This has upset the fanboys

It appears the Pentax logo is nowhere to be seen on the Ricoh stand at CES

http://www.steves-digicams.com/industry-events/ces-2014-ricoh-pentax.JPG


http://www.thephoblographer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Chris-Gampat-The-Phoblographer-CES-2014-Ricoh-Pentax-cameras-1-of-1ISO-107531-120-sec-at-f-2.4.jpg



the sky is falling in



.

Change Jehovah to Ricoh, and this would be about right
Blasphemy

Apart from the couple of hundred times it appears on the cameras and lenses in the pictures you linked to Smeggy......

Just out of curiosity, what makes someone a "fanboy" ??
Would a person have to own at least a couple of Pentax cameras, a collection of Pentax lenses and spend years talking about Pentax on a Pentax forum to qualify ?.....

All the best...Jim.

Marathon / Snickers.
Opal Fruits / Starburst.
Pentax / Ricoh.
Who cares, life goes on.

Feeling vaguely offended when the word 'fanboy' is used, nothing at all to do with owning and talking about gear.

Unfortunately "fanboy" is generally used in a derogatory way to diminish the argument of anyone who enthusiastically likes something. It's similar to the "well you would say that" argument.

It's not a good tool to use in an argument because it attacks the integrity of the other party, rather than producing any valid counter points.

Feeling vaguely offended seems a valid response!

As well as on the hundreds of cameras and lenses its on the picture of the bird

I don't see why people should get upset - we all know in our heart of hearts that it's still Pentax in the same way that a Snickers bar is a Marathon bar, or that a Nestle KitKat is still the same thing as a Rowntree's KitKat.

No it's not. The chocolate is different .

Brands come and go. No doubt there are still Konica Minolta fans upset at Sony, but I bet they still buy Sony cameras. I can't see that the name makes much difference really, as long as the product is good, and of course Ricoh keep the K-mount!

You're right, it can be used in that sense, but I think it's more subtle than that.

I think it's more a case of enthusiastically liking something to the point where one's blind to its faults, and blind to the potential advantages of alternatives.

For instance, I enthusiastically like Pentax cameras, always have. However they have faults, and other brands have advantages in some areas, and I'm not blind to any of these. You can call me a fanboy if you like, and I won't care in the least.

I enthusiastically like Windows 7 as an operating system, since it meets my needs brilliantly, most of the time. But again, it has its faults, and Apple does better in some respects. Again, you can call me a fanboy if you like, and I won't be at all offended.

'Fanboy' is used in a derogatory sense, and perhaps not surprisingly, in the particular sense that being blind to the faults of one's chosen brand erodes one's credibility when entering into discussions about its relative strengths and weaknesses. Not that that justifies such a label, in the absence of reasoned argument.

But even being biased in this way doesn't necessarily make one a fanboy - I think it's where the enthusiastic liking is so strong that one identifies with the brand - so that anyone that criticises the brand is also diminishing them as a person.

And they're the ones that get offended. IMO, people get offended too easily these days.

Fanboy or not I do think it's a marketing mistake.

Just having Pentax on the cameras whilst promoting Ricoh everywhere else is hardly going to do the "P" brand much good.

Assuming that they continue down these lines then it could easily confuse (the easily confusable) consumer.

Why do people buy the Apple iPhone? In some cases it's because of it's features but, for the majority, its because of the 'brand' and having the latest gadget from 'that' company.

If the Pentax name is hidden away and not promoted, IMHO, Ricoh will lose sales and will not attract people to it.

Regardless of who owns what and what they do with a particular brand name, it won't sell if you don't promote it.

I agree. Pentax is a small brand, but it has a lot more traction than Ricoh as a camera manufacturer. And they redact the Pentax history at their peril.

It was completely ridiculous to put the Ricoh logo on the back of the K-3 - at a stroke it fails to promote the Ricoh name it to people who see it in use, and annoys the people who have bought it because it's a Pentax.

It annoys me a little, but it isn't going to stop me getting one. It seems elsewhere that there are people that feel so strongly about the brand that they won't even buy one because it says Ricoh on the back.

That takes it into fanboy territory, to my mind.

I do wonder if that's is the case. Pentax is a well known camera brand to those of us that were around in the Asahi days. I would guess that the vast majority of DSLR buyers today have never heard of Zenith, Yashica, the OM1, the Spotmatic, etc. etc. (it's an age thing). They know todays cameras not yesterdays.

IMHO Ricoh, using the Pentax brand, has a unique opportunity to offer something different to the masses. Will they ever sell more DSLRs than Canon or Nikon, very doubtful. Will they be able to compete, yes I sure they will in a 'total camera range way' i.e. compacts and DSLRs.

I doubt that, in the grand scheme of things, the loss of Pentax will not put anyone in Peril. It will just p*ss off an awful lot of existing owners who were hoping for an upgrade path. If the K3 successor (FF, APSC, mirrorless or whatever) was branded as a Ricoh I'm sure it would sell so long as it was good and they marketed it well. Would I buy one? If it met my needs and could use all my existing kit: yes.

Talking of fanboys, and at risk of going a bit OT (I'm sure Smegs won't mind), where did this dreadful article originate from?

I mean seriously...

It's shockingly badly written, and mostly the reasons listed in it aren't particularly unique to Pentax anyway, apart, ironically, from the colour selections on the entry level models.

I'd almost go as far as to say that only a fanboy could have either written it, accepted it for publication, or read it and not wanted to reach for a bucket....

I think Ricoh will promote their brand name but keep the name Pentax on the cameras. Ricoh know their is history and milage in the name Pentax, but they need to put the Ricoh stamp on products too.

Generally people associate Golf as a good make of car which is made by VW, you can buy a Golf equivalent made by Skoda or Seat, but people like the name Golf so they pay a little extra for the name. Perhaps Ricoh will do the same with Pentax?

Yes, I agree. But I think that currently, Ricoh is known to the masses as a manufacturer of photocopiers and printers, not of high-end cameras.

If they're successful, that will change of course.

It might be grounds for optimism, that they're pushing the Ricoh name so hard in their camera marketing, since if they're identifying their name strongly with Pentax cameras, that can only be good for us.

However, I think it's a bit early to bin the Pentax brand. Most people that know anything about cameras do know at least, that Pentax made good cameras and lenses a long time ago. So breathing new life into an established name seems to me to be better than replacing the name with something else.

But I have no idea whether I'm right.