K mount killing me softly

christiandre · 02-06-2016, 03:54 AM

I feel that finding something more unusual , or more distinctive lens on K mount is doomed to failure. Zeiss manufactures amazing new lenses for all, except for Pentax. Sigma, Tamron flatly ignored the K mount for some of their last very good products. A random exemple ? Gorlitz renew their mythical trioplan 100mm : for all frames except Pentax K...
I'm really starting to feel like sometimes be apart of a world. And I remain confined in a small, cramped and purring universe

We talk pentax limited lenses all the time, 15mm, 31mm etc.... is that it came out something more exciting in the panel of K frames in recent years ? Something more creative, a little different, in colorimetry, focal length (argh .... 22 to 34mm

), in bokeh ? Sorry I start to turn around, and it's not a good sign ....

**clackers** · 02-06-2016, 04:05 AM

You wouldn't be buying Olympus, Fuji, Pentax, Leica or Hasselblad for compatibility with the rest of the world, Christian.

But you appear to be having an existential crisis. Perhaps you made a mistake? ☺

Na Horuk · 02-06-2016, 04:10 AM

Originally posted by christiandre

is that it came out something more exciting in the panel of K frames in recent years ?

Yeah, DA* 55mm, DA 20-40mm ltd, DA 35mm macro, DA 40mm XS..
I get your point, though. I think things are already changing for the better since Ricoh bought Pentax. And it will get even better if the upcoming Pentax FF camera sells well. This can bring back manufacturers like Zeiss and Voigtlander, and bring in more support from Tamron, Sigma, Tokina, Samyang.
If you want to help, buy the FF when it comes out

Pre-order it! But it won't be cheap

LensBeginner · 02-06-2016, 04:22 AM

The "renewed Trioplan" is, in my humble opinion, a scam.
I'm actually glad it doesn't come in K mount...

**Rondec** · 02-06-2016, 04:27 AM

Do you own the FA limiteds and aren't pleased with them or, are you just pining for Zeiss glass? Truthfully, the Zeiss Otus 55mm may be spectacular, but for 3000 dollars, I would need more than that for a manual focus 50mm prime.

I do hope that with Pentax releasing a full frame camera, Tamron and Sigma both expand their offerings for the K mount. I don't personally hanker for Zeiss a whole lot, although there are k mount versions of many of their lenses floating around out there.

**ffking** · 02-06-2016, 04:28 AM - **2 Likes**

I would say that nothing is all negative or all positive. It might seem an odd analogy but it springs to mind because my wife is South African, born deep in the apartheid years.
In the end, the apartheid government was brought down by actively imposed sanctions in combination with political pressure, but for a long time before that the economy was actually very strong, and the reason for that was that trade restrictions meant that they had to make a lot of things themselves that other countries imported.
I don't want to push the analogy because apartheid was a bad thing, but the point I'm trying to make is that having to do things yourself if you want them done rather than relying on others can be a good thing.

biz-engineer · 02-06-2016, 04:28 AM - **2 Likes**

K mount killing me softly:
Not a problem. Roughly speaking, as soon as you've got more than 2 or 3 lenses, the cost of lenses out-weight the cost of one camera body. Buy the lenses of your choice, then buy a camera body to mount on the lenses. If you are clear about why you want to use the lenses (LBA aside), you can invest in more than one mount and that does not necessarily cost more than when you upgrade a camera body from the same brand. There's still something that can bother you: switch back and forth through completely different menus and camera features from brand A to brand B.

In my case, I separate usage in two cases: all around camera system, and wildlife/sport dedicated system. For wildlife, I'd still have an interest with a fast APSC camera, the K-3 would do it, but I would get the k mount DA560 long lens (which I think is a 400 f4 with a x1.4 TC optics on it, so too expensive for what it really is). For instance it would be a 500 f4 mounted on a 7DII or D500, I could benefit from the crop factor and speed of the lens aperture and AF. For the all around system, I could sell all of my apsc Pentax system and upgrade to a Pentax FF, although I don't know yet what the specification might be , and I could still consider a FF mirroless for the small size and the fact that I know I don't need a fast AF for lanscape/archi/portraiture, but I could benefit from the better IQ of the sensor and portability.

In the optimistic case that Ricoh will continue to support and develop Pentax, they certainly are and are going to provide high quality lenses to cover most use cases from wide angle to tele, but not likely anything supertele for a long time. As a photog, that should cover all your needs, but obviously would not fulfill your LBA "wants" but that's another issue (some people end up collecting several dozens of lenses while actually not using them). If you haven't contracted the LBA virus, with three lenses and a Pentax FF + Pentax APSC bodies , you can already cover most use cases.

