Pentax Ricoh

I'm in two minds about this

I agree - consistency/clarity is what is needed

It was a good move unifying the product line to make it K-5/K-50/K-500

What they need to do now in IMO is get the announcement out for the flagship camera.. to make it absolutely clear the Pentax K-mount lives on - which I believe it will .. but lets have that as a definite

It looks pretty clear to me. What makes you doubt it?

Ricehigh sums this up quite well in the comments on his
blog when someone else asked why they did it and he replied
that it had to do with political correctness and Ricoh is the
master and everything else is not important

I would be very surprised if they don't rebrand the cameras
and would like to see the K mount kept, but the temptation
must be there to change the mount. They would never have a
better chance.

A Ricoh camera is already in the top slot on the Pentax site...
http://www.pentax.co.uk/en/digital-compact.html

They can't run two brands side by side like that
Looks a bit like Argos...


'

I think you'll find Algi that the GR is top because it's the flagship, the most expensive.

It eludes me why they would want to change a perfectly successful mount and why you would think they would want to?

Algi - yes it's the top model. The top compact camera model, that is.

What, would you rather they had the LS465 as the top model?

Cute, I think my 11-year-old Grandaughter would love one of those.

I'm never seen without mine, John.

I don't think the change of the company name is hugely relevant, 'Pentax-Ricoh Imaging' is a horrible thing to stick on the display stands (I'm sure I've seen several). Branding of the cameras is a different matter but that's very unlikely to change. Obviously when Ricoh bought Pentax they needed to merge the two together to maintain continuity with the two names. It's not as if anyone is going to refer to the GR as the 'Ricoh Imaging GR' either.

As for the mount, what possible reason for changing it would there be? The K mount has proven to be adaptable from K->A->F->FA->FAJ->DA and does everything all other mounts do. Over the years Canon users in particular have said 'You have to have an aperture ring', nope, 'You can't have silent drive lenses', nope, 'You can't use shake reduction', nope... Look at CaNikons fragmented lens compatibility charts for an example!

Not only will all Pentax's K mount lenses work on the mount, but so will all of Ricoh's K mount lenses (you'd only lose their equivalent of KA functionality).

The history of Asahi-Pentax basically defined the development of the SLR camera, Ricoh would be mad to throw that away.

I was curious that there isn't any Pentax branding on my MX-1 (apart from the 'SMC Pentax Lens'), and is does have 'Pentax Ricoh Imaging Co., Ltd' on the bottom. Zoom forward to an online auction in 20yrs time:
"For Sale: Early Pentax Ricoh MX-1 camera (not to be confused with the later 'Ricoh' model), in black with the original brass top & bottom plates instead of the later plastic ones..."

John.

Perhaps you don't stray from the Pentax forum much Other marques have moved on quite a bit since the original K5 was released, Canon released another very interesting model today and full frame has become much more accessable from a cost point of view... I still like the idea of staying with Pentax but I am increasingly tempted by developments elsewhere, hoping the K5 replacement will be announced sooner than later and I'll change my mind completely

Simon

No idea. I can't think of a good reason why they would. I would disagree if they did.

But its not outside the realms of possibility they could phase it out or change it is it?

I don't know what the motive behind the acquisition is - they say this (below).. but in reality it could just be IP getting swallowed into Ricoh .. I hope this isn't the case

Other companies may have or may have been perceived to have moved on..

Regardless of that in DSLR terms Pentax still offers VFM that no-one can match.. for instance the K-30 will give almost anything a run for its money

Then there's the fit almost any pentax lens on your camera and its stabilised aspect.. also tremendous VFM

That's just corporate PR to complete the press release - they have give the 'why'. When Ricoh bought Pentax they could have done it then, but by doing it with a 'Pentax Ricoh' step, they have maintained brand continuity and associated the good points of both companies into Ricoh (which they're entitled to do and what their shareholders would expect).

John.

It makes you wonder why the top pro's would even consider using such systems.

Could you provide the links to the charts. The only Nikon one I tend to use is here link The first paragraph sums it up quite well for their case.

I never heard anyone call the F mount crippled.

Best regards

Nikon lens compatibility is off topic for Pentax User, so please keep within our brief.

Many thanks.

Well I do check DPReview's news column daily so keep I an eye on what's being released. I don't tend to analyse new models from other brands with a huge amount of detail, but I am aware of the increasing Full Frame accessibility.

I do also regularly think about Pentax's "lagging behind" and accept that the Ricoh takeover was always going to have an effect, hence the release of the K-5II stop gap models.

That aside there's also product leap frogging to consider and unless having the latest and greatest equipment/features is mission critical then.

I'm sure Pentax themselves have a very close eye on things and are painfully aware that their next flagship releae s goign to have to be something really special. On that basis I haven't been tempted hardly at all by other brands.

Regarding full frame, anyone 'needing' full frame would have switched brands years ago anyway.