[pakinjapan]

Ever wonder your group might be too big, that why you do not get the lens you are asking for?
If your group were around 37 - 40 members, you might have a higher chances to get their attention.

I am still with a K-3 and I am happy with DA15, 21. if I were on a K1, I would be in the same boat.

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Last edited by pakinjapan; 04-17-2018 at 09:35 PM.

[UncleVanya]

Was this lens even that good? I don't remember anyone ever talking about it...

It is disappointing that it takes them so long to put out new lenses that are actually up to date. I am interested in getting back into landscape photography but cannot justify the 15-30 no matter how good it is. I've been waiting for the rumored wide angle prime for FF. Something akin to the DA 15 which I loved on my K-3. Only semi-interested in their new 50mm as I do not shoot at that focal length all that often. Will probably pick up the new 85 but wish it was coming this year and not next year. Oh well...

Sandy loves his 15-30. Also I'm super excited to hear you may do some landscape work again. You know as much as the fashion shots are great, I prefer your landscapes.

[Sandy Hancock]

What are you using as a street lens on your K-1?

That expensive 30 year old screw drive lens is pretty good.
Or the F28, or the FA43, or the FA77.

Better still, the KP with the DA21 (and the FA43 or DA70 in my pocket).

[clackers]

Better still, the KP with the DA21 (and the FA43 or DA70 in my pocket).

Yep, if you want small camera and small lens for street stuff, Pentax do that with APS-C lines that probably only Fuji come close to.

I shoot wildlife every now and again with a rich Nikon guy who also bought himself a KP and the entire DA Limited line because it was all so beautiful.

[ffking]

When that ad was released every single maker of multi-coated lenses on earth except Leica* was paying Pentax royalties on a least some part of the Super Multi Coatring process. Eventually Pentax was making and selling so many cameras and lenses (and eyeglass lenses, binoculars, spotting scopes, telescopes, medical equipment, construction laser levels, industrial products and countless other things) they couldn’t build plants fast enough to keep up with their growth. They pioneered the idea of a manufacturing campus, with employees facilities on premises. Pentax was a giant in the industry, but they were also captives of their prior investments (screwmount technology is an example of this) that were still productive.

Pentax cane to be in their position when the SMC patents ran out* and their diversified businesses weren’t throwing off cash flow during a recession. A hedge fund and Hoya collaborated to buy the distressed company in a hostile transaction. Hoya consolidated and exploited the high-margin medical imaging and device businesses. The Hedge Fund liquidated land and assets. Hoya stripped Pentax of its Japan headquarters and Factory in a Park, sold off the inventory of DA lenses at fire-sale prices in the USA, gutted the distributors of their experienced employees and abrogated their Dealer contracts, refused to make capital investments in modern manufacturing tools, then sold the husk of a company to Ricoh for $165,000,000. The first thing Ricoh had to do was buy evaporators at $1,000,000 each to bring HD coating to market. Hoya had refused to buy the machines.

You can blame corporate raiders for any delays that anger you. Ricoh has been wonderful just keeping Pentax in existence.

* Leica always maintained lenses didn’t need coating. As soon as the patents expired they started coating lenses. (Source - Asahi Optical Historical Club)

Well said - here and subsequently - which is not to say it's just soap-boxing - you've highlighted many details I was only sketchily aware of.

I know this is an unfashionable type of view, but I think that Pentax, as part of RI or not, deserves the loyalty it inspires in people - and the history of photography shows that all the main players have made significant contributions to camera or lens design that all have benefitted from, and Pentax continue to do that, small as they are. The current management seem to have a genuine passion for cameras and a delight in creative problem solving that the bigger corporates could certainly learn from.

[AtitG]

Let's be honest:
They got caught out by not moving to bayonet mount in time
They got caught out by not moving to auto-focus in time
They got caught out by not moving to digital in time
They got out by not moving to FF digital in time

The astonishing thing is that they are still alive and making cameras and lens.

... and now by not moving to mirrorless in time.

[ffking]

Let's be honest:
They got caught out by not moving to bayonet mount in time
They got caught out by not moving to auto-focus in time
They got caught out by not moving to digital in time
They got out by not moving to FF digital in time

Did well not to jump onto the APS bandwagon, though

[mattt]

That expensive 30 year old screw drive lens is pretty good.
Or the F28, or the FA43, or the FA77.

Better still, the KP with the DA21 (and the FA43 or DA70 in my pocket).

I have been hunting for 28/2.8 and I kick myself for letting the one I had go 😁

[Saltwater Images]

One out of left field for you ... the DA20-40 Ltd apparently works just fine in that magical 24mm to 40mm range. Compact, WR, nine blades, HD coatings, DC autofocus motor, aluminium build, etc. The wide view is almost the same as the DA15 on the K5iis.

I like the HD DA 21 on the K-5II for street photography as it gives similar FOV to 31 mm on FF. The HD DA 15 is noticeably wider and offers a different perspective as an ultra wide. I also agree with Clackers that the 40mm pancake rocks for street photography as well. The HD DA 40 is tack sharp across the entire frame and those rounded aperture blades produce smooth bokeh at f/2.8. Small and compact works best for street.

[pres589]

With the K-1's high-ISO performance, an F or FA 28 would be a slam dunk pick, no? Also the mention of the DA 20-40 Ltd working from mid-20's on out would make me curious to try.

An FA 28 and a DA 50 1.8 or 70 Ltd would make a nice pair of general purpose / street lenses that fit in a pocket each.

[bdery]

I'm not dropping $1,000 Cdn on a 30 y/o screw drive Ltd lens.

20 years old. And if the lens is still good, I don't care how old it is.

[noelpolar]

I bid on one of these a few weeks ago in an estate auction.... $400 aussie probally would have got it.... was miss listed as a fish eye....(I was a bit cheap)... was also a 28mm shift (miss listed as well) and 17mm fisheye... all looked good... I ws too cheap on them as well..... clearly a old pentaxian had passed.

[boriscleto]

They seemed to get caught flat-footed by the digital revolution but not quite as badly as Kodak....

Kodak did not get caught "flat-footed" by digital. They invented digital photography. It was just stubborn insistence that film would always be the dominant photography medium...They failed to right size that side of the business.

[normhead]

Street photography with a massive full frame camera? Really? It's not discrete even with no lens.
Just walking around with a K-1 and 28-105 a number of times I've heard "look how big that camera is." Not look how big that lens is, look how big the camera is.

But if you want to pretend there's no lens on your monster camera for those who might be fooled, I'd just use my 40XS.

But just a word of advice for the future. Buy the lens you love and the camera it goes on. If you buy the camera first, without an available lens, you may get hung out to dry. Buying any camera from any manufacturer and expecting them to release the lens you want sometime in the future is poor strategy.

[mohb]

Buying any camera from any manufacturer and expecting them to release the lens you want sometime in the future is poor strategy.

It surprises me how many on here seem to have adopted that strategy for the K1,