Ricoh to buy Pentax

[le petit prince]

Not sure why some people regard this as bad news. Rioch, like Pentax, is one of the most photographer-oriented brands in business today. Just look at the glowing reviews and praise for Ricoh compacts and Pentax DSLRs. Of course, there's much uncertainty at this early stage and it will take time for the dust to settle, but being a Pentax user is always like that -- how many years have we had of rumours and predictions and warnings of Pentax's demise? Plenty! If want "stability" and long-term guarantee for one's "investment", there's always C&N.

 

[pinholecam]

Not sure why some people regard this as bad news. Rioch, like Pentax, is one of the most photographer-oriented brands in business today. Just look at the glowing reviews and praise for Ricoh compacts and Pentax DSLRs. Of course, there's much uncertainty at this early stage and it will take time for the dust to settle, but being a Pentax user is always like that -- how many years have we had of rumours and predictions and warnings of Pentax's demise? Plenty! If want "stability" and long-term guarantee for one's "investment", there's always C&N.

As mentioned earlier, I think its good news in the long term for the reasons you mentioned above. At least both of them like to make quirky cameras for quirky people
Short term, of course some ppl will be scared away or at least hold their purchases which is the downside of this change.
Hoya, just wasn't ready to part with the money to further develop and promote Pentax since it was not their core/interested business.
Under a proper camera manufacturer like Ricoh, it will be better.

 

[stuck]

I only mentioned Pentax and not any particular equipment model this time around and yet you guys are ever so ready to put me down. If Pentax is a good company, it will not be in this stead, period.

Like Hassleblad is not a good company? :bsmilie:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20075731-264/private-equity-firm-acquires-hasselblad/

I think no one's putting you down, it's just that you should try going into any forum section that has been dedicated to a brand; say car forums, if there is a Mercedes section, go into it and make numerous, persistant comments about the state of Mercedes, how you regret buying a Mercedes because they lowerered their price and boy your value has dropped and oh dear me how you should have stuck to BMW. I'd wager you get the same cold/amused treatment there.

Yes, we regret things. There's nothing wrong if you don't like Pentax. But singing that tune at the doorstep of a whole bunch of people who like Pentax - it's going to be problematic for everyone for so many reasons, I don't understand why you think people are going to hug you and tell you it's going to be ok (at least not more than a few times - which you have definitely exceeded).

You can try doing the same thing in Canon, Nikon, Olympus here. 105% certain you might get the same variety of reaction, and even more violent examples. :bsmilie:

Life's not about a sub-$2K purchase. There's bigger fish to catch, like houses. I'm sure you didn't sit around and regret moving out and voicing your unhappiness to the people around you non-stop (if you did, that is), right?

My humble suggestion is for you to just get rid of Pentax, if you hate it that much, and move on. Keeping a K-5 and whatever lenses you have, and then singing tunes around Pentax section about how unhappy you are is just plain ridiculous. It's like someone going around telling everyone he has a thorn in his flesh and boy does it hurt - when he could spend that time removing that thorn.

well said! i'll second that. AFAIK everybody's been nothing but civil & helpful to your situation. I think you may have just abt run out of goodwill around this parts... would you rather everyone just ignores your posts?

 

[Anthony Lee]

Like Hassleblad is not a good company? :bsmilie:

http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20075731-264/private-equity-firm-acquires-hasselblad/

I think no one's putting you down, it's just that you should try going into any forum section that has been dedicated to a brand; say car forums, if there is a Mercedes section, go into it and make numerous, persistant comments about the state of Mercedes, how you regret buying a Mercedes because they lowerered their price and boy your value has dropped and oh dear me how you should have stuck to BMW. I'd wager you get the same cold/amused treatment there.

Yes, we regret things. There's nothing wrong if you don't like Pentax. But singing that tune at the doorstep of a whole bunch of people who like Pentax - it's going to be problematic for everyone for so many reasons, I don't understand why you think people are going to hug you and tell you it's going to be ok (at least not more than a few times - which you have definitely exceeded).

