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rec.photo.equipment.35mm
Re: Pentax drops production of 35mm film cameras.

"Alexander Zuev" <> wrote in message
news:...
> According to the iXBT news site (Russian computer related news server)
> 04.27.2004 president of Pentax corporation Fumio Urano said that Pentax
> is going to discontinue all the 35mm film cameras, both SLR and compact.
> Pentax will concentrate on producing digital cameras and professional
> medium format equipment.

I ran that through a Russian to English translator:

"PENTAX Fumio Urano has officially declared that, despite of a world
recognition and uniqueness of film cameras PENTAX, the corporation stops
manufacture both compact, and mirror analog chambers. From all ruler of film
cameras PENTAX will continue manufacture extremely professional
sredneformatnoj phototechnics. Thus, corporation PENTAX became the first
company from so-called " the big five " photobrands, which completely will
concentrate on the most actual for today to a ruler of digital cameras of a
various class (including, professional and amateur digital "zerkalkah"), and
also manufacture of "hybrid" photo-videos of chambers. (http: //
www.ixbt.com/news/hard/index.shtml? hard104309id) "

This was not unexpected, and the other second and third tier film camera
makers will do the same soon. Expect Olympus and Konica-Minolta to exit the
film camera business soon.. Sigma will likely exit the camera business for
both digital and film, while continuing to do manufacturing for other
companies.

There may still be a small market for low end point and shoot film cameras,
but companies like Vivitar can fill that niche.
The two top-tier companies will probably phase out most of their film SLRs,
leaving one amateur, one prosumer, and one or two pro models each.

Steve
Digital Camera Short List
http://digitalcamerashortlist.com

Steven M. Scharf wrote:


> I ran that through a Russian to English translator:
>

> This was not unexpected, and the other second and third tier film camera
> makers will do the same soon. Expect Olympus and Konica-Minolta to exit the
> film camera business soon.. Sigma will likely exit the camera business for
> both digital and film, while continuing to do manufacturing for other
> companies.

Wonder why Konica-Minolta released a few SLR's recently? Maybe they
didn't read the cited article and don't know to stop?


--
--e-meil: there's no such thing as a FreeLunch.--

"Alan Browne" <> wrote in message
news:r8tkc.44525$...
> Steven M. Scharf wrote:
>
>
> > I ran that through a Russian to English translator:
> >
>
> > This was not unexpected, and the other second and third tier film camera
> > makers will do the same soon. Expect Olympus and Konica-Minolta to exit
the
> > film camera business soon.. Sigma will likely exit the camera business
for
> > both digital and film, while continuing to do manufacturing for other
> > companies.
>
> Wonder why Konica-Minolta released a few SLR's recently? Maybe they
> didn't read the cited article and don't know to stop?
>
Rumours are always interesting, I note they always seem to come from some
obscure site. The recent rumours I heard was Kodak not making film, Nikon
will stop making film based cameras, and Pentax making a full-frame digital
back for the 645.

In article <8ytkc.320375$ able.rogers.com>,
"~ Darrell ~" <> writes:
> Rumours are always interesting, I note they always seem to come from some
> obscure site. The recent rumours I heard was Kodak not making film, Nikon
> will stop making film based cameras, and Pentax making a full-frame digital
> back for the 645.

Why on earth would Pentax stop making film SLR's when they have only
one digital body? It would make more sense if Canon stopped making
film SLR's as they seem to have a fairly respectable range.

At the moment the company that abandons film SLRs abandons the
highstreet 250 pound SLR market. I would have thought that that or
the second hand route is how people start using SLRs. How many people
buy a digital SLR as a first camera?


--

http://www.petezilla.co.uk

In rec.photo.equipment.35mm Peter Chant <> wrote:
: In article <8ytkc.320375$ able.rogers.com>,
: "~ Darrell ~" <> writes:
: > Rumours are always interesting, I note they always seem to come from some
: > obscure site. The recent rumours I heard was Kodak not making film, Nikon
: > will stop making film based cameras, and Pentax making a full-frame digital
: > back for the 645.

: Why on earth would Pentax stop making film SLR's when they have only
: one digital body? It would make more sense if Canon stopped making
: film SLR's as they seem to have a fairly respectable range.

Pentax is primarily a maker of medium format cameras. They haven't been a major
player in 35mm cameras in years.

--




Keep working millions on welfare depend on you
-------------------

"Frank Pittel" <> wrote in message
news:CZydnfmmy9Hu7wndRVn-...
[SNIP]
> Pentax is primarily a maker of medium format cameras.
> They haven't been a major player in 35mm cameras in years.
>

I suspect in truth they should be defined as an optics company: their
telescopes and surveying equipment are a huge part of the business.

As for 35mm, I guess this depends on definition: if you see only Canon and
Nikon as "major players", then no, Pentax is not producing at those volumes.
But I'm sure Pentax's production dwarfs that of Leica, Contax, etc. In that
context, the 'major players' would be Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Minolta /
Konica, and, yes, Cosina and (perhaps?) Sigma. That group will all be way
ahead in production volume terms of everyone else, and closer in volume to
each other than any of them are to the volumes of 'the rest' who are the
niche players.

