Konica Minolta pull out

I just heard a little while ago on BBC radio that KM are withdrawing from the photographic

market.

 

Press release at http://konicaminolta.com/releases/2006/0119_03_01.html

 

A sad day.

NOT F'N HAPPY!

 

Kind of asounding really that they could run such an innovative company into the ground. After all Nikon is a smaller, less diversified company (even before the K + M merger) and they aren't going pull the pin anytime soon.

Even though I knew this was coming, it is sad to actually see it when it does happen. I just hope that Sony will produce a DSLR that I will want to own.

<P>I think it's worth recording that the consumer photography market was not a big part of KM's operation. The recent merger was conceived to allow them to compete more effectively in the office equipment market with Canon and Ricoh, who are still the two biggest players.</P><P>However, it's still a significant move, and my hope is that Sony will make the most of the market-leading technology that they're acquiring and put out a range of world-beating dSLRS (keeping alive the Minolta lens mount).</P>

Indeed a sad day.

I will not invest in expensive lenses for KM, that is for sure.

Will take a little while to digest this but as a first response one must ask who in heavens name writes the KM press releases. They start off saying what a wonderful history they have in photography and then proceed to blow the ship out of the water. Was it to make us feel better about the demise or just to point out how a great product can be destroyed by abject management ?

 

Even in death their PR stinks !

Sony will keep alive KM line of Maxx/Dynax, but how about the quality end of Sony?

I do not think Sony has a very good quality control.

Gustavo- KM's quality control was a little suspect too. Look at the many posts on this forum about 'back-focus' problems with the 7D.

 

Bill- Just to satisfy you, KM has come out with a revised press release- "We're out of here!!! Go see Sony if you want to use your KM AF lenses."

<p><em>Kind of asounding really that they could run such an innovative company into the ground.</em></p><p>They didn't run it (them) into the ground. Neither photographic unit was doing very well when they merged. Now the result isn't doing very well. It's also not doing that badly.</p><p>A company that wasn't so gutless would (just to take one, minor example) consider what Cosina and Epson have been up to and reconsider its own Hexar cameras. Still, maybe all the top brass are interested in is the money (more similar to "Horiemon" than they'd care to admit?), and clearly there's a lot more in office automation. Why should they care that (for example) Konica had been making cameras since 1903?</p>

Don't worry about quality control.

Worry about them making good lenses rather than just consumer zoom crap.

A camera system is the glass not the bodies.

I hope people start dumping their Minolta lenses after hearing the news..

Such is big hard nosed business.

 

Shame really, Minolta have done some wonderful innovative work that unfortunately others have been able to capitalize on.

 

Minolta can make very high quality lenses. They made zooms for Leica for years and they were not half bad.

 

Well, see y'all at the classic camera forum.

Peter,

you say they DIDN'T run it into the ground? Really?

What was it then if not astoundingly bad management?

You could be right, maybe it was *magic*.

They may not be doing badly, if you want a photocopier!

I'm sure you realize we talk of the camera side of things, not copiers and faxes.

This is a sad day, but it's not the end. If Sony takes the DSLR market seriously, then I'm pretty sure they'll continue in the Minolta tradition of making some great cameras, and superior lenses - and hopefully they'll have a better marketing strategy than KM! :)

Am I misreading this? The fact that it is written in pidgin English doesn't help!

 

In the paragraph titled Camera Business it says, 'In this relation, we have decided to withdraw from camera business (2)...' The explanation note goes on to say, 'Except for digital SLR cameras...' This point is also mentioned in the other press release.

 

The way I am reading this, it would appear that KM are dropping out of the film and compact digital market altogether while still concentrating on DSLRs, albeit in a joint venture with Sony.

 

Is this a bad thing?

 

Reading between the opening few lines of the press release, it would seem that KMs reason for dragging its heels in the production of a decent range of DSLRs has been problems developing a decent CCD sensor.

 

Sony has the sensor technology and are obviously keen to break into the DSLR market. (Why else do the deal with KM?) In my opinion, the only thing stopping them to date has been the fact that they would need to produce an entire range of lenses to go with any DSLR they produced or, no matter how good it is, nobody is going to buy it.

 

Sony now has the lenses available to it. It already had the sensor technology. It has been handed KMs R&D data on a plate and will be getting an active input from KM in the development of anything new.

Over the years, Minolta has come up with many innovative features that have left the competition playing catch-up, e.g. AF SLRs, wireless flash, in-camera image stabilisation. I can't imagine Sony ignoring their input!

 

Hopefully with Sonys R&D resourses and their business and marketing acumen (things which Minolta have always seemed to lack) they will produce a range of DSLRs to compete with the other major players. Okay, it might not say Minolta on it but at the end of the day who really cares?

