Do you think it will have any impact?
I mean Pentax is a good brand and so is Ricoh but I don't think many people know Ricoh as much as Pentax.
Do you think this merger will allow Pentax/Ricoh to become a more serious competitor?
So what do you think of Ricoh buying Pentax?
(21 posts) (11 voices)-
Posted 1 year ago #
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I do not see the Pentax name badge going away. Besides Hoya bought them some time ago and more people know Ricoh than Hoya. Pentax has a great camera system and maybe Ricoh will put some money behind it to market it better.
I have never understood Ricoh cameras - no one sells them in the central US. They are just non-existent and no one other than Tech following photographers know they make cameras. Maybe Ricoh see's the Pentax name as a opportunity to re-brand their cameras and gain some market presence.
There must really be some problems with Pentax. Hoya sold it for $124 million! That is next to nothing for a company. I mean that is really, really small amount of money. The last 3 places I worked for had larger operation budgets than that.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Not going to make much difference at all. Pentax is almost a dead brand as it is, and Ricoh isn't much better off. Ricoh might start making some better cameras now.
Posted 1 year ago # -
TaoTeJared said:
.... no one other than Tech following photographers know they make cameras.I kinda laughed at myself when I read this. My very first SLR was a Ricoh KR30-SP back in the mid 80's. Still have it. I ordered it from Abes of Maine because the price was cheaper than a similar Nikon or Canon. Every time I pulled that camera out people would say "I didn't know Ricoh made cameras!" I would smile and tell them the facts. I probably know less about SLRs and DSLRs than the average routine poster here but oddly enough I feel a certain sentimental value for that camera because it's my first.
Posted 1 year ago # -
+1 Rx4Photo
Ricoh has had some "solid" cameras in their past and their copy machines aren't too shabby either :^)
I just hope that they don't kill the Pentax name because I just can't picture them selling cameras as Ricoh-Pentax.
krevlingoodspeed said:
Do you think it will have any impact?Impact on who? Nikon? Maybe, if Ricoh drops the Pentax name Nikon can pick it back up since they were going to call themselves "Pentax" in the early days of the F ;^)
Posted 1 year ago # -
Ricoh and their overpriced so-so cameras. The GXR is interesting but too expensive for my taste. Why on earth would anyone buy a lens with a sensor that in 3 years will be obsolete? Talk about built in life cycle replacement!
I always thought a Fuji - Pentax merger would have been a good one. Great glass from both and good 1-offs on DSLRs, super zoom cams and Digi cams.
There is a long history of battles between all of the camera companies, I'm sure there are some lingering memories from the film days. I'm sure there would be a interest in knocking some companies out.
Posted 1 year ago # -
TaoTeJared said:
There is a long history of battles between all of the camera companies, I'm sure there are some lingering memories from the film days. I'm sure there would be a interest in knocking some companies out.I used to have a Ricoh compact 35mm film camera about 30 years ago. It was a solid manual design and I hammered it to death. Utterly and completely, as a pro would abuse a Nikon F in those far off days.
These days they are (in my area anyway), less prominent on store shelves than Pentax, who I think as a brand were at the peak way back then too.
What I think will matter is product quality and price... higher quality and lower prices... care to guess which (if either), will be in the products of the new merged company?
Posted 1 year ago # -
I would say it's an insignificant pairing. They were insignificant before and unless something big happens, they'll probably just die together.
Posted 1 year ago # -
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O Ricoh, Ricoh, wherefore art thou Ricoh?
Posted 1 year ago # -
bjrichus said:
I used to have a Ricoh compact 35mm film camera about 30 years ago.I had one of those as well, although one made in the early 90's. It wasn't that tough, one drop down one flight of stairs and the auto advance mechanism would randomly advance without stopping. I wasted a numerous exposures on at least 12 rolls of film because I couldn't afford to fix it. It still works today, but functionally it was replaced with my first digital camera in the 04.
Posted 1 year ago # -
Ricoh cameras were pretty good .. I had a compact as well. I liked it alot. but ricoh is not just a camera maker. They are more like sony than nikon. Could be good for pentax to have a stronger engineering infrastructure. They sure have the potential to rival sony and panasonic for 3rd place
Posted 1 year ago # -
PB PM said:
I had one of those as well, although one made in the early 90's. It wasn't that tough, one drop down one flight of stairs and the auto advance mechanism would randomly advance without stopping. I wasted a numerous exposures on at least 12 rolls of film because I couldn't afford to fix it. It still works today, but functionally it was replaced with my first digital camera in the 04.Ha!
I had an add on clockwork auto winder for mine... A little fold out thing on the bottom and you gave it 20 turns and it would last a roll of 36.
The idea is that I didn't want to drag my Nikormat about with me everywhere and could easily take the (small) Ricoh everywhere. It was really good for stuff like street photography but I got too used to the zoom on my Nikon... Ahhh well. Memories.
Posted 1 year ago # -
heartyfisher said:
Ricoh cameras were pretty good .. I had a compact as well. I liked it alot. but ricoh is not just a camera maker. They are more like sony than nikon. Could be good for pentax to have a stronger engineering infrastructure. They sure have the potential to rival sony and panasonic for 3rd placeNikon isn't always in the 2nd place. I think they could cut into the digi cam market and the advanced digi cams of Nikon. Fuji and Panasonic are the two that could get hit by this the most.