From within that list, of course, Pentax still makes some of the best
lenses - for my purposes without question the best.



Peter

Bandicoot wrote:

<snip>
> From within that list, of course, Pentax still makes some of the best
> lenses - for my purposes without question the best.


Peter, have we had a conversation about the Pentax-M 50mm lenses, perhaps
specifically the f1.4? I can't recall...

In any case, if you have one of these, how do you rate it?

Thanks,

Bill Tallman

In rec.photo.equipment.35mm Bandicoot <"insert_handle_here"@techemail.com> wrote:
: "Frank Pittel" <> wrote in message
: news:CZydnfmmy9Hu7wndRVn-...
: [SNIP]
: > Pentax is primarily a maker of medium format cameras.
: > They haven't been a major player in 35mm cameras in years.
: >

: I suspect in truth they should be defined as an optics company: their
: telescopes and surveying equipment are a huge part of the business.

: As for 35mm, I guess this depends on definition: if you see only Canon and
: Nikon as "major players", then no, Pentax is not producing at those volumes.
: But I'm sure Pentax's production dwarfs that of Leica, Contax, etc. In that
: context, the 'major players' would be Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Minolta /
: Konica, and, yes, Cosina and (perhaps?) Sigma. That group will all be way
: ahead in production volume terms of everyone else, and closer in volume to
: each other than any of them are to the volumes of 'the rest' who are the
: niche players.

The point I was trying to make was that 35mm cameras is a very small part
of there sales in comparison to MF where they are one of the one of the
"major players".

: From within that list, of course, Pentax still makes some of the best
: lenses - for my purposes without question the best.

I couldn't agree more about the quality of their lenses. My first camera
was a Pentax Spotmatic with a 50mm SMC lens!! I have since gotten into LF
and MF. Even now I consider my pentax lenses better then any of my Cannon,
Mamiya, and Rodenstock lenses.

Not to long ago I took a pass at getting a Leica after I ran a roll of film
through it and found that the lens wasn't significanly better them my Pentax
lenses!!

--




Keep working millions on welfare depend on you
-------------------

"Bandicoot" <"insert_handle_here"@techemail.com> wrote in message
news:...
> "Frank Pittel" <> wrote in message

> I suspect in truth they should be defined as an optics company: their
> telescopes and surveying equipment are a huge part of the business.

Very good binoculars too.

"Frank Pittel" <> wrote in message
news:hsydnVNWpbgVOgjdRVn-...
> In rec.photo.equipment.35mm Bandicoot <"insert_handle_here"@techemail.com>
wrote:
> : "Frank Pittel" <> wrote in message
> : news:CZydnfmmy9Hu7wndRVn-...
> : [SNIP]
> : > Pentax is primarily a maker of medium format cameras.
> : > They haven't been a major player in 35mm cameras in years.
> : >
>
> : I suspect in truth they should be defined as an optics company: their
> : telescopes and surveying equipment are a huge part of the business.
>
> : As for 35mm, I guess this depends on definition: if you see only
> : Canon and Nikon as "major players", then no, Pentax is not
> : producing at those volumes. But I'm sure Pentax's production
> : dwarfs that of Leica, Contax, etc. In that context, the 'major
> : players' would be Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Minolta / Konica, and,
> : yes, Cosina and (perhaps?) Sigma. That group will all be way
> : ahead in production volume terms of everyone else, and closer in
> : volume to each other than any of them are to the volumes of 'the
> : rest' who are the niche players.
>
> The point I was trying to make was that 35mm cameras is a very
> small part of there sales in comparison to MF where they are one of
> the one of the "major players".

That is a fair point - though I suspect the 35mm market is so much bigger
than the MF market that being 'in the pack' for 35mm actually beats being
'at the head of the field' in MF. I haven't looked at Pentax's annual
report to check out where their profits are mostly made, however.

>
> : From within that list, of course, Pentax still makes some of the best
> : lenses - for my purposes without question the best.
>
> I couldn't agree more about the quality of their lenses. My first
> camera was a Pentax Spotmatic with a 50mm SMC lens!! I have
> since gotten into LF and MF. Even now I consider my pentax lenses
> better then any of my Cannon, Mamiya, and Rodenstock lenses.

Which Rodenstock lenses? I have Sironar-N 100mm and 150mm lenses for 6x9
that I like, but comparing MF to 35mm is a bit of a skewed playing field so
I haven't really thought about it in detail... I do think that Pentax is
closer in 'style' to Schneider/Rodenstock/Zeiss than it is to most of the
other Japanese companies, and that is the style that happens to suit me.

>
> Not to long ago I took a pass at getting a Leica after I ran a roll of
> film through it and found that the lens wasn't significanly better them
> my Pentax lenses!!
>

I'm content enough with my Yashica Electro 35 CC (and Ricoh GR1v) in the
sort of role where I'd use an M Leica that I don't see me ever spending the
money. I have an old Contax rangefinder too, but the Yashica is just fine
for me. Or a Pentax MX with the 40mm f2.8...



Peter