Ricoh to buy Pentax


rumors that pentax will close down, long time circulated..... now it's sort of becoming reality. the canikon sellers will have a field day on this....

"what? pentax? close down 'ready lah.... buy c....."

ricoh has their job cut out for them - how to retain the old customer base and expand into new users!

work harder, RICOH, we the oldies should be the beneficiaries.
 

rumors that pentax will close down, long time circulated..... now it's sort of becoming reality. the canikon sellers will have a field day on this....

"what? pentax? close down 'ready lah.... buy c....."

ricoh has their job cut out for them - how to retain the old customer base and expand into new users!

work harder, RICOH, we the oldies should be the beneficiaries.

let them say what they want lah... i can't recall the last time i took those clowns seriously... oh wait a minute... thats because i never have :bsmilie:

i think their job now is no harder than what Hoya had to do but was utterly uninterested to... the only difference is that time has passed since then.

there'll be some pain in the catching up, the integration and there'll probably be some unpopular announcements that not all users will agree with but thats life. if it keeps the brand and the mount alive and thriving, i think its a good thing.

if ricoh is a more interested owner, i can seriously see pentax taking off. only time will tell.
 

i think their job now is no harder than what Hoya had to do but was utterly uninterested to... the only difference is that time has passed since then.

...

if ricoh is a more interested owner, i can seriously see pentax taking off. only time will tell.

Yeah. If "uninterested" produced k-x, k-r, k-5 and 645D, one can only wonder what "interested" will do. ;)
 

Interesting to see Ricoh's next move in terms of announcements or reassurance in the immediate time frame and the next few months (new lens road map? New lens launch reserved by Hoya for Ricoh to announce?? )
Lets see....
 

Yeah. If "uninterested" produced k-x, k-r, k-5 and 645D, one can only wonder what "interested" will do. ;)

those are just making do with what little they have. its not that something good came out of it... its more of a situation that nothing bad happened because of it.

k-x and k-r basically took aim at the youth market by having colourful bodies. it was an innovative strategy and it did well.

K-5 was simply a K-7 re-engineered with a new (and much better) sensor.

645D was a long-time in the making and was necessary for them to shore up their position among pro-level shooters. it was never intended to move volumes and i don't think that it contributes a lot to their profits.

u might even argue that 80-90% of the efforts by hoya was in putting pentax's balance sheet in better shape so that they can sell off the parts, especially the digital imaging business. the medical equipment business, they want to keep because it makes serious money.
 

I think that's a smart move for HOYA, since they are not into the consumer camera side of business.

Ricoh has been making great street cameras for some time (GRIII & GXR to name a few). Let's see what they will come out with the newly-acquired expertise from Pentax.
 

All, so RICOH recognises the Pentax name is important and has negotiated to retain it. Good for us...we are still Pentaxians :)
Otherwise if required, they can always adopt "Asahi Cameras", bringing the brand back to its roots.
But I do hope the new pentax APS-C sized mirrorless camera does not become a victim and replaced in favour of a k-mount variant of the GXR. Afterall, RICOH did emphasise they taking the division for their lenses. This mirrors Hoya who said they were taking Pentax for their medical equipment divison. The GXR is crazy ugly...
 

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Still remember the very first filme p&s camera I played, and it's a Ricoh...

I'm sure Pentax'd go no way but up from now on :)
 

In film days, Ricoh made quite some lenses in R/K mount, and they are compatible with many Pentax K mount cameras. But I don't remember they made any lens in other mount?
 

In film days, Ricoh made quite some lenses in R/K mount, and they are compatible with many Pentax K mount cameras. But I don't remember they made any lens in other mount?

i thought its not fully compatible cos of the ricoh pin? :think:
 

I think that's a smart move for HOYA, since they are not into the consumer camera side of business.

Ricoh has been making great street cameras for some time (GRIII & GXR to name a few). Let's see what they will come out with the newly-acquired expertise from Pentax.

Not forgetting the older film cameras like XR-P, XR-20SP, KR-5 Super, KR-10M, XR-X, etc . . .
 

i thought its not fully compatible cos of the ricoh pin? :think:

The Rikenon P lenses have the dreaded pin, but the funny thing is that I have the Rikenon P 50mm F1.7 with that pin BUT I can use on my K20D and my K7 with no issues.

Film cameras like XR-1, XR-2, XR-X, XR-P, XR-20SP, all use K-mount. The other companies that used the K-mount were Vivitar, Cosina, Chinon, Exacta, Zenith (Russian).
 

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i thought its not fully compatible cos of the ricoh pin? :think:

the ricoh pin is only dangerous for auto focus film camera IIRC

on pentax camera body, R-K mount lens with P pin will still work, but more as K/M lens instead of A lens.

Not forgetting the older film cameras like XR-P, XR-20SP, KR-5 Super, KR-10M, XR-X, etc . . .

So now, can ricoh camera join "Show us your pentax" thread? :bsmilie:

come on post some. I remember nikkornos and you have some Ricoh cameras ;)
 

When I was playing with my Richo GXR, I was thinking if Richo bought over Pentax and have all these features in Pentax with Pentax Lens and technonoly synchronized that would be incredible, absolutely great!
 

the ricoh pin is only dangerous for auto focus film camera IIRC

on pentax camera body, R-K mount lens with P pin will still work, but more as K/M lens instead of A lens.



So now, can ricoh camera join "Show us your pentax" thread? :bsmilie:

come on post some. I remember nikkornos and you have some Ricoh cameras ;)

Soon soon . .
 

u might even argue that 80-90% of the efforts by hoya was in putting pentax's balance sheet in better shape so that they can sell off the parts, especially the digital imaging business. the medical equipment business, they want to keep because it makes serious money.

Now that would be just cynical ;)