Originally posted by Winder Why is Pentax no longer able to produce F/1.2 or F/1.4 glass?
They choose not to, but they certianly can.
Originally posted by Winder What is preventing Pentax from producing high quality fast glass?
You'd have to ask them... that's marketing again.
Originally posted by philbaum I remember a thread from a few months back to the effect that the light from faster lenses does not strike the sensor in a perpendicular manner near the edges, and therefore fast lenses are not as efficient as they were when used with film.
It's true that all things being equal a telecentric lens will be better with digital sensors. It,s also true that it particularly applies to fast, long glass. But we've seen countless examples showing that older glass still performs well on digital. I believe that older lenses on full frame digital sensors would be worse, however.
Originally posted by paperbag846 my *guess* is that Pentax is dealing with a very low number of customers interested in such fast glass, so they produce a few lenses capable of this performance for the die hards, and focus on the f2.8 range for those of us who are not DOF obsessed. The rendering of fast glass is unmistakable, but important to only a small segment of the camera buying community.
That's quite probably true.
Originally posted by Lowell Goudge As for low level of interest, I don't buy that, I think there is sufficient interest based upon the number of shooters who are going elsewhere and back into legacy lenses, just to get fast lenses.
I have to suggest that we can either
-believe all decision makers at Pentax are fools, or
-they know what they are doing, and have more information than any of us (all we have regarding marketing is speculation)
Pentax is profitable, growing, and constantly improving their products. I'd trust them to know how to keep making profits. I'm not working in photography, but in a large photonics company, and I can attest that here, at least, the marketing guys are very much aware of where their market is going, and how to turn a profit.