To me the point is all about survival of the camera (system) that will give me an ongoing upgrade/support option.
If Ricoh don't market their DSLRs well (regardless of what they're called) then the market share will diminish and they'll stop making them.

Marketing today is more important that the product in many instances. Ricoh need to market their DSLRs properly and, IMHO, at the moment they're not.

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.

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.

In Gt. Yarmouth there is a small independant shop on the main tourist shopping street surrounded by tat shops. It mainly deals with low end bits and bobs and I haven't been in there for years and then only to buy some elastic lens cap 'restraints'. It has no online presence and I'm really not certain how it has stayed in business for so long.
We haven't had a 'decent' camera shop for decades.

My only saviour is living close to WEX, which is less than 30 miles away. They have a fantastic showroom, although dominated by the big two, they do have a single Pentax cabinet with a few lenses and cameras on show. Last time I went they had a K50 and a K5ii as well as the nonDSLRs but no K3.

They are good for everything else, bags, tripods, studio kit, etc., having a lot of it on display, and their prices are good. I actually bought my camera and lenses from SRS, as I was working in London for a while, but virtually all my other kit has come from WEX.

Their staff are pretty good as well.

Thanks for that.

The rest of them can be found HERE if anyone is interested.

On the way back from the Minsmere RSPB Reserve, for our weekly walk, I stopped in, for half an hour at the Blythburgh MX practice track.

The light was fading and I hadn't been there before, so had no idea where to stand. However I did mange to capture a few that I liked.

Now, I will freely admit that many of these are not the 'sharpest' of images however I'm open to C&C as always.

All taken with K5iis, DA* 60-250, ISO 800 with cropping and P&P in LR4.

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Thanks for the comments:

Original:



Nigel's suggestion:





drofmit's suggestion (although I'm not certain I read it right)




Nigel's suggestion with a tweak to the midpoints (probably the best option):

Fletcher8, your link goes through to your wordpress admin login screen not to your blog

It should be: http://k2photographic.wordpress.com/

Nice idea by the way. I shall watch this with interest. Good luck

Reminds me of this http://100portraitsbeforeidie.co.uk/.

Ralph

I feel like I'm on a motorway, in a queue, with an accident on the other carriageway.
I don't want to but I just have to keep looking at this thread

16 pages of talking about all the things you're not allowed to talk about

I know it's not a K50 but I would hope that Pentax make all their WR cameras to the same standard:link
I bet the manual for these said avoid dust and water too

Hopefully this will give you a bit more confidence.