You can try doing the same thing in Canon, Nikon, Olympus here. 105% certain you might get the same variety of reaction, and even more violent examples. :bsmilie:

Life's not about a sub-$2K purchase. There's bigger fish to catch, like houses. I'm sure you didn't sit around and regret moving out and voicing your unhappiness to the people around you non-stop (if you did, that is), right?

My humble suggestion is for you to just get rid of Pentax, if you hate it that much, and move on. Keeping a K-5 and whatever lenses you have, and then singing tunes around Pentax section about how unhappy you are is just plain ridiculous. It's like someone going around telling everyone he has a thorn in his flesh and boy does it hurt - when he could spend that time removing that thorn.

I repect you as a photographer but not so much as a forumer in some cases. So I will not take you up on this as I will cause more problems.

 

[le petit prince]

before i buy my k-x..i know nothing abt dslr..right now..maybe i dun know much also..I dunno how green should green be..or how blue the blue should be..but for the past 1 yr or so..i hv gained so much joy from my k-x even tho my pics are lousy and hardly got any comments when i post them online :bsmilie: but still my greatest joy so far is in a orphanage in cambodia where i took some pics of the kids performing..the smile on their face when i show them the pic is something i still can remember

What matter is you enjoy the photo-taking process, and yes, for the joy it brings to you and others. I hope you managed to give them prints? My biggest regret in is being unable to do. Some rural places are so lacking in modern facilities we take for granted here. No photo lab for miles around even.

As for comments, some of the photos I see in the forums and which I really like get few or no comments too.

 

[darrrrrrrrrr]

I repect you as a photographer but not so much as a forumer in some cases. So I will not take you up on this as I will cause more problems.

That's quite a personal attack isn't it? :dunno:

 

[Anthony Lee]

That's quite a personal attack isn't it? :dunno:

This is serious, can you explain?

 

[stuck]

This is serious, can you explain?

you're implying that although you respect his photographic skills, you do not respect him as a person. How much more personal can it be? :sweat:

 

[detritus]

I repect you as a photographer but not so much as a forumer in some cases. So I will not take you up on this as I will cause more problems.

so what exactly are u expecting? free speech? the right to criticise anyway u want but to deny everyone else the right to reply to you?

lets be fair here: has anyone dismissed your valid criticisms of your pentax equipment off-hand? or replied to you in a defensive or arrogant manner?

edutilos is being civil and factual - instead of bashing your equipment at every opportunity and making yourself and everyone else feel lousy in the process, you should just get a setup that suits you better, and go take beautiful pictures. isn't that more satisfying and fun than trying to start a quarrel every chance you get?

you think u have the moral high-ground here by simply "not taking pple on" in case it "cause more problems"?

if you were had cared about not "causing problems" in the first place, as you say, you would not be attempting to stir the pot as you are currently doing now. get off your high-horse. u are a forum troll. plain and simple.

 

[Yamakasi]

What matter is you enjoy the photo-taking process, and yes, for the joy it brings to you and others. I hope you managed to give them prints? My biggest regret in is being unable to do. Some rural places are so lacking in modern facilities we take for granted here. No photo lab for miles around even.

As for comments, some of the photos I see in the forums and which I really like get few or no comments too.

unfortunately, I did not give them any prints..come to think of it..i should have done it..thanks for the idea..will print out some and send over to them

I like the series you posted on Timor

 

[Anthony Lee]

1. If any comments I made had any implication to personal attachs on anybody, I apologise. That was never my intention. I have never made any personal attacks on anyone here because it's never my style. When I said I don't have respect for Editulos regarding some cases, it was strictly based on his style of writing and nothing to do with him personally, as I do not know him at all as a person. Maybe, as an old man of a different era, I tend to write differently, that's all.

2. This thread is strictly about technical discussion of the good and bad points of a piece of equipment. I mainly stated the facts about the camera I own, the company that manufactures it and the infrastructure the system has to operate under. What I really like and dislike about the camera is my personal opinion and since I chose to own it then, it's my problem. But the technical deficiencies still exist. So what's wrong in talking them?

