[pghwarrior23]

I feel like I don't see any good rumors on here anymore of upcoming gear from Pentax. So in light of the big announcements coming out of Canon today...I thought I'd throw out some predictions and questions to the group....

Predictions (ie my wish list)
FF Stripped down K-1 - $1100 - Remove the flippy screen, remove wifi, remove 4k video, and give me a less expensive FF camera. Kind of the Nikon D810 vs D610 roadmap. Making this mirrorless would leap frog them past Fuji too!

Super APS-C camera - $1,800 - now that Pentax is gaining the attention of serious professionals again (are they?), maybe a competitive sports camera that is smaller, lighter, cheaper and better weather sealed than other options on the market but with a huge buffer and frame rate would be interesting.

Mirrorless APS-C camera - $1,100 - Something along the lines of the Sony A6000 with better lenses and a viewfinder. Slap the bodycap 40mm XS on it and you have a Ricoh GR with flexibility and a viewfinder.

FF Lenses - I suspect Pentax will be releasing a slew of new FF lenses in the next year. Tons of primes especially. Maybe dusting off some legendary old glass with new nanocoatings and better, quieter AF motors. Some new lenses that are not as expensive as the FF options with revised SDM for APS-C would be nice too (ie a replacement for the awesome DA* 50-135 especially since you can't get the Sigma 50-150 anymore).

Questions:
Will Sigma ever return to making K mount lenses again?

Is the Pentax Q series dead? Upgrades coming? Something new in this lineup?

Will Pentax ever embrace the vintage history of the K1000 and retro styling that has made Fuji and Olympus popular?

What could Ricoh do to create a wow factor in the market to end run Canikon? I think the Theta is one example of finding these niches and capitalizing on future trends.

What do you want to see from Ricoh in the next year or two?

[jatrax]

Will Sigma ever return to making K mount lenses again?

Sure.

Is the Pentax Q series dead? Upgrades coming? Something new in this lineup?

No idea.

Will Pentax ever embrace the vintage history of the K1000 and retro styling that has made Fuji and Olympus popular?

I sure hope not.

What could Ricoh do to create a wow factor in the market to end run Canikon?

Buy Nikon?

What do you want to see from Ricoh in the next year or two?

FF primes. A nice set of pro quality F/4 zooms.

[RonHendriks1966]

I feel like I don't see any good rumors on here anymore of upcoming gear from Pentax.
Questions:
Will Sigma ever return to making K mount lenses again?

Is the Pentax Q series dead? Upgrades coming? Something new in this lineup?

Will Pentax ever embrace the vintage history of the K1000 and retro styling that has made Fuji and Olympus popular?

What could Ricoh do to create a wow factor in the market to end run Canikon? I think the Theta is one example of finding these niches and capitalizing on future trends.

What do you want to see from Ricoh in the next year or two?

Well maybe nothing is coming in the coming months.......

- With Kaf4 the chances of SIGMA returning to k-mount are bigger. Maybe they will try with one lens to see if it has a market.
- Q is dead, unless something is coming.
- no Thank you, little chance in succes.
- Theta has nothing to do with CaNikon. Some new Theta would be great and probably will come.
- -

[Pixelhdr]

A cheaper, stripped down K-1 will likely receive poor reviews, bad for marketing.

A super APS-C camera to draw from customers from other brands will only be attractive if the lens line up supports it. At this time, I think the answer is probably NO.

A smart mirrorless that can accommodates current K lenses as well as new lenses with short registration distance may be an option, especially if it incorporates all great features of K-3 and K-1.

Will Sigma ever return to making K mount lenses again?
I think it is critically important to have 3rd party support. [/I][/COLOR]

Will Pentax ever embrace the vintage history of the K1000 and retro styling that has made Fuji and Olympus popular?
Why do that?

[Kunzite]

Predictions and wish lists are very different things - the former means you'll try to predict what will actually happen. So:

- FF Stripped down K-1 - $1100 - no chance to happen. You're basically saying "hey, Ricoh, I want a FF DSLR but I don't want to pay for it". Why would Ricoh care?
-Super APS-C camera - $1,800 - nope. I don't get why people thinks Pentax should go aggressively for the "sports" segment; it's very expensive to enter it, and the requirements are extremely harsh - who's going to pay for it? Expect a milder evolution.
-Mirrorless APS-C camera - they're too busy with the FF line. Maybe later.
-FF Lenses - who knows... but the lenses on the public roadmap are scheduled for "2017 or later".

[leekil]

Will Pentax ever embrace the vintage history of the K1000 and retro styling that has made Fuji and Olympus popular?

You might say they have done that with the K-1, but Pentax 67 style rather than K1000.

[MikePerham]

A super APS-C camera to draw from customers from other brands will only be attractive if the lens line up supports it. At this time, I think the answer is probably NO. Why do that?

