[Joshua A]

Over the last few years, Tokina has seemed to struggle to drum up any interest in it lens releases, aside from the 16-35mm f2.8 lens.
Optically, their lens releases have been pretty damn good, particularly their 24-70mm f2.8 Lens, which Roger Cicala of Lens Rentals fame holding the lens in high regard.

I figure, considering that us Pentaxians are quite vocal, suffering from lack of selection in full frame lenses (kinda), we could serve as a test bed for Tokina to drum up some publicity for it's newer lenses.

Current Tokina APS-C Lenses include:
Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 / No Pentax Equivalent
Tokina 11-20mm f2.8 / No Pentax Equivalent
Tokina 12-28mm f4 / Pentax DA 12-24mm f4
Tokina 14-20mm f2 / No Pentax Equivalent

Current Tokina FF Lenses include:
Tokina 16-28mm f2.8 / Pentax DFA 15-30mm f2.8
Tokina 17-35mm f4 / No Pentax Equivalent
Tokina 24-70mm f2.8 / Pentax DFA 24-70mm f2.8
Tokina 70-200mm f4 / No Pentax Equivalent (DA 60-250mm f4???)

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Last edited by Joshua A; 06-25-2017 at 03:00 AM.

[LensBeginner]

I just bought a Sigma 10-20/3.5, and would have considered the 11-16/2.8 or the 11-20/2.8 instead.
A friend of mine who shoots Nikon is pretty satisfied with one of those (can't recall which one).

[D1N0]

Should or will? They won't To little sales. Tokina haven't had K-mount since the first decade of the millennium I think.



There is the DA 12-24 and 10-17 Fisheye and Sigma/Tamron. 8-16/ 10-20/10-24 and Ricoh is still working on a new wide zoom for DA. A compact full frame wide zoom like the 17-35 is the only one that is really missing. A good 55-300 F4-5.6 (these variable zooms are getting much better) which is in the workings can serve as a cheaper and lighter alternative for the 70-200 2.8. Unless Pentax gains some volume third party AF offerings will dry up as Tamron and Sigma renew their lens line up. At least Sigma is still supporting Pentax in recent more popular models like 17-70 18-35 and 35 1.4.

[WPRESTO]

I would be happier still if Tamron or Sigma offered more of their lenses in K-mount.

[keanex]

I would likely buy an 11-16 day 1.

[mtgmansf]

Consider buying Irix 11mm and 15mm for weather-sealed, high quality ultra-wide prime lenses. My 11mm recently survived a 60mph snow blizzard at Glacier National Park and has better performance than I ever expected or hoped for, and the 15mm has had great reviews!

[pinholecam]

What the point in this sort of thread when we know it won't happen


Over the years, I have seen so many such threads, in the end, just ending with disgruntled folks declaring that Pentax is a loser brand and they moving to some other greener pastures.

So my advise is to either make the best of it with the lenses out there (of which there is really enough in most cases)
Or
Just get something more suited for one's need.

No need to have this seeming lack of 3rd party lenses to eat into oneself and ending feeling very bitter.



I've shot over 10yrs with Pentax digital and I shoot many genres, never found that I needed something that was not available if I put in the effort myself to make it work.

[Rondec]

My understanding is that Tokina won't release K mount lenses unless Pentax gets at least five percent of the market. That could happen, but probably not any time soon.

[reeftool]

I doubt that the poll will do any good at all. Tokina hasn't offered a K mount in years, Tamron has pretty much backed away with only a couple of older offerings, and now Sigma is also no longer offering it's newer lenses in K mount. Rather than polls, Pentax users should go spend some money instead on the products that are out there. Third party lens manufacturers make things to sell and if they aren't selling enough, they discontinue.

[tibbitts]

The poll is confusing because Tokina shouldn't, in the business sense, but it would obviously be nice if they did from our standpoint.

Personally I think Pentax needs to enlarge the ecosystem even at its own cost, so it needs to encourage third-party manufacturers by giving them the access to specifications and engineers they need to make their products work with trivial amounts of their own expenditures being required. I realize the physical K-mount isn't an issue, it's the AF that's challenging.

[cyberjunkie]

Do you really think Tamron, and especially Tokina, don't sell PKAF lenses because there is not enough market?
Very likely Tamron has some form of agreement with Ricoh/Pentax. Tamron makes Pentax branded lenses, and has done it in the recent past.
I wouldn't be surprised if the agreement prevents Tamron from releasing new designs in Pentax mount. Ricoh buys from Tamron and in exchange Tamron doesn't compete with Ricoh...
The agreement with Tokina was almost sure at the time of Hoya control, it was clearly part of the strategy of the group (which owned both brands).
I think that it's very, very probable that Ricoh "inherited" it with the acquisition of Pentax. I doubt Tokina could ever release lenses in Pentax mount without the green light of Ricoh.

