2019-01 : En janvier de la nouvelle année... On se souhaite bonne année...

j'espère que 2019 sera une bonne année pour chacun d'entre vous, avec ou sans PENTAX, avec ou sans phase de Dark Age ou avec des contraintes personnelles qui vous obligent à mettre temporairement ou définitivement cette passion souvent envahissante de côté. Rappelez vous de ce conseil que je m'efforce de republier une fois par an : Ne sacrifiez rien pour un PENTAX. Ne vous endettez pas pour acheter des PENTAX. Le plastique ou le verre ne se mange pas, et il ne se revend pas aussi cher que certains veulent bien le laisser croire, surtout quand il faut agir dans l'urgence.

L'année prochaine, j'espère que vous continuerez, comme vous le faites depuis déjà huit ans, à donner du sens à tout ce que je fais ici. Une passion n'a de sens que si elle peut être partagée avec d'autres.

Je vous souhaite à toutes et à tous une excellente année 2019.

JPT a écrit:The January edition of Nippon Camera magazine came out on December 20 and it has an interview with Ricoh Pentax about their plans for 2019. (...)

Please remember when reading this that my Japanese reading is fairly good these days but not perfect. It’s especially difficult to interpret how definite things are and when technical matters are discussed. Having said that, I’m pretty sure I’ve understood most of this.

Anything in brackets is my added comment.

————

About their direction for 2019
They’re not the kind of company that can come out with large numbers of cameras. They plan to continue prioritizing cameras and the photographic process with customers in mind. The first topic for 2019 will be the all new GR III.

Quite a lot of the interview was about the GR III, and I’ll just refer you to the thread in the GR III, where I already posted about this. Post #499 of the following thread.
Ricoh GR III - Page 34 - PentaxForums.com

Pentax centenary
- It’s actually the centenary of the optical company that was the precursor to Pentax that celebrates it’s centenary this year.
- The actual date is in November
- They are considering how to celebrate the event, but cannot share details yet.
- They don’t think that merely putting a 100-year logo on products is what their customers are hoping for. (The implication is they will do something more)

About Q and 645
- Q has been highly valued for it’s compact size by core users. They are looking at the situation with the Q, and it is not accurate to say development in discontinued. (I think this should be taken with a pinch of salt, because in Japan, Q bodies are only available from Ricoh direct, some shops list the lenses as “production ended”, and that macro disappeared from the roadmap)
- Regarding 645, the next model is currently being considered. 645 is a very important product to the company and they are not stopping the line. (Resolute answer)

Lenses
- The interviewer mentioned that 645 users are worried about the lack of new lenses. They have not stopped development. However, for now their priority is for FF K-mount lenses.
- They have a lot of demands from full frame users, especially for lightweight tele zoom(s).
- They 85mm on the roadmap has been put back, but it is still coming (the strong implication is that prioritizing the tele zoom(s) pushed back the 85mm).
- The DA* 11-18 is in the final stages of development. They expect to make an announcement before CP+.
- They are also planning a “surprise” for next year. (I take this to mean a lens not on the roadmap, because of the context of the comment)

About FF/MF mirrorless
- They expressed respect for the competing FF mirrorless systems, saying that they have many good points.
- However, they are more interested in serving their customers than following trends. They will listen to user requirements, not be swayed. (This was difficult to understand, but I think this means they are going to stick to their judgement, rather than caving in to peer pressure)
- They seem positive about Fuji’s entry into the MF market, because they think it will draw more attention to the MF market.

The K-1 upgrade
- They are proud of their achievement in clearing the logistical hurdles to making this possible.
- The reaction has been positive.
- (I can’t understand what they say about noise reduction, but it seems that they are aware that opinion is divided on the approach to noise reduction in the K-1 Mark II)

The SDK
- They haven’t seen much development yet, but the reaction was greater than expected. They are currently gathering information. and looking forward to what users do with it.

———————

Any discussion of future K-mount cameras was notably absent. The interview script did not have any question about it, neither were there any comments in answers to other questions. I think this topic must be understood to be off limits for the interview, so I would not read anything into it.

JPT a écrit:There wasn’t any more specific talk of crop, but I suspect that non-roadmapped lens might be APS-C, because it was mentioned immediately after the DA* 11-18 in the discussion. Also, most APS-C lenses would be a replacement for something in the current lineup, which would explain why Ricoh had not put them on the roadmap in the first place.

I should say that Japanese has no marker for plurals, so “telezooms” could be “telezoom”, but there are two telezooms already on the roadmap, so I chose to write it that way. These zooms would probably be attractive to APS-C users as well.

I forgot to mention, the people interviewed were Hiraku Kawauchi and Iwasaki-san (can’t read his given name).

JPT a écrit:There was a question and answer about Theta, but I left it out because I didn’t understand enough. They said the Theta was selling well as always. The the part I couldn’t understand was something about the upgrade cycle of Theta. I think they were saying that it is faster than traditional cameras, because the whole segment is at an earlier stage of development.

clover a écrit:Pour ceux que la VOSENG ne rebute pas

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJV1h9xQ7Hx856nJCRXtYAu_QWvcJlkSp

• 2018 : 3,1%
  
• 2017 : 4,2%
  
• 2016 : 4,8%
  
• 2015 : 6,7%
  
• 2014 : 4,5%
  
• 2013 : 5,2%
  
• 2012 : 5,1%
  
• 2011 : 7,5%
  

inextenza a écrit:Ohlalala Comment inverser la courbe?

clover a écrit:Le déclin a commencé quand j'ai arrêté de faire les démo sur le stand... Je le savais !!!


^-^

Mistral75 a écrit:

inextenza a écrit:Ohlalala Comment inverser la courbe?

clover a écrit:Le déclin a commencé quand j'ai arrêté de faire les démo sur le stand... Je le savais !!!


^-^

clover, tu sais ce qu'il te reste à faire !

• octobre 2017 : annonce de son développement (sortie prévue à l'été 2018)
  
• février 2018 : communication de caractéristiques supplémentaires (sortie à l'été 2018 confirmée)
  
• juin 2018 : commercialisation reportée à 2019
  

• date de disponibilité prévue : 22 février 2019 [donc juste avant le CP+]
  
• pare-soleil : PH-RBF 82
  
• prix chez de grands détaillants [donc TTC avec 8% de TVA mais remisé par rapport au prix public indicatif] : 180.900 JPY [1.450 €]
  

• il porte le nom de FA et pas de D FA, donc la formule optique serait inchangée, sans optimisation pour les capteurs numériques
  
• il ne porte aucun nom de motorisation, ni DC ni SDM, donc il aurait conservé sa motorisation par le boîtier
  

• pare-soleil PH-RBG49 [le smc Pentax-FA 35 mm f/2 AL a pour pare-soleil le PH-RBA49]
  
• date de disponibilité prévue : 31 janvier 2019