Japanese optical equipment maker Hoya has announced the sale of its Pentax camera unit to rival manufacturer Ricoh. The Nikkei business daily reports the deal is worth 10 billion yen ($124 million). The selloff of the camera business was widely expected. Hoya bought Pentax in 2007 mainly for its medical technology.
(Update with PMAI response) Pentax has pulled out of this weekend's PMA show, with no explanation given, joining Canon and Leica in abandoning the show, according unofficial report on Friday. Whether this has to do with the change of venues from Las Vegas in 2009 to Anaheim this year is unknown. The decision is said to be that of Pentax specifically and not its parent company Hoya's.
An image of what appears to be an upcoming Pentax digital SLR camera has been spotted on a Chinese blog site earlier this week. While no hard specs are known, the blurry image does reveal a body that is different from the current Pentax range, including the three new special-run DSLRs announced late last month. The camera sports a new-look Pentax logo introduced when Hoya bought Pentax in the summer of 2007.
