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09-30-2013, 02:12 AM   #1
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Pentax as a third party lens manufacturer?

Do you think Pentax would have been more successful as a third party lens manufacturer for rest of the brands?

People in general loves Pentax lenses & tries to use old Pentax lenses on other system so wouldn't it be better that the Pentax provides them lenses in their own native mounts. Imagine, high quality Pentax glass with AF on Nikon/Canon/Sony.

Just wondering.

09-30-2013, 02:26 AM   #2
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They did that once, there was an FA 43 Ltd in Leica mount.
09-30-2013, 02:31 AM   #3
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QuoteOriginally posted by elliott Quote
They did that once, there was an FA 43 Ltd in Leica mount.
That's correct, however, Leica again a very niche market - probably as small as Pentax or even smaller, not sure why they even did it. Making lenses for Nikon/Canon/Sony would have been a fruitful move.

I have been playing with Nikon FF body and lenses and, while the Nikon FF is just WOW, I now more appreciate Pentax lenses - both combined would have been a killer combination.
09-30-2013, 02:31 AM   #4
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QuoteOriginally posted by yusuf Quote
Do you think Pentax would have been more successful as a third party lens manufacturer for rest of the brands?

People in general loves Pentax lenses & tries to use old Pentax lenses on other system so wouldn't it be better that the Pentax provides them lenses in their own native mounts. Imagine, high quality Pentax glass with AF on Nikon/Canon/Sony.

Just wondering.
Would be interesting, but it would probably be hard for them to compete with Sigma for instance. And people who really want high-end glass look at German lenses, so there's probably not a market there either.


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09-30-2013, 02:34 AM   #5
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The main reason to get into Pentax is (was?) the nice lenses... If those lenses would be available in other mounts too, then wouldn't that have an adverse effect for Pentax?
09-30-2013, 02:35 AM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by Clavius Quote
The main reason to get into Pentax is (was?) the nice lenses... If those lenses would be available in other mounts too, then wouldn't that have an adverse effect for Pentax?
No, because Pentax becomes just a lens manufacturer
09-30-2013, 02:38 AM   #7
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Come to think of it, Pentax is a camera manufacturer. They develope and manufacture lenses together with Tokina, and occasionally with Tamron. So if they were to move to being just a lens maker, then they could just as wel completely dissolve themselves, couldn't they?

09-30-2013, 02:46 AM   #8
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Pentax license some of the lens designs to Tokina.

100/2.8 Macro
35/2.8 macro
10-17 mm Fisheye
16-50/2.8
Seems to be available for Canon and Nikon at the moment.

It's probably much better that Pentax get licencing fees from Tokina than having Pentax to spend R&D resources to reverse engineer other brands lens mount.
09-30-2013, 02:49 AM   #9
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QuoteOriginally posted by elliott Quote
They did that once, there was an FA 43 Ltd in Leica mount.
QuoteOriginally posted by yusuf Quote
That's correct, however, Leica again a very niche market - probably as small as Pentax or even smaller

The 43mm f/1.9 special was released in Leica M39 thread mount - which has an even smaller following than the current M mount. Allegedly Pentax, having never made an RF lens in its entire history outsourced the mechanism for the M39 lens mount - the likely manufacturer of the lens mount would appear to be Cosina.
09-30-2013, 04:43 AM   #10
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QuoteQuote:
The main reason to get into Pentax is (was?) the nice lenses... If those lenses would be available in other mounts too, then wouldn't that have an adverse effect for Pentax?
The great lenses are one reason to get into Pentax, but the main reason is "bang for the buck" combined with long tradition.
Pentax also has some "Guerilla status", a brand not every Tom, Dick and Harry runs around with.

I love Pentax for letting the lower priced models profit from features that are included in their top models.
Canikon cut down features of their lower priced models not because of production cost, but to keep the gap between models.

As for the rest, I don't think Pentax should build lenses for other mounts. Canikon users have enough variety.
09-30-2013, 04:51 AM   #11
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Not Necessarily?

QuoteOriginally posted by Clavius Quote
The main reason to get into Pentax is (was?) the nice lenses... If those lenses would be available in other mounts too, then wouldn't that have an adverse effect for Pentax?
I don't see why, actually it might have the opposite effect. It would generate another (potentially large) revenue stream, increase their public profile and perceived value, add recognition to the brand name.
All for the price of enabling users of brands like Canon to do what they're already doing, without any 'chop'.
So there would be other Pentax lenses around, perhaps many of them, in mounts besides PK. How does that hurt us? More income for R + D, more employees, larger distributorship, product placement in venues that now don't stock any Ricoh/Pentax product. Where's the downside?
Unless, of course, someone is so enamored with the unsullied Pentax line they can't bear the thought of anyone else having a Pentax-branded lens on their non-Pentax camera? And certainly not obtaining it in a way that actually generated PROFIT for Pentax! Horrors!
There is ample precedent for lens (only) makers having a small camera-body line, to go with their lenses. Sigma, Vivitar, even Ricoh themselves with the Rikenon line, all released bodies after establishing themselves as third-party lensmakers. Before anyone reminds us that most of these bodies are no longer in production, it wasn't the quality or volume that killed the camera body production, it was auto-focus. AF technology and licensing fees doomed many of the 1970's and 1980's SLR makers and changed the 35mm camera landscape entirely. It even catapulted Canon ahead of Nikon!
I'd guess it's never going to happen anyway, but see no reason to worry if it did. It doesn't mean Pentax has to cease making DSLR bodies, quite the opposite. The resources to do that would merely increase. They could even reserve a specialty lens line (Ltd?), only in PK mount, for the absolute pure of heart.
JMO,
Ron
09-30-2013, 05:23 AM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by Bernie_Rain Quote
The great lenses are one reason to get into Pentax, but the main reason is "bang for the buck" combined with long tradition.
Pentax also has some "Guerilla status", a brand not every Tom, Dick and Harry runs around with.
That bang-for-the-buck was a few years back. With current prices it's more then a bit cheaper to go Canon, Nikon or Sony. Especially if you incorporate the abismal resale value of Pentax bodies in comparisson to Canikon bodies into the calculation.
09-30-2013, 05:52 AM   #13
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QuoteQuote:
...With current prices it's more then a bit cheaper to go Canon, Nikon or Sony...
Well if you think that a Canon EOS 650/700D is at eye level with a Pentax K-30...
09-30-2013, 07:59 AM   #14
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I dont think Pentax has a future in that. The third party lens manufacturers are mostly hoping to sell quantity, and that is one of the things where Pentax is not great. Keep in mind that third party lenses are often not as great as camera brand name lenses - people don't buy third party for the quality, but because it is either cheap, or it is something the original brand doesn't offer. Pentax doesn't have many lenses with mass appeal, doesnt have many super cheap lenses for amateurs, doesnt have specialized lenses.. And I doubt Pentax could keep the QC and overall quality of boutique lens manufacturers, like Zeiss. Pentax is in such a niche, that Pentax lenses mostly only make sense on Pentax cameras. Though, maybe the FA limiteds could be sold as boutique lenses, if they were updated a little

Last edited by Na Horuk; 09-30-2013 at 08:39 AM.
09-30-2013, 08:11 AM   #15
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The weakest part of the Pentax equation the last few years has been their lens design.They just aren't keeping up in terms of new and modern (big heavy, heavily corrected autofocus lenses) designs.
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