I don't understand your comment about APSC lens line up. Pentax has the biggest APS lineup and some really outstanding lenses to boot. The could upgrade the coating and perhaps replace the SDM motors in some. Although, new SDM's seem to be trouble free.

[Kunzite]

You are mistaken, Pentax has only the D FA* 70-200 and the D FA 150-450*
* if we're talking about sports.

[monochrome]

Many of these wishes are already available - from other brands. Why on earth do we keep asking for another CaNikon? Just go get what you need - it's already there.

[oscaletrains]

I LIKE the stripped down K1 idea. A K1L (light)...I'd buy one even though I have a K1. If they could leave off the GPS(would rather have a flash), astro thingy(photos from the Hubble are better than anything we can take from earth anyway), assist LED Illumination, extra card slot, strange lcd tilt, and whatever and hit the under $1000 price point with a FF that could also use crop lenses correctly, they'd sell a lot more of that than they will the K1 I'd wager.

I feel like I don't see any good rumors on here anymore of upcoming gear from Pentax. So in light of the big announcements coming out of Canon today...I thought I'd throw out some predictions and questions to the group....

Predictions (ie my wish list)
FF Stripped down K-1 - $1100 - Remove the flippy screen, remove wifi, remove 4k video, and give me a less expensive FF camera. Kind of the Nikon D810 vs D610 roadmap. Making this mirrorless would leap frog them past Fuji too!

Super APS-C camera - $1,800 - now that Pentax is gaining the attention of serious professionals again (are they?), maybe a competitive sports camera that is smaller, lighter, cheaper and better weather sealed than other options on the market but with a huge buffer and frame rate would be interesting.

Mirrorless APS-C camera - $1,100 - Something along the lines of the Sony A6000 with better lenses and a viewfinder. Slap the bodycap 40mm XS on it and you have a Ricoh GR with flexibility and a viewfinder.

FF Lenses - I suspect Pentax will be releasing a slew of new FF lenses in the next year. Tons of primes especially. Maybe dusting off some legendary old glass with new nanocoatings and better, quieter AF motors. Some new lenses that are not as expensive as the FF options with revised SDM for APS-C would be nice too (ie a replacement for the awesome DA* 50-135 especially since you can't get the Sigma 50-150 anymore).

Questions:
Will Sigma ever return to making K mount lenses again?

Is the Pentax Q series dead? Upgrades coming? Something new in this lineup?

Will Pentax ever embrace the vintage history of the K1000 and retro styling that has made Fuji and Olympus popular?

What could Ricoh do to create a wow factor in the market to end run Canikon? I think the Theta is one example of finding these niches and capitalizing on future trends.

What do you want to see from Ricoh in the next year or two?

Base on their interview, they might make cheaper version of FF base on the sell amount of K-1

Pentax is not even ready for sports camera at all. Not possible

We need to wait till 2018. Ricoh is being prep for mirrorless camera system but they are not gonna show it till 2018.

I wish Pentax to create fast motor lenses.


1. Low percentage. Pentax system is not that well known first of all. Flash system is the example. No one wanna make products for Pentax but only few of them. Both B&H and Adorama sold K-1 quite a lot so maybe but compare to Canon and Nikon, it will take a lot of time.

2. Quite dead. Only popular in Japan. First Q camera cost $1000! Small sensor might be the cause. Size? Panasonic mirrorless camera has small body like Q series too.

3. Mirrorless system might possible

4. Price and durability. Look how cheap K-1 and 645Z are.

5. Personally, they should improve better AF performance especially with AF-C, add more limited lenses, try follow the trend, use faster memory card like UHS-2 or fully support UHS-1, and etc.

[pathdoc]

Making this mirrorless would leap frog them past Fuji too!

Not going to happen until Pentax are thoroughly happy with EVF technology. Given that the K-01 was not exactly a stellar success, I wouldn't be holding my breath for a full-frame equivalent!

[bobbotron]

I LIKE the stripped down K1 idea. A K1L (light)...I'd buy one even though I have a K1. If they could leave off the GPS(would rather have a flash), astro thingy(photos from the Hubble are better than anything we can take from earth anyway), assist LED Illumination, extra card slot, strange lcd tilt, and whatever and hit the under $1000 price point with a FF that could also use crop lenses correctly, they'd sell a lot more of that than they will the K1 I'd wager.

I'd love a K1L too. Or a.... FF Spotmatic 1D? Two dials, minimal controls on the back. One SD card, maybe no SR, no anything except a delicious full frame sensor. Limited run with m42 mount.

[Kunzite]

Base on their interview, they might make cheaper version of FF base on the sell amount of K-1

Based on what interview? Can you give a quote allowing even a forced interpretation in that direction?

[pid]

the K-1 will be the light version in future and the much faster follower "K-1s" will be the sport model ;-)