Re: Ricoh to cut back camera production?

2017-04-14 Thread Christine Aguila 
Geez, not good. Christine


> On Apr 13, 2017, at 8:46 PM, Zos Xavius  wrote:
> 
> Pentax has enough history that someone will at least want the name. I
> don't think Ricoh will give up Pentax just yet. They only paid $125
> million for the company. That was pocket change to them really. The
> theta sells like wildfire currently and they seem intent on investing
> in that further. There are some massive changes going on and I would
> imagine that the imaging division will see cuts along the way.
> Currently they laying off employees en masse and consolidating
> departments. For instance they let go most of the Pentax United States
> team and they now share offices with the copier division. Things are
> looking kind of grim in some ways actually. The professional services
> program is effectively cancelled now. That includes pro services for
> the 645Z. All while Fuji is currently rolling out their own pro
> services along with their own shiny new medium format camera. I think
> Pentax can hold an edge as a niche player for now, but is that worth
> investing in for Ricoh? Fuji has stated that they will produce film
> and camera equipment no matter how small the market gets. Even if it
> costs them money they will continue because they feel that their
> legacy is worth preserving. I don't know if Ricoh has that kind of
> fortitude. Another thing is that Ricoh has a new president as of April
> 1st and supposedly he is looking to make massive cuts which is likely
> where this rumor and story started.
> 
> 
> The best I can say is buckle up. If you want to read the tea leaves
> the next six months are going to be a critical time to watch. You
> aren't going to hear much of anything one way or another, but their
> actions and further developments will tell the story.
> 
> Also I really doubt Sigma would buy Pentax. They don't have to really.
> They are selling more lenses in canon mount than canon themselves.
> They have gone mirrorless now and I really doubt they are interested
> in going back to OVF cameras because of the complexities involved.
> Pentax has the SLR down to an artform so hopefully someone will
> recognize that. I think there is and always will be a market for SLRs.
> If they go the way of the TLR and rangefinder I will be sad, but I
> guess that's just the way things go.
> 
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Re: Ricoh to cut back camera production?

2017-04-13 Thread Zos Xavius 
Pentax has enough history that someone will at least want the name. I
don't think Ricoh will give up Pentax just yet. They only paid $125
million for the company. That was pocket change to them really. The
theta sells like wildfire currently and they seem intent on investing
in that further. There are some massive changes going on and I would
imagine that the imaging division will see cuts along the way.
Currently they laying off employees en masse and consolidating
departments. For instance they let go most of the Pentax United States
team and they now share offices with the copier division. Things are
looking kind of grim in some ways actually. The professional services
program is effectively cancelled now. That includes pro services for
the 645Z. All while Fuji is currently rolling out their own pro
services along with their own shiny new medium format camera. I think
Pentax can hold an edge as a niche player for now, but is that worth
investing in for Ricoh? Fuji has stated that they will produce film
and camera equipment no matter how small the market gets. Even if it
costs them money they will continue because they feel that their
legacy is worth preserving. I don't know if Ricoh has that kind of
fortitude. Another thing is that Ricoh has a new president as of April
1st and supposedly he is looking to make massive cuts which is likely
where this rumor and story started.


The best I can say is buckle up. If you want to read the tea leaves
the next six months are going to be a critical time to watch. You
aren't going to hear much of anything one way or another, but their
actions and further developments will tell the story.

Also I really doubt Sigma would buy Pentax. They don't have to really.
They are selling more lenses in canon mount than canon themselves.
They have gone mirrorless now and I really doubt they are interested
in going back to OVF cameras because of the complexities involved.
Pentax has the SLR down to an artform so hopefully someone will
recognize that. I think there is and always will be a market for SLRs.
If they go the way of the TLR and rangefinder I will be sad, but I
guess that's just the way things go.

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Re: Ricoh to cut back camera production?

2017-04-12 Thread Christine Aguila 
Wow!  Sad if true.  Hopefully, something can be worked out.

Cheers, Christine


> On Apr 11, 2017, at 8:49 PM, Brian Walters  wrote:
> 
> G'day all
> 
> I came across this item a couple of hours ago.  I don't know how
> authoritative it is but it doesn't sound good:
> 
> http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Ricoh-may-close-shutter-on-personal-camera-business
> 
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Brian
> 
> ++
> Brian Walters
> Western Sydney Australia
> http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/
> 
> 
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Re: Ricoh to cut back camera production?

2017-04-12 Thread Larry Colen 



P. J. Alling wrote:

Sigma hasn't been able to build a general purpose camera to save their
life.

RIcoh has a history of just shuttering divisions that don't make money.
They folded their own SLR production before. Let's hope they don't do
that again.