Either way, Pentax has a great line up of cameras. Their lenses have always been top notch even if they don't have 100 different models/focal lengths. The K-5 is a great camera and the 645D has a great price point for MF. I hope they stick around. Competition drives innovation and having them only helps users of other brands.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm sure the cameras will stick around, but will the name "Pentax"? When Sony bought Minolta they quickly just slapped the Sony name on new Minolta lenses and cameras. It wasn't for a few years after the purchase that Sony began to make gear that was "Sony" designed and built.
Ricoh could do the same thing with Pentax. Kill the name but continue on with the "Ricoh K-5". I actually have a Ricoh KR-10 SLR that still works very well. So maybe they can rename the Pentax K-5 the new Ricoh KR-5D?
Posted 1 year ago # -
It's kind of sad to see these companies be so poorly managed that they wind up in the sales bin. At one time Nikon, Canon, Pentax, Minolta and Olympus all made great cameras and optics and were the top 5 Japanese 35mm camera manufacturers.
Ricoh by comparison was always a second-rate company. My first camera back in '73 was a Ricoh TLS, which took Pentax screw-mount optics (so there's a strange long-term parallel relationship, ay?). The reason I bought the Ricoh was it was cheaper than any of the top 5 makers.
Ricoh however seems to have made smart management decisions and grew as a company, even if people didn't really know of their history.
I agree Pentax is an excellent camera maker. Their optics were always high quality. Their DSLR cameras have some of the cleanest sensors along with Nikon. This is odd because both Pentax and Nikon have their sensors made by Sony, yet both makers have cleaner sensors than Sony and Canon!
>>When Sony bought Minolta they quickly just slapped the Sony name on new Minolta lenses and cameras.<<
It was sad to see the Minolta brand go. Sony could afford to slap their name on it because, well, they're Sony. I'm not so sure Ricoh could do the same, although of course there's nothing stopping them from doing so. However would you rather buy a Ricoh or a Pentax DSLR if that was your choice? Right.Posted 1 year ago # -
Super Shooter said:
Aww, how romantic!I'm being brutally honest here- I think one of them if not both of them might go away.
I wouldn't want them to go though- both of them have a very long history in cameras.
But they make not products I'd be interested, and unless they can innovate in a way that Canon and Nikon can't, I doubt either of them can be turned around quickly enough to survive the poor economy.
But still, it'd be boring if it was just Canon and Nikon around with Sony and Samsung.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I am more curious how it affects Tokina product releases down the road including the 50-135.
Did the 50-135 disappear for Nikanon mounts because of poor demand or because of Hoya's revitalization efforts Pentax? They're pretty rare on the used market so it's hard to justify the view that they sucked. Were they based on Pentax patents.
Right now Tokina seems to be playing in a very small box with a product set of little more than variants on their wide-angle lense design. It's good money but surprised they don't have anything on the telephoto end where they had 2 good lenses in the past. What's the problem? Was the market killed by the removal of screws on entry bodies?
Posted 1 year ago # -
@Mandrem - I follow Tokina closely as I love their lenses and I'm not entirely sure on your post or the assumptions you have came too.
A little background, Tokina was a separate company before Hoya bought them. Pentax was purchased by Hoya much later. Tokina has always had a small lens lineup and generally production is limited and not usually much more than a couple of years.
-I can find the 50-135mm everywhere on the internet so I'm not sure where you are looking.
-Pentax patents - maybe. Pentax does have the same lens. The odd thing is that Tokina no longer has it listed on their product page & not on their archived product page as well. Pentax does also have a 16-50mm just like Tokina but Tokina has left that on their page. Pentax may own the patent for the 50-135mm.
You make it seem like they are dead in the water which they are not. Tokina seems to be focused, as you said on the wide angle market, as their lenses out perform almost all others and are certainly cheaper options. They have always been focused on a few lenses, slow releasing, extraordinarily built and had superior optics for a great price. I doubt they will ever have a continuous line-up like Nikon or Canon but everything they make will be first rate.
Posted 1 year ago # -
TaoTe,
No axe to grind, no setting up for a punchline, though I wouldn't agree with comment everything they make is first rate. Proud Tokina owner for 15 years (2 Tokina lenses now) so very aware of the history of the Tokina-Hoya and Hoya-Pentax- own the 28-70 II and 11-16 and other than few issues (which I expect for the price) I think both lenses are good options for the price. My question is in ernest: whether the 50-135 was obsoleted because of small market (due to no HSM/AFS motor-- I don't believe they lost to Sigma) or because the parent company wanted to increase Pentax revenue. The 50-135 was discontinued in 2010 for Tokina though it is available from Pentax which begs the question if the Tokina will become available again after the sale or not. If you're casually querrying, the Tokina seems to show up available alot of places so not surprised by your comments. When you are actually in the market you realize the supply is really quite small.
Posted 1 year ago # -
I'm sure there are some not so hot Tokina lenses - I generally stick with the Pro versions so I have had great luck.
It sounds like Pentax is sticking to the DX sensors and utilizing the 645d as their high end (skipping FX) camera so it doesn't really surprise me they are keeping the 50-135mm (75-203mm equiv) in their line-up. If there were questions on patients (50-135,16-50,10-17,12-24 & 100mm seem to share the same optics.)I wouldn't be surprised if they let Pentax keep that one.
As for Tokina, the 12-24mm does have an AFS motor (as well as the 16-28 I believe) so maybe they are working on updating the 50-135? You are right that not having AFS and now with FX, the market probably has shrunk considerably.
I found many on ebay (actual stores) and Japan shops but few in the US but that is fairly normal for Tokina in my experience. If you are looking for one, that may be your best bet to look.
Posted 1 year ago #
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