Record losses! Crashing profits! Is Nikon Doomed?
Best of Pentax Forums Newsletter July 23, 2026
Record losses! Crashing profits! Is Nikon Doomed?
Nikon recorded record losses of 86 billion yen – roughly US$530 million – for the fiscal year that ended March 31. Camera sales were steady, but profits plunged 59 percent. Analysts are questioning how the company survives.
What’s that you say? Nikon doomed is Inconceivable!?! The company made all the right moves, switching from dSLRs to mirrorless and diving into video? Only Pentax with its stubborn clinging to photography-focused dSLRs can be doomed! Vote in this week’s poll and let us know in the comments who is doomed, who is surviving and who is thriving!
Elsewhere in this week’s newsletter, Moderator and Site Supporter Sandy Hancock has the most succinct — and correct! — review I’ve ever seen, of the SMC Pentax-A* 135mm F1.8: It lives up to the hype. Meanwhile, Senior Member Angus M89 reviews the Takumar 50mm F3.5 on an Asahiflex IA.
If you’ve been forwarded this newsletter, please take a moment to join the almost 1,600 Pentaxians who have subscribed to our free curated compendium of the hundreds of great images and post shared each week in our Pentax community. Please let us know your thoughts here in the comments and on our Pentax Forums, and have a perfect Pentaxian week!
Threads of the Week:
July 19, 2026 • Photographic Industry and Professionals • 2 replies • 218 views
TwoUptons said — I still haven’t seen Christopher Nolan’s version of the Odyssey yet. I am looking forward to it, though, so no spoilers! :) I did watch a short “making of” documentary that popped up on my TV after the France/England match yesterday. On the splash screen for the program it has a photo of Christopher Nolan. I'm looking at that thinking, "what in the world thing is that with strap lugs and grip just like a 6x7?" Read more »
I inherited Pentax Cameras and this Story will inspire you
July 22, 2026 • Welcomes and Introductions • 0 replies • 31 views
amrmurillo said — It’s nice to find a place where I can share my story. I hope someone enjoys this one. Back in 2012-2013, I was starting university at UNA in Costa Rica. I had always been fascinated by big DSLR cameras, but I had no clue about brands or how these machines worked. My uncle owned a house that he rarely used, so he offered it to me. I could live there and take care of the place while I was at university and he was away working. That’s when cameras started appearing in my life.
The Pentax K200D was one of the first DSLRs I ever held. It came with a big, heavy Pentax 70-300mm DA lens with a red rim. He handed it to me and said, “Point the camera at the subject you want to shoot.” Right then, a coyote walked by. Read more »
July 17, 2026 • Pentax Q • 9 replies • 369 views
Q Fan said — I’ll be heading back to Iceland in the fall, and when I go there I always travel light: one small carry-on (for clothes) and one small backpack. There isn’t much room for camera gear, so I’m going with a couple of Q7s and a few lenses. Read more »
Pentaxian User Reviews
Pentax Lenses
SMC Pentax-A* 135mm F1.8
Reviewed by Moderator and Site Supporter Sandy Hancock
Review Date: July 15, 2026 Recommended | Rating: 10
Pros: Joy Cons: Price
Sharpness: 10 Aberrations: 9 Bokeh: 10 Handling: 10 Value: 8 Camera Used: K-1
It lives up to the hype.
Takumar 50mm F3.5
Reviewed by Senior Member Angus M89
Review Date: July 22, 2026 Recommended | Price: $20.00 | Rating: 8
Pros: Small! Cons:
A very compact and small lens. All metal, great presentation and finish. I have the 2nd type. I only use mine on an Asahiflex IA with colour and black and white.
Ergonomically, everything is close, smooth and works well.
It renders softly where out of focus, but not in a negative way as is usual for softness. It is a very pleasing presentation. When in focus, the scene is sharp and does everything right. Servicing It is equally as pleasing. Simple design and can be stripped, cleaned and re-assembled in under an hour.
Comment of the Week:
Loyal Site Supporter K-Three on Do you collect photo books? The Best of Pentax Forums July 16 Poll: Just downloaded and read through BertieK's book,
Wonderful work, Congratulations on producing a wonderful body of work. You must be so busy, you keep posting so much other inspiring work in the Forum, and you've obviously been generating much more than you post, how do you find the time?
Your B&W work is very much on-point. Thank you for generously sharing it.