Last edited by biz-engineer; 02-06-2016 at 04:49 AM.

Nicolas06 · 02-06-2016, 05:04 AM

Objectively current K-mount line up cover everything already.

For manual lenses available everywhere but not in K mount there adapters and you loose nothing, really people do the same on their A7 or m4/3 body already.

Some lens makers don't have their lens in K-mount? So what? Nobody has Canon lenses except Canon, nobody has Nikon lenses except Nikon, nobody has Sony lenses except Sony and even inside sony several mounts make it more difficult. Nobody has Olympus or Pana lenses except Olympus and Pana and so on.

I'll reckon we get only half of the new sigmas and the tamron only a few rebadged. But that last one is normal, biggest market for tamron is to make lenses for others anyway. Sure we miss a few great sigma/tamron lenses that are typically sold for a small price and that can be anoying at times.

You speak of the state of affairs like it was a real problem. This is no so big issue.

I'll go past business engineer claim (that is a common one) that you go for lenses. Well you should go for pictures. Well almost all the 24-70 f/2.8 would give you the same like all 70-200 and alike. Zeiss has many great primes? Sure but there quite a few Canon, Nikon and Pentax too.

I really don't think that you'd be limited working with a pentax body and pentax lenses. Sure there are small nuances overall... Like the stunning rendering of the FA ltds or the companess of the Pentax bodies and the entry leve lenses being WR... All theses things we take for granted.

Changing brands will not change things drastically, you'll gain a few bit, loose a few others. and spend as much as if you were upgrading to the latest body for just an exchange of small bits.

Go out and take pictures, you'll soon forget about that idiocy that you need Zeiss lenses to get anything done.

bxf · 02-06-2016, 05:28 AM - **3 Likes**

Originally posted by christiandre

finding something more unusual , or more distinctive lens on K mount is doomed to failure

Fortunately, these are not essential for the creation of good photographs, no?

yusuf · 02-06-2016, 05:40 AM

What are you missing in K mount?

I moved from DSLR to mirrorless (Sony) and most of the time I am using K mount lenses with it. I also got two Zeiss (FE 55 & 35) not because I was not satisfied with K mount but purely because I wanted autofocus. M50 & K85 still remain the favorite lenses and FA31 is absolutely stunning, no other 35mm I have used come close.

I have never used rioplan 100mm so can't comment on it, but based on the pictures I saw, M100 or K135 likely to be more versatile.

pathdoc · 02-06-2016, 05:49 AM - **6 Likes**

Are people being paid to come on here and be doomsayers, or something? Your miserable whining offends me, OP; straight to the Ignore pile with you.

MPrince · 02-06-2016, 06:16 AM - **2 Likes**

The reason I bought a Pentax camera was to use Pentax lenses. If you're not happy with your 3rd party lens choices, buy CaNikon cameras.

**UncleVanya** · 02-06-2016, 06:49 AM

Another way to approach r this is to get a mirrorless body and a k mount adapter. This would let you try another system that has access to the lenses you want and decide if the lenses were worth switching for.

ChristianRock · 02-06-2016, 06:55 AM - **3 Likes**

If you want a lot of lenses like Zeiss I am sure you can afford to maintain two mounts. Get a D750 or something. And if Pentax lenses don't please you, sell your K mount stuff! This isn't rocket science.

**BigMackCam** · 02-06-2016, 07:00 AM

I think most of what can be said, has been said. There are lots of great lenses available for Pentax, and certain lenses that aren't. If you really need or want a number of those lenses, it's worth investing in a body with compatible mount and running this alongside your Pentax gear. Or, if you can live without the Pentax-compatible lenses altogether and find all you want in another mount, it may be best for you to switch entirely. I'm lucky - the lenses I have for my Pentax cameras more than cover my needs (I could probably get by admirably with three of them, in all honesty)... but, if that wasn't the case, I wouldn't hesitate to add, or switch to, another brand of body.

