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Ricoh may close shutter on personal camera business

stu62
Posted 12/04/2017 - 09:38 Link
Well what mr grumpy said (i.e. The z rep) at the photo show was there is going to be a war between the 2 as he called the the common one and the yuppie one and some one will be crying so the rumour could quiet well have come from one of those 2
Gwyn
Posted 12/04/2017 - 10:14 Link
The sky has been falling for Pentax since before I bought my first DSLR. (ist DS)
We'll just have to wait and see.

I wouldn't be surprised at some consolidation and perhaps offloading some of the range, with smart phones getting so good nowadays, they may reduce the number of DSLR models, and maybe will promote the Theta more, but whether they will close the whole operation? I doubt it
ilovesaabs
Posted 12/04/2017 - 10:18 Link
Maybe they have just looked across at Nikon and thought about getting house in order, there has been a lot of flapping and consternation about recent events.

And then Nikon announce the D7500, and its meltdown
AKA Welshwizard/PWynneJ
Assorted Pentax/Nikon/Mamiya stuff
jules
Posted 12/04/2017 - 10:20 Link
stu62 wrote:
if they was going to do that i dont think they would have bought out the kp

Agreed! As someone who has just re-invested 3000x the companies $1 worth in them, I hope they keep going!

New CEO took over on April 1st "Yoshinori Yamashita"
We may all end up remebering him... for... something...
Cheers Jules...

My viewfinder is 576,000,000 pixels.
My other viewfinder is 5.76,000,000.

www.exaggeratedperspectives.com
Edited by jules: 12/04/2017 - 10:22
mille19
Posted 12/04/2017 - 13:08 Link
From the Ricoh Japanese site

Today there was an article saying that RICOH considers to shrink the camera business and withdraw from consumer products. This article is not based on RICOH's official announcement.

RICOH is focusing its resource on the high added value products such as PENTAX and GR that are appreciated by the existing users and photo hobbyists. RICOH is also a market leader of input devices in the VR or AR market with its "RICOH THETA" where we can see rapid growth, and will keep on expanding the business even more in this field. In addition, RICOH will develop and expand the imaging business in the solution business field for corporate, by creating new market utilizing its own camera technology.


now where's that K3 replacement ?
1stEverPentax
Posted 12/04/2017 - 13:59 Link
Usually 'no smoke without fire' (in a stock market related context) so I do think there is something to this rumour. The Pentax KP is vastly overpriced in my view and would appear to be the first Pentax consumer DSLR priced to return bigger margins...great if customers can be persuaded that it is a good deal...the danger is that they just price themselves out of their core market which I see as enthusiastic amateur/semi-pro.

Unlike Canikon they don't have a large Pro base thay can sell overpriced kit to. When the time comes to renew a DSLR body that used to cost £300-£350 now one is looking at £550- £700...I for one won't be able to justify making that jump for what is basically just a hobby...lenses seem to be staying at higher prices for longer as well. If you blink then you miss the price promotion...crazy marketing seemingly devised to wind up potential customers.

By concentrating more on Business to Business (B2B) they will undoubtedly be able to sell higher margin products and probably be able to keep alive the Pentax/Ricoh brand in imaging devices field, but I suspect the consumer side will fold. Whilst there may be a huge market in used PK fit lenses, unless one is prepared to go back to film bodies there won't be many DSLR bodies around to use them on as they don't seem designed to last more than a handful of years before becoming uneconomic to repair.
wvbarnes
Posted 12/04/2017 - 14:17 Link
Official rebuttal by Ricoh...

http://www.ricoh.com/info/2017/0412_1.html
johnriley
Posted 12/04/2017 - 15:00 Link
So there we have it.

Prices of all marques are volatile at the moment. We've been used to a long period of depressed prices and that may be over, so more than ever it's wise to keep up with the latest offers.

I've just been doing some Value for Money research for a review and there are some very attractive prices still.
Best regards, John
wvbarnes
Posted 12/04/2017 - 15:03 Link
I like this site for price trends. http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/Pentax/Pentax-SLR-Lenses

johnriley wrote:
So there we have it.

Prices of all marques are volatile at the moment. We've been used to a long period of depressed prices and that may be over, so more than ever it's wise to keep up with the latest offers.

I've just been doing some Value for Money research for a review and there are some very attractive prices still.