3. I have never taken a route to criticise anyone in all my post on anyone who expresed his likes or dislikes, because this is not the place for it. I don't tell people to fly kite, live with it or switch.

If I have contravened in any of the rules here, then I will leave it completely to the moderator as i have plenty of respect for him.

 

[stuck]

Anthony: from reading your various posts you seem like a reasonable person & i had a lot of respect for your courage to follow your heart in switching to pentax despite all the advice to the contrary by your friends. Unfortunately for some reason or other it didn't work out for you & I'm sure everyone here understands that. In fact, some has even advised you to just make the switch back if the system still troubles you despite the best efforts of many of the more experienced pentaxians to help you understand better the strengths & weaknesses of the system.

No brand/system is perfect & as pentax users we're all aware of that. I think it would be unfair to imply that we all have our heads in the sand with regards to Pentax deficiencies & refuse to acknowledge or discuss it. In fact, the very opposite is true as I can observe daily (from the point of view of a non-participating viewer as I can't contribute much as a newbie) various open discussions of the various quirks & deficiencies of our equipment & how we can better overcome it. That is the exact purpose of a forum like this - honest & open discussion so we can all improve & enjoy our photography. This also characterized your earlier posts in the pentax sub-forum when you were genuinely interested in learning more & enjoying yourself.

However, what irks me is how of late your posts have solely been about venting abt how pentax equipment and/or the company is so terrible & what a silly mistake you've made switching ("the sky is falling!!"). This is totally unconstructive & does not help anyone at all (yourself included). You know why Pentax is not working out for you, but you have to respect that other Pentax users also know why they would want to stick with Pentax. This whole Ricoh-Pentax affair is the best example. There is no reason why Pentax absolutely must go downhill post-Ricoh & since you've already given up on the K5 it really shouldn't affect you at all anyway. So all the ranting & raving is not useful discussion, but whining which is frankly getting a bit irritating.

 

[edutilos-]

I repect you as a photographer but not so much as a forumer in some cases. So I will not take you up on this as I will cause more problems.

That's quite a personal attack isn't it? :dunno:

This is serious, can you explain?

you're implying that although you respect his photographic skills, you do not respect him as a person. How much more personal can it be? :sweat:

so what exactly are u expecting? free speech? the right to criticise anyway u want but to deny everyone else the right to reply to you?

lets be fair here: has anyone dismissed your valid criticisms of your pentax equipment off-hand? or replied to you in a defensive or arrogant manner?

edutilos is being civil and factual - instead of bashing your equipment at every opportunity and making yourself and everyone else feel lousy in the process, you should just get a setup that suits you better, and go take beautiful pictures. isn't that more satisfying and fun than trying to start a quarrel every chance you get?

you think u have the moral high-ground here by simply "not taking pple on" in case it "cause more problems"?

if you were had cared about not "causing problems" in the first place, as you say, you would not be attempting to stir the pot as you are currently doing now. get off your high-horse. u are a forum troll. plain and simple.

Guys,

I don't live to please everyone, and I have long since recognised that I can't please everyone. In any case, there is no need to be less than civil here.. And I have had my fair share of what could be deemed as less desirable forum behaviour in the past, so perhaps in some cases there have been pre-formulated opinions which are not entirely unfounded.

I just wanted to express my well-meaning point of view. It is very confounding to me why someone would want to keep holding to something he does not like and continue harping about it non-stop. Anthony - you are definitely more than entitled to your point of view and I hope I did not come across as saying that you have no right to be unhappy about the equipment you have. What I do mean however, is that harping about this non-stop in Pentax section can come across as rather undesirable (for want of a better word, I can't think of anything else less mild), so to speak.

I don't know if you got my point, but I hope you do.

You haven't broken any written rules, that's for sure; but I am also sure that at this point in time, many of the members here will either run out of patience or soon run out of patience; and I was hoping to offer some advice to avoid such a situation where you will just get flamed openly everytime you type anything. That's really how a forum works, and maybe it's not utopian but... That's how it is.

If I have offended you in any way, I apologise, because I did not mean to. Cheers. Last post here.

