[Jean Poitiers]

Bonjour,

At the time of the Rioch takeover, a lot of this forum was full of negative predictions ... now four months later, things aren't quite so bad IMHO. ( ... but to be honest, I was a bit worried, too.)

Today, a realistic roadmap, the K-01 (yes, it's fugly and was already in the pipeline) and the promise of better goodies to come in the near and not so far future ... looks pretty positive to me.

Give them another six (plus) months, and let's see where Pentax is ... then another six months and re-look again ... I bet a year from now I will be happy.

Allez, on est sur le bon chemin! A+, J Frog

[jeztastic]

I'm curious to see what f stop the new 50 will be.

DA 50mm F1.7! Yay! It's gotta be...

[Docrwm]

In five or so years they will have improved the talent pool enough to start designing real glass. I can't wait!

Give me a break! They've designed "real glass" and are rehiring the people that did it in the past. Seems to me that those folks can step back into the job and have a real advantage over anyone new. Of course, if you just want to be negative there is nothing that I or Pentax can do to change that - if you really have your heart set on being negative. Good luck with whatever brand, beit Pentax or another, you land with in the future.

[Jonathan Mac]

All this fuss about a new camera, this lens roadmap is far, FAR, more significant for Pentax users. My thoughts (if anyone's interested):

• At last we have a roadmap again. This is very re-assuring, no matter what's on it.
  
• The 50mm will likely be DAL (in reality, if not in name). It will not be f/1.4, because that's too close to the DA* 55. If it's a re-working of the 50mm f/1.4 designs then it might be sub f/2. If it's a re-working of the 50mm f/1.7 formula then it will be sharper wide open & therefore they will give it a slower max aperture (probably f/2.4). That way, for speed & sharpness you will still have to buy the DA*, the DAL will provide only one of the two characteristics. A DA ltd 50mm f/1.7 would be perfect though...
  
• The DA ltd zoom is the most interesting lens shown there, but that will depend on the speed. The current DA ltds are too slow, and I can't see a zoom improving that situation. Still, a 20-35mm f/2.8 with ltd build & optical quality would be nice.
  
• The tele prime would be too expensive as a DA* I imagine, which is why it's just a regular DA. At least a super-tele prime has now been provided.
  
• I'm glad to see no FA or DFA lenses on there. In a perfect world, that would quiet the FF daydreamers, but I know it won't. There's no way Pentax/Ricoh should go anywhere near FF for at least a decade, even then only providing their market share increases enormously in that time & FF sensor prices drop dramatically.
  
• I'm disappointed not to see mk II versions of the DA* lenses with improved motors. I think this would inspire far more confidence in the system that 100 new lens designs.

[Docrwm]

Bonjour,

At the time of the Rioch takeover, a lot of this forum was full of negative predictions ... now four months later, things aren't quite so bad IMHO. ( ... but to be honest, I was a bit worried, too.)

Today, a realistic roadmap, the K-01 (yes, it's fugly and was already in the pipeline) and the promise of better goodies to come in the near and not so far future ... looks pretty positive to me.

Give them another six (plus) months, and let's see where Pentax is ... then another six months and re-look again ... I bet a year from now I will be happy.

Allez, on est sur le bon chemin! A+, J Frog

Eh bien, dit mon ami!

[eddie1960]

I wonder why they have another superzoom (18-200mm) when there is 18-135 WR that just came out. Did that lens totally flop?

Wide zoom could be a WR refresh and/or update of DA12-24, maybe DA 12-24 II or DA 12-24 WR DC, with that new af motor.
Zoom Ltd. sounds interesting, though I already have the 21 and 40mm. It would probably be 3.2/3.5/4 max aperture to go with the small, slow, high quality of DA Ltds.

Also curious that the telephoto prime (550mm) looks not to be DA*. Hopefully it is at least WR, to appeal to the birders/wildlife photogs. Take that to a rainforest/safari vacation.

superzoom would be a 18-250 replacement would be my guess since it's been gon for a while
the 12-24 wr refresh makes sense since the other is always out of stock now
LTD zoom could be interesting i agree (particularly if they are going to go for ultra compact but good)

[lurchlarson]

I am glad to see Pentax pushing things out. I don't think the K-01 will do well but I'm glad to see some of the advances it has made. I don't care if a camera has a mirror or not. Just let me use my k-mount glass. Give me a viewfinder too. I'm starting to feel more optimistic about this brand. I was really worried there after they got sold to Ricoh.

