"Pudentame" wrote in message
...
jeremy wrote:
Well, many of us sensed that it was coming.

Pentax had been a longtime user of Hoya optical glass, but to see Hoya
swallow Pentax us is disconcerting.

These mergers nearly always result in big changes, and I would not be
surprised if the "Pentax" name disappears entirely over the next few
years.


Actually, the "Pentax" name is one of the more valuable things Hoya's
getting from the deal. I expect they'll be keeping it at least in the
photography business.

The driving factor behind the merger appears to be Pentax and Hoya
combining their efforts in the medical imaging field.


No, the driving factor is that Pentax has lagged behind Canon and Nikon in
the digital camera business, and is now having to deal with competition from
companies that previously had not entered the camera business, like Sony,
Panasonic, Casio and HP. Pentax screwed up, big-time, and they are no
longer viable.

Hoya will get no more mileage out of the Pentax brand name than Konica got
out of their use of the Minolta name. People are getting wise to the fact
that the mere presence of a well-known brand name does not guarantee that
the former quality levels are going to be maintained.

I'm upset over the loss of Pentax, but I really have only myself to blame.
Pentax began going down the slippery slope shortly after they abandoned the
screw mount. Their cameras and lenses slowly began to be cheapened, and
build quality became noticeably inferior to previous products. Nikon and
Canon did the same thing, but they maintained parallel lines of
"professional" gear, priced high, but still available to those that wanted
it. What did Pentax do? They exited the professional camera market when
they withdrew the LX from production, and they produced only 3 FA Limited
lenses for film cameras, and even those had non-standard focal lengths.

I read recently that Pentax committed to expanding their factories in
VIETNAM, apparently as a means of keeping their costs down because of
cheaper labor. Sorry, but this boy ain't buying a Vietnamese camera--not
from Pentax and not from anybody else, either. And I think that a lot of us
feel the same way.

I don't anticipate crowds lining up to buy the "Hoya-Pentax" brand of
cameras and lenses ("SMC Hoya-Pentax?")

It just may be the right time for me to embrace plastic bodies and buy some
Nikon or Canon digital gear. I'm just in the dumps over hearing that news
of Pentax's upcoming demise. We're going to become orphans.