I posted my views a few days ago in another thread. Now I just summarize.
Ricoh today is a company that sells mainly office machines. It is also in dire waters cause we're slowly going in the direction of paperless documents management.
As far as I understand it's also very Japanese. Which means many things, one is being conservative.
Sony is NOT very Japanese. Bought Konica/Minolta, and decided to go all-in. With sensors R&D and with photographic equipments. Despite the negative contingencies they are doing great... but it has to be said that they had the 'financial shoulders" that other companies don't have.
Pentax has always been two things: competent and conservative. Great cameras, like the 6x7 and the LX, but terrible marketing. And a consistent history of "too late". Too late the switch to bayonet, too late the first digital, etc.
Hoya squeezed the toothpaste as much as possible, and then sold to another conservative corporate entity.
Ricoh can't do as Sony and has clearly shown that doesn't want to go the Fuji way either.
Unfortunately to sell expensive lenses (which give substantial profits) you have to sell cameras, and to sell cameras (no matter how good they are - the K-1 is great) you need a system, and a choice of lenses. Those who have bought a cheap plasticky Canon all these years were given that choice. Even if most people don't make much use of it.
If there are financial constraints, there is still a chance to be courageous and innovative.
Why not release to the public domain the specs of the PKAF mount?
Maybe also the old firmware, at least up to the K20D... It would create interest for many independent developers, and allow loyal customers to get new features and new customizations for their old cameras.
Why don't pave the way for third parties to build/adapt for Pentax mount the lenses that evidently Ricoh don't want or can't (more the former than the latter) provide?
If we had now the third party support we had at the time of the latest film AF bodies, the K-1 would have sold in much bigger numbers, and even the expensive new generation of full frame lenses would have generated more profits.
Excess of prudence and fear of mistakes is a sure path to irrelevance. IMHO

Cheers
Paolo

[tibbitts]

Do you really think Tamron, and especially Tokina, don't sell PKAF lenses because there is not enough market?

Yes, I do think that regardless of agreements in place, 3rd parties are reluctant to invest in the engineering to make their products work with K-mount. We see complaints frequently here about AF with various older 3rd party lenses. I've had my own Tamron back to Tamron multiple times for AF issues and that increases costs to Tamron for supporting the mount. If it were profitable you'd see companies making new agreements with Pentax to market newer lenses.

[Kunzite]

There's this tendency to automatically blame Ricoh/Pentax for everything. This... "agreement" theory doesn't hold water: it doesn't explain Sigma, and it doesn't explain why Tamron stopped introducing Pentax K lenses well before the D FA rebadges.
The 24-70, for example, was launched in February 2012, mere months after Ricoh took over Pentax.

As for the thread's subject: I would like to see more 3rd-party products, as they would strengthen the K-mount and people are insistently asking for lower prices. But most likely I wouldn't buy any... I don't see any interesting Tokina that I'd buy instead of a Pentax lens, or filling a gap in my lens kit.

IMO the 3rd-party lens maker to do it would be Sigma, because they're the biggest. They missed an opportunity here IMO, I'd guess many K-1 owners would've been interested in more Art primes.

[RobA_Oz]

Does Tokina have the same reputation for quality variability as Sigma does? From what I've read here, even Sigma's Art lenses aren't immune from an excessive degree of that.

No lens-maker is totally immune from variabilities of that sort, but one reason that some are more prone to it than others is that their manufacturing tolerance bands are set wider, so their costs, and hence prices, are lower. Comprehensive testing and reworking any product is very costly, and prices are set accordingly. So, when people say they want competition, they'd better be clear on why: features, performance and price are the three main inherent competitive factors, though not the only ones (availability is another often mentioned, here).

I'd have thought that Tokina's lenses were a step above Sigma's in terms of quality, and were priced accordingly, but that's just an impression I have, and I'm happy to be corrected. Cosina's pulling out of K-mount compatibility was a greater loss for the Pentax community than Sigma's or Tamron's, in my opinion, but not to those who prize AF more than I do.

[tibbitts]

Does Tokina have the same reputation for quality variability as Sigma does? From what I've read here, even Sigma's Art lenses aren't immune from an excessive degree of that.

No lens-maker is totally immune from variabilities of that sort, but one reason that some are more prone to it than others is that their manufacturing tolerance bands are set wider, so their costs, and hence prices, are lower. Comprehensive testing and reworking any product is very costly, and prices are set accordingly. So, when people say they want competition, they'd better be clear on why: features, performance and price are the three main inherent competitive factors, though not the only ones (availability is another often mentioned, here).

I'd have thought that Tokina's lenses were a step above Sigma's in terms of quality, and were priced accordingly, but that's just an impression I have, and I'm happy to be corrected. Cosina's pulling out of K-mount compatibility was a greater loss for the Pentax community than Sigma's or Tamron's, in my opinion, but not to those who prize AF more than I do.

I'm not sure that comparable Sigma or Tokina or Tamron or Pentax lenses are any different in construction or optical quality today. In the past yes, but I'm not sure about today. Reputations stick around long after reality changes. I do think AF can be less... refined on 3rd party lenses due to the engineering being done with lack of full information, and I think Pentax should remedy that.