[kenafein]

It would be nice if they'd give us more details. Are they intentionally being vague to keep us from dropping ship within the next few years? The DA550 sounds interesting, and a DA100-300/4 would be great news, but otherwise it just eats into the already great DA 55-300. Also tying themselves to DA for the next two years pretty much cinches it. The K-01 is not a prelude to a mirror-less full frame version.

[lytrytyr]

It'd also be nice to have one Pentax lens to rule them all in it's focal length.. something that just beats everything else, Zeiss, Leica, Canon, in that one length.

Well, even someone who isn't a Pentax fanboy has to admit
that the FA Limiteds are absolutely the best current lenses
in their respective focal lengths.

[DeadJohn]

This roadmap is wonderful. Not because of the specific lenses (although that 550 is verrrry interesting) but because it affirms Ricoh's commitment to the K-mount.

My concern about Pentax has been, if the brand goes under or the K-mount is dropped for other reasons, then all my lenses become useless after my camera breaks beyond repair. Pentax has been far better in this aspect than many competitors. This roadmap shows Ricoh wants to break from Hoya's stagnancy. Ricoh wouldn't plan these new lenses if they didn't have matching K-mount cameras in the pipeline.

My new concern about Pentax is my bank account

[rvannatta]

To be honest I don't think the telephoto can get away with being less than f/5.6 (largely from a marketing perspective)

I hope not. f6.3 lenses really suck. On the other hand if it was an f4.5 I'm ready to pre order.

If it's f5.6 as I sort of expect, I'll have to take a deep breath I can't justify
buying a new lense even with severe LBA it performance at least equal to what I have can't be promised.

As it is, I have a Pentax-A* 600/5.6, and a Pentax A* 300/2.8 (and converters).and oh yes a Pentax A* 400/2.8. Since I can get any of these
lenses to perform in the 500-600mm range at f5.6 or better, I can't see myself wanting to take a downgrade in performance. AF is an operator convenience
but you get that too if you use the AF 1.7x adapter....

[HenrikDK]

I don't think the K-01 will do well

I just bought a Sigma 10-20 off a person who had "down-graded" his Pentax DSLR to a Samsung NX-10. When I think about all the people I see carrying "small" DSLRs for casual use, I am guessing there could be a big market for this type of camera. Bet many of those people who upgraded to the DSLR from a P/S were missing their LCD screen...

[rvannatta]

This roadmap is wonderful. Not because of the specific lenses (although that 550 is verrrry interesting) but because it affirms Ricoh's commitment to the K-mount.

My concern about Pentax has been, if the brand goes under or the K-mount is dropped for other reasons, then all my lenses become useless after my camera breaks beyond repair. Pentax has been far better in this aspect than many competitors. This roadmap shows Ricoh wants to break from Hoya's stagnancy. Ricoh wouldn't plan these new lenses if they didn't have matching K-mount cameras in the pipeline.

My new concern about Pentax is my bank account

agreed---almost. The creation of a a new mount name for the screwless SDM
only body mount makes me think that we are going to see some low end
bodies that don't have screw drives..... I.E. SDM only. this won't magnify the value of your FA glass.

[jeztastic]

Pentax seem to re-use previous optical designs pretty frequently - DA35 f2.4, DA40 Ltd are just two examples. So I am putting money on the 50mm being the f1.7, and the Ltd zoom being... The SMC-A 24-50mm f4. You heard it here first...

Of course, By the time they release what looks to me a lot like a 24-75 in 2013 they will have a nearly complete Fullframe line-up! All they need to do is tweak the branding to identify all the DFA lenses!

[neurocyclist]

While I appreciate the lens roadmap that Pentax released today, it doesn't really address my needs. I like their chart with all their lenses, they make it look like they've really got a whole lot covered! In reality, I think their lens lineup should be depicted more like this. I don't have a graphics degree, and this was made in Excel, so pardon the poor appearance, but I think it gets the message across. What I have shaded in red is what I, and I believe a lot of other Pentaxians are hoping for. What Ricoh/Pentax released today seems to cover more of the area that I've shaded in yellow. Although, I do agree that their tele-prime in the 400-500mm range has the potential to be great. I really hope I'm wrong with my assesment, c'mon Pentax.... prove me wrong!

clearly, I had a little too much time on my hands at work today!