 

[symmetrix]

2. This thread is strictly about technical discussion of the good and bad points of a piece of equipment. I mainly stated the facts about the camera I own, the company that manufactures it and the infrastructure the system has to operate under. What I really like and dislike about the camera is my personal opinion and since I chose to own it then, it's my problem. But the technical deficiencies still exist. So what's wrong in talking them?

This thread is about Ricoh buying Pentax, not a technical discussion of equipment. Your initial post in this thread says this is bad news. That's fine. That's your opinion, and you're entitled to it, just as we are with ours. Of course, you should be prepared to back it up.

3. I have never taken a route to criticise anyone in all my post on anyone who expresed his likes or dislikes, because this is not the place for it. I don't tell people to fly kite, live with it or switch.

If you have a kid who's crying and makes a lot of noise why his toys suck compared to other kids, what would you do?

 

[le petit prince]

Online, everything gets magnified. I'm sure we all have had our horror stories of how our jokes or not-so-serious grouses or sentences get misinterpreted or distorted or misunderstood by others. (I sure do.) It's too easy to come across as what one isn't online; the body language and, yes, the restraint, isn't there for us to see or exercise.

I've met Anthony, though just the once for a lens sale, and he's a nice and genial chap. Sure, his recent posts (which seem to imply Pentax has no future) come across as irritating and whining (sorry, Anthony, but you do), but we all tend to vent at times, and sometimes in the not-so-right situations and timings. But I'm sure he doesn't do it to purposely put down Pentax or its users. Edutilos' straightforward, plainspeaking (or rather, plainwriting) style may also rub some the wrong way; as I'm sure he knows that, but it's his style, and we know that he doesn't mean anything more. In short, on all sides, there is no malice intended, I believe.

So let's all cut one another some slack, as I see Anthony and Edutilos have just done. Maybe we can all do likewise?

Cheers!

 

[liveevil]

Although I'm not disappointed with Ricoh taking over Pentax, I'm not too excited either. From the way Ricoh market their products, I doubt they will be more aggressive than Hoya.

 

[detritus]

Although I'm not disappointed with Ricoh taking over Pentax, I'm not too excited either. From the way Ricoh market their products, I doubt they will be more aggressive than Hoya.

when was the last time u say leica market their products?

ok, i admit, i'm being frivolous. ricoh is not leica and neither is pentax.

some marketing is necessary lah... but i would rather they invest in better products than pass on excessive marketing costs to consumers :sticktong

 

[clownpo09]

when was the last time u say leica market their products?

ok, i admit, i'm being frivolous. ricoh is not leica and neither is pentax.

some marketing is necessary lah... but i would rather they invest in better products than pass on excessive marketing costs to consumers :sticktong

agree with this. dun care about how they advetise their product actually

 

[evolutioner]

so what exactly are u expecting? free speech? the right to criticise anyway u want but to deny everyone else the right to reply to you?

lets be fair here: has anyone dismissed your valid criticisms of your pentax equipment off-hand? or replied to you in a defensive or arrogant manner?

edutilos is being civil and factual - instead of bashing your equipment at every opportunity and making yourself and everyone else feel lousy in the process, you should just get a setup that suits you better, and go take beautiful pictures. isn't that more satisfying and fun than trying to start a quarrel every chance you get?

you think u have the moral high-ground here by simply "not taking pple on" in case it "cause more problems"?

if you were had cared about not "causing problems" in the first place, as you say, you would not be attempting to stir the pot as you are currently doing now. get off your high-horse. u are a forum troll. plain and simple.

2 x thumbs up to this.

Unintentional troll is still a troll.

 

[Lightbulb]

walaueh, too much Taiwanese and bollywood drama get to our heads ah. Relack la everybody, only photography mah, not a matter life and death!

Seriously Anthony if you are selling please PM me I am looking for a few zoom lenses.

When all the emotion settled let us remember this; nobody makes a mid budget TRUE weather sealed DSLR and lenses as FANTASTIC and as AFFORDABLE as PENTAX! Nobody can take this away..... And you think Ricoh is stupid to buy Pentax for no good reason? I think Pentax is gearing for something big!