Gwyn
Posted 12/04/2017 - 15:30 Link
Interesting sit Bill. SRS are seriously more expensive for a K3II than WEX I see. WEX don't deliver abroad though. Not that I have the money any more - son needed emergency repairs to his motorbike, so there went my new camera funds.
Edited by Gwyn: 12/04/2017 - 15:30
wvbarnes
Posted 12/04/2017 - 15:44 Link
They change daily it seems. SRS were £699 last week for the 'new' stock they were expecting. Must be putting prices up ready for a 'sale' I guess! The site has interesting graphs of price trends and ranges.

Gwyn wrote:
Interesting sit Bill. SRS are seriously more expensive for a K3II than WEX I see. WEX don't deliver abroad though. Not that I have the money any more - son needed emergency repairs to his motorbike, so there went my new camera funds.

Mag07
Posted 12/04/2017 - 16:07 Link
SteveLedger wrote:
Mag07 wrote:
I may be wrong, but the wording used in that particular article is rather poor. More of a 'lets cause a stir', then anything else.

'than'

Also posted on TokyoDaily
Definitely not fake news.

http://www.tokyodailynews.com/ricoh-may-close-shutter-on-personal-camera-busines...

Sorry, English is my third language.

Glad to hear Ricoh released a statement regarding the article. What is it with people/pseudo journalists nowadays, failing to check news at source before releasing it into the wild
'Photography...it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten....' (Aaron Siskind)
Edited by Mag07: 12/04/2017 - 16:12
pschlute
Posted 12/04/2017 - 16:19 Link
wvbarnes wrote:
They change daily it seems. SRS were £699 last week for the 'new' stock they were expecting. Must be putting prices up ready for a 'sale' I guess!

I think Chris at SRS answered this a few days ago. I have always found SRS to be very keen on pricing, with some great deals on offer regularly. Plus they have a store where you can try out products and get excellent customer service if you have a problem. Plus Chris is a member of this forum and you can enter into a discussion or PM directly with him.

In what is clearly a very competitive market, i don't think you do yourself any favours by trying to second guess anyones pricing decisions. As you point out yourself it is very easy to price check with the click of a mouse and if you don't like one store's price tag you have the option to go elsewhere.
1stEverPentax
Posted 12/04/2017 - 16:29 Link
The 'Pentax Rebuttal' as mentioned above doesn't really provide for much optimism regarding what most of us have considered 'core' Pentax over the past decade or so.

On the contrary, in my opinion it justifies the initial concern generated by the first articles penned.

What Ricoh are basically saying is that from now on instead of the vast majority of their Research and Product Development going on their consumer DSLR lines, in the future they will be spreading their resources over three separate and distinct target markets: -

1. Existing Consumer DSLR but aimed primarily at higher end products where they can charge much more for 'added value'...a euphemism for higher profit margins on dearer products. This does bode well for K-3II replacement but as many of us have already suspected it will be a £1400 - £1500 APS-C 'enthusiast' offering with wide appeal but limited affordability for most of us.

2. Big increase in Theta 360 video products for Virtual Reality/ Augmented Reality markets...obviously where the money is now apparently, but of absolutely no interest to me personally from a enthusiast photographer point of view. Other people may well be more pleased by this?

3. Industrial/ Commercial imaging products aimed at businesses, government, military ...again totally irrelevant from a 'traditional core market' viewpoint.

So in a nutshell...not totally devoid of reasons to be cheerful but Pentax as many of us know it will probably change out of all recognition, and I can't really see medium term (3-4 years) that the DSLR side of the business will still be around as i don't think it will be able to generate sufficient profit from an ever dwindling product line-up.
wvbarnes
Posted 12/04/2017 - 16:30 Link
I've bought my last three cameras from SRS so yes they do have good deals from time to time. I asked for a trade in price on a K3 Mk II just over a week ago, they were out of stock while we were away last week and are back in stock now much dearer. I haven't seen Chris comments on the subject as I've been away. The ups and downs do require patience.

pschlute wrote:
wvbarnes wrote:
They change daily it seems. SRS were £699 last week for the 'new' stock they were expecting. Must be putting prices up ready for a 'sale' I guess!

I think Chris at SRS answered this a few days ago. I have always found SRS to be very keen on pricing, with some great deals on offer regularly. Plus they have a store where you can try out products and get excellent customer service if you have a problem. Plus Chris is a member of this forum and you can enter into a discussion or PM directly with him.

In what is clearly a very competitive market, i don't think you do yourself any favours by trying to second guess anyones pricing decisions. As you point out yourself it is very easy to price check with the click of a mouse and if you don't like one store's price tag you have the option to go elsewhere.

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