Ned Bunnell Comments on Lens "Price Increase"

President of Pentax USA on Pentax's Plans for Growth

By PF Staff in Third-Party Announcements on Apr 18, 2012

Today, Ned Bunnell, president of Pentax USA, (now known as Pentax Ricoh Imaging Americas Corp.), made a very welcome and sincere blog post commenting on the recent lens price increase.  Lens prices went up after a unilateral pricing policy was implemented for US-based retailers (including online stores) as of April 1st.

To start, he wanted to clarify that the MSRP prices have in fact not gone up for any lens, but rather, the jump was caused due to the fact that retailers can no longer offer their own unique discounts on the Pentax lenses they carry.  Thus, the "playing field" for retailers has been leveled, allowing smaller stores a fair shot at becoming Pentax dealers and competing with larger outlets.

Nothing can summarize this better than Ned's words themselves:

"For our growth as a company, and the health of the photo retail marketplace, it is necessary to set guidelines for retail pricing to protect the integrity of the marketplace, and the value of a manufacturer's products."

This brings us to Ned's second point, which stresses that Pentax's main goal at the moment is to make Pentax camera and lenses more prominent in actual stores.  He says that over the past year, 7 key retailers throughout the US now carry a winder range of Pentax products, including Samy's (LA), WB Hunt (Boston), Ace Photo (Virginia), Cameraland (Iowa/NYC), and others.

Pentax K-01: Initial Hands-On Impressions

Camera performs quite well

By PF Staff in Third-Party Announcements on Mar 7, 2012

Our (production) Pentax K-01 and DA 40mm XS lens arrived yesterday, and we have already started testing the camera and getting a feel for how it performs!  As interesting as the unboxing itself was, it won't be the focus of this initial hands-on commentary.

Our first impression is that it's a very solid and well-built camera which handles extremely well, especially with small lenses.  In real life, the design is much more attractive than it seemed based its press release photos. The image quality is exceptional, even when shooting with fully automated settings.  The new Prime M processor delivers a smooth shooting experience as well as an unlimited image buffer, allowing for uninterrupted image capture in continuous mode.  The K-01's core menu system is very similar to that of the K-r, thought it incorporates many new innovative features, including new custom image presets, focus peaking, AF enlargement, automatic shadow/highlight correction, easier firmware updates via the menu, as well as several options specific to its mirrorless design.

Sigma Announces Lens Compatibility Issues with K-1

Many recent lenses can potentially cause mount damage

By PF Staff in Third-Party Announcements on May 11, 2016

Sigma Japan has posted a product advisory warning customers that when select Sigma lenses are attached to the Pentax K-1, a minor scratch to the camera's lens mount may be inflicted. This notice applies to the following lenses:

• Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 IF EX DG HSM
• Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC HSM (Art)
• Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM (Art)
• Sigma 50mm F1.4 EX DG HSM
• Sigma 50-150mm F2.8 EX DC APO HSM II
• Sigma 50-500mm F4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM
• Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG APO Macro HSM II
• Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG OS HSM
• Sigma 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM
• Sigma 120-400mm F4.5-5.6 DG APO OS HSM
• Sigma 150-500mm F5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM

Sigma advises customers to discontinue use of the affected lenses. The company plans to offer a repair service at a future date to address the issue.

In addition, Sigma states that the K-1 many not be able to correctly determine the correct image circle of Sigma lenses when the crop mode is set to "auto".  Manual configuration of the crop setting is therefore recommended.

On an unrelated note, user reports suggest that certain older Sigma lenses cause the K-1 to freeze after being mounted— including the 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG APO Macro HSM II.  A firmware update for the affected lens(es) may be necessary to rectify this issue.

How the K-1 Mount Differs

While the Sigma press release does not explicitly describe the nature of the potential damage to the camera, a likely scenario is that the area directly above the lens mount gets scratched. The K-1's larger prism housing protrudes farther beyond the lens mount than other Pentax bodies and it is also angled more steeply, which could lead to scrapes while mounting lenses designed without this in mind.

We can only speculate whether this issue is related to improper mount implementation (reverse-engineering) by Sigma, or an internal change to Pentax's own mount specifications.

To date we do not know of any incompatibilities or issues with genuine Pentax lenses and the K-1.

Speaking of other mount differences, the K-1's focusing screen foam is situated much closer to the edge of the bayonet mount compared to Pentax APS-C bodies.  This foam spans the entire width of the mirror, rather than having a gap in the middle as on film SLRs such as the MZ-S.  The retaining clip for the focusing screen is also more exposed than on other Pentax bodies.  These differences don't seem to be causing any issues, however— nor should they.

K-3 Mount (left) vs K-1 Mount (right)

Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 Coming for Pentax

Officially announced by Sigma on June 14th

By PF Staff in Third-Party Announcements on Jun 14, 2013

Sigma Japan has just officially announced that their new Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM lens, originally announced for Sigma, Canon, and Nikon cameras, will soon also be coming for Pentax and Sony.

This wide-angle zoom deserves special recognition for its F1.8 maximum aperture design.  It is the first zoom lens of its kind, and we are delighted to see that Sigma has decided to offer it for the K-mount.  All professional zoom lenses currently on the market have constant apertures no faster than F2.8.

The new 18-35mm is a DC-type lens, meaning that it is designed for use exclusively with APS-C cameras.  As part of Sigma's new "Art" lens series, it features an elegant design and is built using durable "thermally stable" plastic.  It focuses using a built-in HSM motor; such motors have enjoyed great reliability and delivered speedy AF speed in other Sigma lenses.

Best of all, this lens can soon be yours for the low price of $799.  It has just become available for pre-order in the US.  Sigma expects to ship this lens in late July for Sigma, Canon, and Nikon, with the Pentax and Sony versions coming out shortly afterward.

Full specifications for this 18-35mm lens found in our Sigma lens database.

Finally a Tilt and Shift Lens for Pentax

Courtesy of Samyang and their new 24mm T-S lens

By PF Staff in Third-Party Announcements on Sep 8, 2012

Samyang has announced a 24 mm tilt and shift lens, the Samyang T-S 24mm F3.5 ED AS UMC, that will be available in Pentax K-mount among the usual others. It is a wide-angle, full-frame lens fitted with perspective control and tilt-shift functions. Its unique optical and mechanical construction makes it an ideal tool for architecture and landscape photography.  This is the first lens of its kind for Pentax- the last update along these lines occurred in the 1970's, with the debut of the SMC Pentax-K 28mm F3.5 Shift lens.

The Tilt-Shift function in the Samyang T-S 24mm f/3.5 ED AS UMC allows for smooth and fine adjustment of the focal plane by an angle of +/-8.5 degrees and enables parallel shift of the optical axis by +/-12 mm. Both the lens mount and the Tilt-Shift section may be rotated on the optical axis. The Tilt-Shift section may be rotated left by 90 degrees (with 30 degree adjustment) and the mount of the lens may be rotated in both directions by 90 degrees (with 30 degree adjustment).

This lens will be showcased at Photokina and will go on sale shortly thereafter.