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Pentax takes a step back into the past with the launch of the “Film Camera Project”

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Pentax is an odd duck, for sure. They’ve held onto DSLRs with a death grip against the onslaught of DSLRs, which could potentially become their undoing in a few years. Now, though, it seems that instead of taking a step towards the future, they’re taking one into the past.  But it’s not a backwards step! Film’s resurgence over the last decade or so is no secret. New film brands seem to be popping up regularly and even Kodak is struggling to keep up with demand.

It’s a trend that has not gone unnoticed by Pentax, who have always been a more familiar brand amongst film shooters than digital. So now, they’ve launched a new Film Camera Project. In a press release, the company said the project entails research and developing new Pentax brand “film camera products”, bringing together both veteran and younger engineers to take advantage of both old and new tech.

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Holiday Gift Guide – The best new cameras of 2022

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It’s December again, which means lots of us are sitting there wondering what to buy for ourselves or the photographer in our lives this holiday season. We’ve been saving up all year to get that something special, but we don’t want to deal with in-store queues – or maybe we’ve just slacked on our Christmas shopping this year. We want to stay at home where it’s nice and warm and see what we can find online that gets delivered straight to our door!

So, this means it’s time for the 2022 DIYP Holiday Gift Guides, and we’re kicking things off with cameras. These are some of our favourite cameras that have been released over the last year. Keep visiting back this week as we release our other guides, including lenses, lighting, tripods, sliders & gimbals, and accessories and gadgets.

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Pentax updates its K mount lens roadmap but there’s nothing new on it

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Pentax has updated its K mount lens roadmap as of November 2022. This sounds like it should be a good thing, although it’s really not. No new lenses have been added to the roadmap, not even mysterious ones with vague titles that don’t actually give anything away. Sure, there are a couple of those on there, but they were already on there in the last roadmap update.

Given recent reports of Ricoh dumping less profitable sections of its business, this does not bode well for the future of Pentax. If their own engineers don’t have anything new to report, then it could be because they’ve been told not to work on anything new. There are two updated roadmaps, with one showing every Pentax lens and one showing only full-frame lenses.

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Is Ricoh finally giving up on Pentax DSLRs and leaving the camera business?

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In a recent article on Japanese outlet Newswitch, Ricoh CFO Shun Kawaguchi says that the company is looking to essentially dump some of its business in order to be able to focus its time and money on more lucrative areas of the company. There was no explicit mention of Pentax, Ricoh’s own branded cameras or the Theta series of 360° cameras, although logically, they might be some of the first up for the chopping block – and probably in that order.

Pentax’s defiance of market trends and its steadfast refusal to enter the mirrorless market could be its downfall. Who could’ve seen that one coming, huh? Pentax proclaimed in 2019 that users would start switching from mirrorless back to DSLRs within 1-2 years. Well, it’s 2022, and that hasn’t happened. In 2020, they reaffirmed their commitment to DSLRs. And just last month, they released the entirely underwhelming Pentax KF – which is basically just a K-70 with a flippy-out LCD.

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Pentax has officially announced the new Pentax KF DSLR but it’s basically a K-70 with a flippy out LCD

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Pentax has now officially announced the new Pentax KF APS-C DSLR. I say “new”, but it’s not really that much different to the K-70. It’s had a few minor tweaks, but one major update is that it now has a proper flippy out LCD with a slightly higher resolution than its predecessor. It has some new custom image modes and features the special edition Kyushu and Katen Custom Image modes (with supported lenses).

Other than that, though, not much has really changed. It’s almost identical to the K-70 in its exterior other than the LCD, assuming you don’t go for one of the fancy limited edition Crystal Blue or White colour options, and you’d be hard-pushed to tell the difference between them if not for the fact it has “KF” written on it. It’s more of an incremental replacement rather than an upgrade.

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Ricoh launches newly designed HD Pentax-D FA Macro 100mm F2.8ED All Weather lens

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Ricoh has announced the new HD Pentax-D FA Macro 100mm f/2.8ED AW (All Weather) lens. This is the first Pentax macro lens to feature all-weather dustproof and weather-resistant construction. Ricoh says that when mounted to a weather-resistant Pentax DSLR, the new lens creates “a highly dependable, durable imaging system that performs superbly in demanding shooting conditions”.

The lens features a new optical design, although Ricoh says it’s almost as compact as its Pentax-D FA Macro 100mm f/2.8 WR predecessor. And as well as new insides, it also has a new exterior. The new design includes Pentax’s Quick-Shift Focus System. This enables photographers to instantly switch from auto to manual focus after the camera’s AF system locks on.

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A class action lawsuit has been filed against Ricoh USA (again) over Pentax K-30 and K-50 aperture defects

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Ricoh USA is being sued again, with a class-action suit in Pennsylvania over defects in the aperture mechanism of the Pentax K-30 and K-50 DSLRs. It’s the second time a class action lawsuit has been filed against the company, with the first being filed in 2020 in New York and subsequently dismissed in just February of this year.

The new suit filed in Pennsylvania basically alleges the same as the suit filed in New York two years ago – although the original suit also included the Pentax K-70 in the list of defective models. The defect, as alleged by both suits is that there’s a problem with the aperture mechanism that produces consistently black or very underexposed images, making the cameras unfit for purpose.

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Ricoh announces major restructuring – is Pentax about to be reborn or are they just dying?

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This announcement applies to Ricoh Japan only. For a statement from Ricoh USA, see the bottom of this post.

Ricoh, more specifically its Pentax brand of cameras, seem to have been particularly stuck in the past over the last few years. As every other single surviving camera manufacturer has made the transition to mirrorless, Pentax is still clinging onto its DSLRs. But is Pentax, as well as sister brand GR and parent brand Ricoh in more trouble than we thought?

A new press release from the company seems to suggest that they are struggling somewhat, but that they plan to do something about it, starting on April 1st. They’ve announced a major restructure of the company, stopping the mass-production of cameras and switching to a “workshop like” manufacturing process to strengthen the bond with its customers as well as promoting new Pentax and GR products in the coming future.

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Pentax releases HD Pentax-DA* 16-50mm F2.8 ED PLM AW zoom lens for APS-C

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Pentax has officially announced its new HD Pentax-DA* 16-50mm F2.8 ED PLM AW lens. Designed for the company’s APS-C K mount DSLRs, the 16-50mm lens is the latest in the Pentax “Star” lineup and offers a field of view equivalent to that of a 24.5-76.5mm focal length range on a full-frame camera.

The new lens features HD coatings to reduce flare and ghosting and a PLM pulse motor to drive autofocus. It’s advertised as dustproof and weather-resistant (when paired with a weather-sealed Pentax body), and feature a 77mm filter thread on the front.

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