Pentax UK Interview

http://www.ephotozine.com/article/we-interview-pentax-uk-gm-jonathan-martin-1824...

Great, very positive, interview !

I'll start saving now.

John

Does this mean that the sky isn't falling in after all?

I really do hope that mirrorless project turns out to be exciting, and they get round the camera thickness with K-mount lenses problem. It really would be amazing if they managed to produce a camera which was thin enough not to look 'obese' next to the NEX / X Pros etc, but could make use of the existing Ltd lenses.

Okay, now can you please send me my K5?

Kidding aside, it looks promising indeed.

You just did.

He might just mean Q, (Kr replacement), K5, 645D! Hope not!

Hmm if they do come out with a K-compatible APSC mirrorless, it might be a way out for those that have invested in those APSC-only DA Ltds, while allowing future progress towards a 35mm body....

Strange....

"Are there any plans to release a camera with Wi-Fi?"
"Not that I'm aware of."

Some of the compacts are already made to use an Eye-Fi Card and even have an onscreen icon and controls for the card in the camera menus.

The Pentax Optio WG-1 is Fully Compatible with no problems.

http://support.eye.fi/cameras/pentax/optio_wg-1

The Optio W90 has had some problems for which Pentax issued a firmware fix.

http://www.pentax.jp/english/support/digital/optiow90_s.html

All Pentax have to do to release a Wi-Fi camera is bundle it
with an Eye-Fi Card

No answers. Skirted around some very lame questions. Dosn't encourage me as a Pentax owner.

I'm encouraged by the desire to expand the DSLR division, though there is very little information given here. Mr Martin is not very well informed of Canikon DSLR lineup, stating they have 4 cameras. I count 6 currently in production from Nikon & 7 from Canon, so if Pentax want to close the gap then they have further to go than perhaps they think...

Maybe he can't count?

Apart from being unable to count, I think it was a fair interview.
Obviously they will be reluctant to be out right and say "Yep, new range of DSLR's hitting the market from March , six of them, one a month until September when the full frame humdinger top spec pro camera will be released." This would kill sales of the present range.
Although one could argue that it might stop a migration of Pentax owners towards Canikon/Sony.

I always keep one thing in mind.

Everything goes full circle eventually. I can remember when a lot of pro's used Pentax 35mm cameras and Canon where very much a third place runner..........................

Mmmmmmm! I wonder?

Not sure why they give interviews if they don't know / can't tell you any details?

Not or after that, more like

Pretty pathetic interview. Did not add anything that we want to know or didn't know.

eye-fi has licenced out thier technology and other card makers have signed on to use it.. soon the market will be flooded with affordable wi-fi sd cards.
so no need to build into the cameras...

Hmmn, I wonder where the extra factory capacity, parts and sensors are coming from, not least with so much in that part of the world taken out by the Thailand floods.

Talk of many new models would imply a fairly massive investment from Ricoh and that Hoya were spending heavily on R&D with new models nearly ready to go into production, whereas it would appear Hoya tried to spend as little as possible pending getting rid of Pentax as soon as they could.

My guess is three models this year, one of them in the Q line; and some new lenses, which may be Q ones rather than K ones. An expansion, if any, sounds a bit more likely in 2013 since Ricoh would by then have had some time, though not much, to get their act together.

Alternatively, I suppose, the new models may be Ricoh-originated but now branded to Pentax. Oh well, whoever knows isn't saying.