What would Sigma do if they bought the Ricoh imaging division, put their
proprietary lens mount and the Fovion chip into a K-3 body? Great
ergonomics terrible performance in every other way and a lens mount that
never took off. Hooray!


The ideal situation would be that they drop their lens mount and sensor 
and just produce all of their lenses in K mount, with Pentax coatings 
and weather sealing.  By the same token, I could also make a joke that 
was actually funny. Don't hold your breath for either one.


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Re: Ricoh to cut back camera production?

2017-04-11 Thread P. J. Alling 
Sigma hasn't been able to build a general purpose camera to save their 
life.


RIcoh has a history of just shuttering divisions that don't make money.  
They folded their own SLR production before.  Let's hope they don't do 
that again.


What would Sigma do if they bought the Ricoh imaging division, put their 
proprietary lens mount and the Fovion chip into a K-3 body?  Great 
ergonomics terrible performance in every other way and a lens mount that 
never took off.  Hooray!


On 4/12/2017 1:14 AM, Larry Colen wrote:



Paul Stenquist wrote:
Not good long term. But I figure I'm fine with what I have for the 
foreseeable future. If Ricoh folds their tent I'll buy a Nikon.


Yeah, I'm in the same boat.

There is a lot to like about Nikon.  If they had in body image 
stabilization, I'd probably be shooting Nikon rather than Pentax. I 
also often envy the range of lenses and third party gear available for 
them.


I could see a nice synergy if Sigma were to buy Pentax.




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Re: Ricoh to cut back camera production?

2017-04-11 Thread P. J. Alling 
Nikon and Panasonic are also cutting back on their camera divisions.  
Nikon is supposed to be eliminating it's lower end consumer oriented 
DSLRs such as the 3xxx and 5xxx lines, Panasonic is not being quite so 
specific about it's future plans, AFAIK, but they have announced that 
there will be cutbacks.


Ricoh has been floundering, and I think the K-P, and the earlier K-S1, 
and yes the K-01, even though that was a HOYA imitative, is a symptom of 
that.  I don't have a solution, but I can recognize the problem.  I 
think Pentax sells more top end DSLRs than than entry level, and an 
inverted pyramid isn't going to produce new Pentax users.


The other issue is that the Digital Revolution in photography has 
happened.  DSLRs reached sufficiency with the previous generation.  
Improvements have become incremental and that's not what moves a lot of 
iron, and the business model of everyone except Leica is that to make a 
profit you've got to move a lot of iron.



On 4/11/2017 10:01 PM, Paul Stenquist wrote:

Not good long term. But I figure I'm fine with what I have for the foreseeable 
future. If Ricoh folds their tent I'll buy a Nikon.

Paul via phone


On Apr 11, 2017, at 9:49 PM, Brian Walters  wrote:

G'day all

I came across this item a couple of hours ago.  I don't know how
authoritative it is but it doesn't sound good:

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Ricoh-may-close-shutter-on-personal-camera-business


Cheers

Brian

++
Brian Walters
Western Sydney Australia
http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/


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Re: Ricoh to cut back camera production?

2017-04-11 Thread Larry Colen 



Paul Stenquist wrote:

Not good long term. But I figure I'm fine with what I have for the foreseeable 
future. If Ricoh folds their tent I'll buy a Nikon.


Yeah, I'm in the same boat.

There is a lot to like about Nikon.  If they had in body image 
stabilization, I'd probably be shooting Nikon rather than Pentax.  I 
also often envy the range of lenses and third party gear available for 
them.


I could see a nice synergy if Sigma were to buy Pentax.

--
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Re: Ricoh to cut back camera production?

2017-04-11 Thread Paul Stenquist 
Not good long term. But I figure I'm fine with what I have for the foreseeable 
future. If Ricoh folds their tent I'll buy a Nikon.

Paul via phone

> On Apr 11, 2017, at 9:49 PM, Brian Walters  wrote:
> 
> G'day all
> 
> I came across this item a couple of hours ago.  I don't know how
> authoritative it is but it doesn't sound good:
> 
> http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Ricoh-may-close-shutter-on-personal-camera-business
> 
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Brian
> 
> ++
> Brian Walters
> Western Sydney Australia
> http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/
> 
> 
> -- 
> --
> 
> -- 
> http://www.fastmail.com - Or how I learned to stop worrying and
>  love email again
> 
> 
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Ricoh to cut back camera production?

2017-04-11 Thread Brian Walters 
G'day all

I came across this item a couple of hours ago.  I don't know how
authoritative it is but it doesn't sound good:

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Companies/Ricoh-may-close-shutter-on-personal-camera-business


Cheers

Brian

++
Brian Walters
Western Sydney Australia
http://lyons-ryan.org/southernlight/


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