Pentax Ricoh Imaging absorbs Ricoh’s camera business

As camera brand Pentax was acquired from then-parent Hoya Corp. by Ricoh Co. Ltd. last year, some in the Pentaxian community acted with alarm, broadcasting fears that their beloved brand might disappear, absorbed into that of its new owner. Ricoh moved quickly to make clear that the Pentax brand was here to stay, alongside the formation of Pentax Ricoh Imaging Co. Ltd.

Signs since then have been promising for Pentax, with product launches proceeding at a fast pace. Just in the last two weeks, Pentax has launched three compact cameras and its second compact system camera series, making it the only company to offer CSC cameras with multiple mount types. It's also offered a new lens roadmap predicting seven new K-mount lenses and a teleconverter within the next couple of years, including two primes and a zoom expected to debut later this year. (A separate announcement further details two of these, and also predicts new developments for the 645 and Q mounts in the near future.)

In the meantime, Ricoh has continued to offer and support its own camera products separately from those of Pentax. Today, Ricoh assuages any last lingering doubts about Pentax's future, with a significant announcement about its two separate camera businesses.

Far from burying Pentax under its own brand, the company will be doing the exact opposite. From April 1st, Pentax Ricoh Imaging will be absorbing Ricoh's global consumer camera business, which until now has been conducted by the Personal Multimedia Product Company of Ricoh. Pentax Ricoh Imaging will take over not just the product lines, but also the development resources and support responsibilities. Ricoh's Personal Multimedia Product Company will still exist, but will be responsible only for security and business-to-business imagine solutions.

More details in the press release below...