On 14 Mar 2005 at 13:38, Graywolf wrote: > Something you and, I guess, many others on this list do not seem to know is > that > Pentax is probably the largest, yes I said the largest, independent camera > manufacturer in the business today. Yes there are bigger camera manufacturer's > but they are parts of conglomerates. Pentax has historically and traditionally > spent a higher proportion of their budget on research and development than > almost anyone else in the industry. In fact R&D is traditionally their primary > product.
I don't have the figures but it wouldn't surprise me if Cosina had the edge in both volume and definitely R&D these days. Herb may be able to enlighten us as to their current net worth vs Pentax. > I reported a rumor about a year ago that Pentax was looking to aquire their > own > FAB capability. This is probably for the reasons mentioned above. First they > showed the MZ-D prototype, Pentax has seldom publicly shown a prototype before > that they did not produce. Second, production of the istD was far more limited > than they wanted it to be. Those two things in themselves are enough of a > reason > to want their own production capability. Medical imaging has gone digital too. > Limitations in that area will hurt them financially more than it would in > camera > production. I now think the rumor was more solid than it seemed when I first > reported it. Again I don't have the figures but I suspect that the cost to set up a suitable sensor fabrication plant would exceed Pentaxs capability. Sonys latest CCD FAB facility at the Kumamoto Technology Center was established to produce the sensors that are required and it cost 70 billion yen which is roughly US$666M. http://www.sony.net/Products/SC-HP/cx_news/vol28/pdf/sideview.pdf http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/info/sonyf/kumatec/ > Although even I admit they are not the > same company the were in the 60's, 70's, and early 80's. Too many management > types instead of engineering types running it now. And I suspect not enough photographic enthusiasts to boot, this is a part of Cosinas success. > BTW, Leica, Hasselblad, Linhof, & Rollei cameras are no longer made by the > original manufactures. Leica, Hasselblad, and Linhof are made by companies set > up by enthusiasts to continue production, and Rollei is made by Samsung a > Korean > Government owned industry. So in the real world they are already dead. In the > current manufactures go under they will finally be buried as well. Most Leica items are still made by Leica in Solms Germany, only some components such as their motor drive and some other assemblies are made in their Portugal factory. Don't write them off just yet. Rob Studdert HURSTVILLE AUSTRALIA Tel +61-2-9554-4110 UTC(GMT) +10 Hours [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://members.ozemail.com.au/~distudio/publications/ Pentax user since 1986, PDMLer since 1998
