Originally posted by JHD The problem with SDM products is you never know what the final cost of ownership will be. If they came with a 5 year warranty, I'd be inclined to give the 50-135 and the 60-250 a go, but now as it stands, I much prefer third party options... and there are some very good ones... and they all offer more peace of mind and value than Pentax products.
Same here. I'm a big fan of Pentax, and I hope they succeed and continue to produce new cameras and lenses for years to come. And I would love to support them with my dollars when I'm purchasing equipment. But with my limited budget, I can't afford to take the risk when Tamron and Sigma are offering similar (and sometimes superior) products for less money, and with 4x and 6x the warranty. It just doesn't make basic economic sense for me to buy expensive Pentax lenses with short warranties when there is such a cloud of uncertainty hanging over them.
And Pentax has yet to do anything to debunk the issue, or to inspire confidence by extending the warranty. So for now I'll stick with Sigma and Tamron when they have an equivalent product.
And I just gave Sigma $750 for the 50-150mm f/2.8, and I will probably be giving them another $670 for their new 17-50mm f/2.8 and/or another $450 for the 10-20mm. And I've already given Tamron $450 for my 28-75mm f/2.8. So this issue
IS costing Pentax money. But they have apparently run the numbers and have concluded that it would cost them more to stand behind their lenses for an extended period of time than the lost sales are costing. That, to me, is telling.
And for the person who pointed out that everything, including expensive cars, fail and breakdown, consider this: When Chrysler had a reputation for unreliable cars and that reputation was affecting their sales, they responded by offering lifetime warranties.
And for those apologists who will point out that Canon only offers one year warranties, I used to have a Canon DSLR so I was involved in the Canon community, and I did not see any aversion to Canon users buying Canon lenses. It's quite the opposite--Canon lenses have a reputation for being the highest quality option for Canon cameras. So it's not an equivalent comparison because Canon is not dealing the same issues of uncertainty and mistrust.
The bottom line is that Pentax needs to do something. Either prove there is not a widespread problem with SDM, or extend the warranties to inspire buyer confidence. Until then, my money will go to their competitors in the lens business.