The Ricoh-owned camera brand has a base in the Mactan Economic Processing zone, an industrial estate at Lapu-Lapu, Cebu – an area outside the direct path of Typhoon Haiyan and around 245km from Tacloban, a city that lies in one of the worst hit areas.
It is estimated that at least 2,200 people were killed by the typhoon and hundreds of thousands left homeless.
Ricoh Imaging’s UK office has yet to respond to requests for comment first lodged yesterday morning.
NEWS UPDATE 18 NOVEMBER: FACTORY ESCAPES DAMAGE
Pentax Q-system cameras are also reportedly made in the Philippines, as well as the flagship professional DSLR, the medium-format 645D.
However, Ricoh’s GR digital compact is manufactured in Japan, according to Ricoh Imaging UK’s managing director Jonathan Martin in a recent interview with Amateur Photographer.
Ricoh launched the K-3 last month in a serious bid to pull photographers away from the two biggest-selling DSLR brands, Canon and Nikon.
The K-3 became the third Pentax DSLR to be unveiled inside four months.