02-06-2016, 03:54 AM	#1
christiandre Inactive Account Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 157	K mount killing me softly I feel that finding something more unusual , or more distinctive lens on K mount is doomed to failure. Zeiss manufactures amazing new lenses for all, except for Pentax. Sigma, Tamron flatly ignored the K mount for some of their last very good products. A random exemple ? Gorlitz renew their mythical trioplan 100mm : for all frames except Pentax K... I'm really starting to feel like sometimes be apart of a world. And I remain confined in a small, cramped and purring universe We talk pentax limited lenses all the time, 15mm, 31mm etc.... is that it came out something more exciting in the panel of K frames in recent years ? Something more creative, a little different, in colorimetry, focal length (argh .... 22 to 34mm ), in bokeh ? Sorry I start to turn around, and it's not a good sign ....

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02-06-2016, 04:05 AM	#2
clackers Otis Memorial Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Melbourne Photos: Albums Posts: 16,397	You wouldn't be buying Olympus, Fuji, Pentax, Leica or Hasselblad for compatibility with the rest of the world, Christian. But you appear to be having an existential crisis. Perhaps you made a mistake? ☺

02-06-2016, 04:10 AM	#3
Na Horuk Veteran Member Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Slovenia, probably Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 11,186	Originally posted by christiandre is that it came out something more exciting in the panel of K frames in recent years ? Yeah, DA* 55mm, DA 20-40mm ltd, DA 35mm macro, DA 40mm XS.. I get your point, though. I think things are already changing for the better since Ricoh bought Pentax. And it will get even better if the upcoming Pentax FF camera sells well. This can bring back manufacturers like Zeiss and Voigtlander, and bring in more support from Tamron, Sigma, Tokina, Samyang. If you want to help, buy the FF when it comes out Pre-order it! But it won't be cheap

02-06-2016, 04:22 AM	#4
LensBeginner Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2014 Photos: Albums Posts: 4,696	The "renewed Trioplan" is, in my humble opinion, a scam. I'm actually glad it doesn't come in K mount...

02-06-2016, 04:27 AM	#5
Rondec Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Gladys, Virginia Photos: Gallery Posts: 27,663	Do you own the FA limiteds and aren't pleased with them or, are you just pining for Zeiss glass? Truthfully, the Zeiss Otus 55mm may be spectacular, but for 3000 dollars, I would need more than that for a manual focus 50mm prime. I do hope that with Pentax releasing a full frame camera, Tamron and Sigma both expand their offerings for the K mount. I don't personally hanker for Zeiss a whole lot, although there are k mount versions of many of their lenses floating around out there.

02-06-2016, 04:28 AM - 2 Likes	#6
ffking Site Supporter Join Date: Nov 2015 Location: Old South Wales Posts: 6,039	I would say that nothing is all negative or all positive. It might seem an odd analogy but it springs to mind because my wife is South African, born deep in the apartheid years. In the end, the apartheid government was brought down by actively imposed sanctions in combination with political pressure, but for a long time before that the economy was actually very strong, and the reason for that was that trade restrictions meant that they had to make a lot of things themselves that other countries imported. I don't want to push the analogy because apartheid was a bad thing, but the point I'm trying to make is that having to do things yourself if you want them done rather than relying on others can be a good thing.

02-06-2016, 04:28 AM - 2 Likes	#7
biz-engineer Pentaxian Join Date: Feb 2015 Photos: Gallery Posts: 12,245	K mount killing me softly: Not a problem. Roughly speaking, as soon as you've got more than 2 or 3 lenses, the cost of lenses out-weight the cost of one camera body. Buy the lenses of your choice, then buy a camera body to mount on the lenses. If you are clear about why you want to use the lenses (LBA aside), you can invest in more than one mount and that does not necessarily cost more than when you upgrade a camera body from the same brand. There's still something that can bother you: switch back and forth through completely different menus and camera features from brand A to brand B. In my case, I separate usage in two cases: all around camera system, and wildlife/sport dedicated system. For wildlife, I'd still have an interest with a fast APSC camera, the K-3 would do it, but I would get the k mount DA560 long lens (which I think is a 400 f4 with a x1.4 TC optics on it, so too expensive for what it really is). For instance it would be a 500 f4 mounted on a 7DII or D500, I could benefit from the crop factor and speed of the lens aperture and AF. For the all around system, I could sell all of my apsc Pentax system and upgrade to a Pentax FF, although I don't know yet what the specification might be , and I could still consider a FF mirroless for the small size and the fact that I know I don't need a fast AF for lanscape/archi/portraiture, but I could benefit from the better IQ of the sensor and portability. In the optimistic case that Ricoh will continue to support and develop Pentax, they certainly are and are going to provide high quality lenses to cover most use cases from wide angle to tele, but not likely anything supertele for a long time. As a photog, that should cover all your needs, but obviously would not fulfill your LBA "wants" but that's another issue (some people end up collecting several dozens of lenses while actually not using them). If you haven't contracted the LBA virus, with three lenses and a Pentax FF + Pentax APSC bodies , you can already cover most use cases. Last edited by biz-engineer; 02-06-2016 at 04:49 AM.