Record losses! Crashing profits! Is Nikon Doomed?
The Best of Pentax Forums July 23 Poll
Nikon recorded record losses of 86 billion yen – roughly US$530 million – for the fiscal year that ended March 31. Camera sales were steady, but profits plunged 59 percent. Analysts are questioning how the company survives.
What’s that you say? Nikon doomed is Inconceivable!?! The company made all the right moves, switching from dSLRs to mirrorless and diving into video? Only Pentax with its stubborn clinging to photography-focused dSLRs can be doomed!
Mirrorless camera companies cannot be doomed…Inconceivable!
You keep on using that word. I do not think that word means what you think it means.
But let’s go ahead and check on Pentax and its parent division, Ricoh Imaging: Ricoh Imaging posted profits of 5.354 billion yen for the fiscal year that ended March 31, up from 4.153 billion yen profit for fiscal 2024, an increase of 29 percent. Indeed, it was such a large jump in profits that it wiped out debts the division had been carrying for a decade.
So what say you? Is Nikon Doomed?!? Is Pentax Doomed?!?
Are we all gonna die??????
Sorry; I’m better now.
Vote in this week’s poll and let us know in the comments who is doomed, who is surviving and who is thriving!
This poll closes July 29.
And here are the results of last week’s poll:
Weekly Photo Challenges
#747 Agriculture-Posted By: Dr.T: Thanks to CristiC for picking my picture of my son as a wizard. I asked him if it was okay to use his picture and he said it was, if I gave part of the winnings, so he helped me pick the topic and may give some input on the judging. The topic is “agriculture”, inspired by fields and tractors we saw on our drive home today. Feel free to interpret loosely, if you live in a city a garden is fine. This challenge will run through Sunday, July 26th; judging will be completed on July 27th.
And here is the entry from Site Supporter ramseybuckeye: An early Spring sunset over a farm in Ohio, Corn stubble from the previous harvest on the ground. K-50 and Sigma 17-50 at 22mm, F11, ISO 100, 1/100
A Walk Down Memory Lane
Pentaxian Profile: Nguyen Nam
Professional photographer from Vietnam
By PF Staff in Pentaxian Profiles on Oct 25, 2017
"Nguyen Nam" is the signature you'll find in all of my photos, and that's what Pentaxians in Vietnam call me. I graduated as a civil engineer, which taught me a lot about different building materials, but not much about creative art. Honestly, becoming a photographer was not my first idea after university. Before the crossroads that led to my photo career, I spent my days working with technical drawings and engineers at project sites. This trained me to effectively cooperate with others while working, which in turn, surprisingly, taught me how to capture emotions in photos.
PentaxForum Front page stories July 16-22:
Meet the 20th Anniversary Giveaway Prizes!
K-3 III Monochrome, 8-element 50mm Takumar, and more
By PF Staff in Giveaways and Events on Jul 20, 2026
We are happy to announce the Pentax gear that we’ll be giving away as part of the forum’s 20th anniversary celebration events! Each item has a particular historical significance both to the forum and to the Pentax community. Can you figure out what they are?
The items pictured are the actual prizes, not examples!
Pentax K-x (Silver)
FA 100-300mm (Silver)
FA 28-80mm (Silver)
The events featuring these prizes will be announced in the coming weeks.
Record losses! Cratering profits! Nikon is Doomed!
You thought I was gonna say Pentax, didn’t ya!
By cjfeola in Photo Industry News on Jul 22, 2026
Nikon recorded record losses of 86 billion yen – roughly US$530 million – for the fiscal year that ended March 31. While camera sales were steady, profits plunged 59 percent, which the company blamed on tariffs, higher promotion costs and downward movement in the product mix. Analysts are questioning how the company survives.
What’s that you say? Nikon doomed is Inconceivable!?! The company made all the right moves, switching from dSLRs to mirrorless and diving into video? Only Pentax with its stubborn clinging to photography focused dSLRs can be doomed!
Mirrorless camera companies cannot be doomed…Inconceivable!
You keep on using that word. I do not think that word means what you think it means.
But let’s go ahead and check on Pentax and its parent division, Ricoh Imaging, and see if they are doomed.
Ricoh Imaging posted profits of 5.354 billion yen for the fiscal year that ended March 31, up from 4.153 billion yen profit for fiscal 2024, an increase of 29 percent. Indeed, it was such a large jump in profits that it wiped out debts the division had been carrying for a decade.