 

Matt

It's a brave new world out there. Samsung has just released a dSLR with Pentax K mount. OK, it's almost completely a rebadged *ist-DS2 body, but the thinking plainly parallels the Sony/KM move.

Matt - the KM press release is the usual garbage and I agree it is confusing. My reading is that KM are out of the camera business except for retaining some ability to make cameras and lenses FOR Sony as a subcontractor.

 

I would suggest caution about the Sony "takeover". They are not that profitable themselves at the moment and camera business is included in their results as a small part of "other business". The link with KM did not merit a mention in their latest report which covers the period of that link. It is small beer for Sony.

 

This event is very sad for us Minolta users but I would suggest that it is also not good news for the consumer. We appear to be entering an era of dualopoly in the camera world i.e. domination by Nikon and Canon. Reduced competition and reduced choice for the consumer - NOT a good thing !

 

I have been trying to think what this may mean for us Minolta addicts in the short term and cannot decide if it will mean the dumping of a lot of new and used Minolta gear on the market or an increase in prices at least for secondhand equipment due to the source of supply drying up. My guess is that there will be an initial phase of dumping which could be good news for us that wish to soldier on and then perhaps a recovery as a collectors item - but who knows ?

 

I think I will one that soldiers on for a while. When I can no longer

feed my Minolta "habit" I will have to decide if I will go elsewhere or just forget about it all - maybe Sony will surprise us all and I hope they do as a switch to Canikon would be hard to bear not least for having to say farewell to my Minolta lenses.

 

I raised some concerns about KM's future back in April last year but was rubbished by one or two. Then we had the arrival of the omniscient Eugene Cunningham with his predictions supported by one or two. Odd that the biggest move for KM, the link with Sony, was not predicted and this latest news never received a mention by the prophets. A pity that those who knew this was coming did not see fit to put the rest of us in the picture.

 

Over 30 years of using Minolta gear has been mainly a happy ride and I am thankful for that and hope that it will continue for a little a longer while the equipment is still functioning - just very sad that the future is so cloudy even perhaps bleak.

No need to be that sombre, Bill. At least you will still have a platform supplied with KM-mount for your existing lenses to go years ahead, though the platform will say "Sony" instead of KM. I do agree with you that reduced competition and choice (in everything else) will never be a healthy development for the consumers.<P>

 

<LI><A HREF="http://www.photo.net/photodb/user?user_id=332699">Jim

Rais</A></LI><P>

I was stunned reading the bad news the first thing this morning, though I suppose I wasn't totally surprised. There have been many warning signs this past year. I'm not entirely clear as to who will make the lenses. Will Sony also take over production of Minolta lenses?

I read the announcement again have copied these excerpts:

We have reached an agreement with Sony to transfer a portion of assets regarding digital SLR camera system to Sony In this relation, we have decided to withdraw from camera business, such as film cameras and digital cameras, within Konica Minolta Group as of March 31, 2006 -- Except for digital SLR cameras and interchangeable lenses produced for Sony.

 

I'm wondering if this will include all of the outstanding "G" and "D" glass that Minolta developed and not just the more recently Tamron developed lenses. Any thoughts?

It might be a good new the weak point of KM SLR offer was a limited choice of lenses. We may end with Carl Zeiss lenses for Sony Dynax.

Eric,

 

Zeis? Maybe, but I have to disagree with you -- Minolta did not have a weak selection of glass. Many lenses are as good or even better than the completion. I doubt that Zeis would offer much in the way of selection, and I would guess they would be more expensive. I'm not even sure what they bring to the table for Nikon! Are Zeis lenses better than Nikor? I'm skeptical.

 

Robert

Robert,

 

In the consumer's eyes, the Ziess name is better than Nikkor. And the Nikkor name is better than Minolta. That is all that really matter irregardless of the performance.

 

I'm not happy. Not too efing happy at all.

 

chad

Nikon owner now, I owned Minolta gear until '97. It hurts to hear it has come to an end. Hope

Sony doesn't let the clients down.

Minolta is still going to manufacture cameras and lenses, but all customer service and marketing functions are going to Sony. I read this as a cost cutting move (why should both Minolta and Sony maintain marketing operations if they don't need to?) and a branding issue, where Sony wanted to strengthen its brand by having a true Sony DSLR rather than some kind of amalgam of a Konica/Minolta/Sony camera.

 

Still, if they don't domonstrate clear commitment to the lens line as well as the body, I'll be trying to transition out. Unless someone can tell me where to find an 85/1.4 G really cheap... or the 80-200 ...