JVC Kenwood will not buy Pentax

4 Comments

1. Catastrophile
   Posted November 28, 2009 at 5:02 pm | Permalink

   Pentax seems to have done a very good job with Sony 12MP APS-C sensor used in the K-X, maybe this suggests that they should consider Sony, if they need to be supported by one of the electronic giants, Sony would be a better match than 4/3-oriented Panasonic or non-Japanese Samsung (this matter a lot in the Japanese corporate culture). So Samsung was a match made in the sea (between the 2 countries), Hoya was a match made in hell (how i see it at least), Sony would be a match made inside an APS-C camera (K-X = heaven), I processed an online RAW file from K-X and was very very impressed with the results, was one of the rare occaisions when you feel the scene is live in front of you, not a photo.

   • Sky
     Posted November 28, 2009 at 7:23 pm | Permalink

     Yea… good idea – let’s convert everything what’s Pentax into Sony Alpha and be happy… lol.

     As far as I’m Alpha user and I’d love to see Sony going bit more Pentax way (put everything into cheaper bodies) I wouldn’t want Sony to buy Pentax. I still prefer more variety on market and more competition – it’s what accelerates growth

     Besides that – I don’t see even a slightest reason why Sony would be interested in Pentax other than selling it’s sensor (what Sony does in any way to many many companies).

     I hope for some new player – not related to 4/3 or any other existing system. This would allow keeping the K mount intact and bring some fresh air to the market – just like the Sony did after buying Konica-Minolta DSLRs. Pentax has great potential and great cameras – only they lack in strategy, advertisement and money for investments – good investor will hopefully fix all these problems and perhaps we’ll have new serious player

2. Catastrophile
   Posted November 29, 2009 at 7:45 am | Permalink

   from the customers PoV (of wanting better specs @ lower prices), the only meaningful competition is the one between Canon and Nikon. Sony and Panasonic are looking promising but still with sony you see delays in adding real (main sensor) LV and so far no video. What is the point in having 10 or so manufacturers in addition to C&N if each one of the 10 misses very important things. I’d rather have 3 or 4 erious competitors than 2 giants + 10 dwarfs. Now if Pentax joins another company (take over, merger, joint venture or whatever), there is always a danger that all or some of the nice thing about Pentax might change, I agree, but in most cases, it is more likely to be like what happened to KM after being acquired by Sony, most of nice things about Minolta lives on in the Alpha system, even if there where few bad things introduced by sony, overall the situation is better than the sustained weakness of Pentax or Sigma.

   • Alex S.
     Posted December 1, 2009 at 4:48 am | Permalink

     Only Canon and Nikon? You are absolutely wrong.
     You see, without Minolta/KM/Sony and Pentax, you wouldn’t have cheap IS/VR lenses. Without Pentax you wouldn’t have decent viewfinders on not-so-expensive Canikon cameras. And not a hint of weather sealing on anything less than a series 1 EOS. And the list can go on…
     Btw, we should not rule out the (very real) possibility that Pentax remains with Hoya (the best option, imo).
     You should also not put Pentax and Sigma together, it’s ridiculous; for Sigma, their DSLRs are more like a hobby, selling 1 or 2 every year; but they sell a lot of lenses (aren’t they the no1 lens maker?). In contrast, Pentax DSLR’s are quite successful, and I would be surprised if they won’t beat Sony on the Japanese market this year.