02-06-2016, 05:04 AM	#8
Nicolas06 Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2013 Posts: 4,854	Objectively current K-mount line up cover everything already. For manual lenses available everywhere but not in K mount there adapters and you loose nothing, really people do the same on their A7 or m4/3 body already. Some lens makers don't have their lens in K-mount? So what? Nobody has Canon lenses except Canon, nobody has Nikon lenses except Nikon, nobody has Sony lenses except Sony and even inside sony several mounts make it more difficult. Nobody has Olympus or Pana lenses except Olympus and Pana and so on. I'll reckon we get only half of the new sigmas and the tamron only a few rebadged. But that last one is normal, biggest market for tamron is to make lenses for others anyway. Sure we miss a few great sigma/tamron lenses that are typically sold for a small price and that can be anoying at times. You speak of the state of affairs like it was a real problem. This is no so big issue. I'll go past business engineer claim (that is a common one) that you go for lenses. Well you should go for pictures. Well almost all the 24-70 f/2.8 would give you the same like all 70-200 and alike. Zeiss has many great primes? Sure but there quite a few Canon, Nikon and Pentax too. I really don't think that you'd be limited working with a pentax body and pentax lenses. Sure there are small nuances overall... Like the stunning rendering of the FA ltds or the companess of the Pentax bodies and the entry leve lenses being WR... All theses things we take for granted. Changing brands will not change things drastically, you'll gain a few bit, loose a few others. and spend as much as if you were upgrading to the latest body for just an exchange of small bits. Go out and take pictures, you'll soon forget about that idiocy that you need Zeiss lenses to get anything done.

02-06-2016, 05:28 AM - 3 Likes	#9
bxf Veteran Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Lisbon area Posts: 1,660	Originally posted by christiandre finding something more unusual , or more distinctive lens on K mount is doomed to failure Fortunately, these are not essential for the creation of good photographs, no?

02-06-2016, 05:40 AM	#10
yusuf Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Palo Alto, CA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,497	What are you missing in K mount? I moved from DSLR to mirrorless (Sony) and most of the time I am using K mount lenses with it. I also got two Zeiss (FE 55 & 35) not because I was not satisfied with K mount but purely because I wanted autofocus. M50 & K85 still remain the favorite lenses and FA31 is absolutely stunning, no other 35mm I have used come close. I have never used rioplan 100mm so can't comment on it, but based on the pictures I saw, M100 or K135 likely to be more versatile.

02-06-2016, 05:49 AM - 6 Likes	#11
pathdoc Pentaxian Join Date: Mar 2015 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 6,381	Are people being paid to come on here and be doomsayers, or something? Your miserable whining offends me, OP; straight to the Ignore pile with you.

02-06-2016, 06:16 AM - 2 Likes	#12
MPrince Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: WV Posts: 1,495	The reason I bought a Pentax camera was to use Pentax lenses. If you're not happy with your 3rd party lens choices, buy CaNikon cameras.

02-06-2016, 06:49 AM	#13
UncleVanya Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Jul 2014 Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 28,452	Another way to approach r this is to get a mirrorless body and a k mount adapter. This would let you try another system that has access to the lenses you want and decide if the lenses were worth switching for.

02-06-2016, 06:55 AM - 3 Likes	#14
ChristianRock Pentaxian Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: People's Republic of America Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 9,911	If you want a lot of lenses like Zeiss I am sure you can afford to maintain two mounts. Get a D750 or something. And if Pentax lenses don't please you, sell your K mount stuff! This isn't rocket science.

02-06-2016, 07:00 AM	#15
BigMackCam Digitiser of Film Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: North East of England Posts: 20,687	I think most of what can be said, has been said. There are lots of great lenses available for Pentax, and certain lenses that aren't. If you really need or want a number of those lenses, it's worth investing in a body with compatible mount and running this alongside your Pentax gear. Or, if you can live without the Pentax-compatible lenses altogether and find all you want in another mount, it may be best for you to switch entirely. I'm lucky - the lenses I have for my Pentax cameras more than cover my needs (I could probably get by admirably with three of them, in all honesty)... but, if that wasn't the case, I wouldn't hesitate to add, or switch to, another brand of body.