as making printers, according to the plan.

Pentax plans to increase its operating profits from the 6 billion yen estimated for the business year ending in March 2007 to about 10 billion yen over three years. The firm will officially announce the plan Friday.

Pentax is reluctant to accept a takeover bid by glass maker Hoya Corp. and will attempt to seek survival on its own with the management plan. The firm will sell the 10,000 square meters of land it owns in Itabashi Ward and its headquarters building and a research facility located there.

The research facility will be sold to a major real estate company within this fiscal year. Most of the firm's research division personnel and functions will be transferred to its office in Mashikomachi, Tochigi Prefecture. The company will invite bids for the land within the next three years, according to the plan.

Regarding business operations, the firm will withdraw from unprofitable fields such as manufacturing printers and measurement equipment. A medical research facility in Saitama Prefecture will be dismantled, and some affiliated sales companies in the United States will be sold.

The firm does not plan any layoffs. Instead, it will put most of its staff and funds into the three main businesses, according to the plan.
UnQuote.

Today Pentax just released its financial results of year ending 31 March 2007:
http://www.pentax.co.jp/japan/news/a...0070511-01.pdf

Looks Pentax has been doing pretty well in the past fiscal year


Now let's wait and see what the official announce from Pentax will be (today probably).

Cheers!

[westclox]

Looks like there may be a pro model launched but not in the next few months.

[huangyong]

as a pentax staff, i m happy to hear this