[Mistral75]

From Adam in another thread:

Back at CP+ they said a K-3 successor was going to enter development. Now, after Photokina, it seems that mirrorless may perhaps be the direction they're going to move in first (maybe with the 645Z). However, they were extremely tight-lipped about actual product plans. So, it wouldn't be responsible of us to report on developments one way or another. We'll just have to keep waiting, till CP+ and the anniversary.

[taktoon]

The interview indeed looks like made in the elevator between the floors. I am not rude here, at least I try not to be but it was very short and gave us/me no answers. Looks more like a 3 minut online chat between a customer and Ricoh-Pentax support (in fact I do not even know if they have one). Photokina did the job well with GR. I like the concept and if I find a good deal I will probably give a chance to this camera next year. But the Pentax APS-C looks a bit poor now. You have KP that would benefit a lot from faster silent line of Limited lenses (I mean f/1.8 dc or sdm motor). If they would release KP with DA limited combo like 20/1.8 40/1.8 and 70/1.8 I would probably buy all of them (it would be a nice combo). I don't think about the camera and lenses separately. For me it its always a combo. Show me new flagship solo, and without modern 3 DA* zooms it is "no go" for me. If Asahiman is right with the 90% FF than Pentax APS-C is no more valid option for me and I do not like this.

[bladerunner6]

OK. revised a bit.

-Current MF is ditched: no new lenses for the system, and no new camera in its current form. Ricoh will investigate the market for the MF and perhaps release a new mirrorless MF system in time.
-APSC flagship camera is in the clouds. Sure, the GR is APSC, KP is still there, mid-class. New 11-18 on the way, 2019 (excluding delays).
-K-mount mirror based camera system will be supported. Take last two years' development, add asahiman's sparse info: translates as: K-mount FF is actively being developed.
-New lenses: 2019 or later. So still only the development of 85mm (goes back a while), 11-18 (goes back a while), 70-200 f4 (only development announcement this whole year lens wise).

Chris

They don’t say that current MF is ditched. They don’t say no new camera in its current form. They said, and I quote:
“Given the advantage in image quality medium format will continue to be supported in one form or another.” As for not developing new lenses for MF, that makes sense since they have the largest lineup of MF lenses. It is everybody else that needs to play catch-up. Plus heavens knows how many legacy lenses.

Where did they say the APSC flagship is in the clouds? They have the GR, KP and K-70, you forgot the K70. One third of the lenses being released this year are APSC. They currently have 15 FF lenses and 34 APSC lenses. So They currently have 49 lenses you can use on APSC body versus 15 for FF. They don’t need to develop many APSC lenses, they have a great lineup. They do need more FF lenses though.

It seems you should go back and read the interview and look at Pentax’s current product mix.

[biz-engineer]

The interview indeed looks like made in the elevator between the floors. I am not rude here,

Without being rude, I think a lot of comments here are very naive. Do you really think Ricoh Imaging are going to unveil any of their plans knowing the info is going to be posted on the world wide web, distorted, amplified , plus additional extrapolated predictions and wishful thinking. Nope, the interview is there not to disclose any information to customers but on the other hand it is used by the business executives to collect valuable concerns from customers. Most important is that Ricoh staff have a chance to probe the current concerns of the customers, in structured manner (questions and frustration and aggressiveness having been filtered by Adam/PF staff). Normally, Ricoh executive staff will never disclose their internal plan and especially to an end user (including ambassadors) since the damages can be a lot larger than the small benefit of keep or loosing a few customers not being happy with answers.

[BROO]

They don’t say that current MF is ditched. They don’t say no new camera in its current form. They said, and I quote:
“Given the advantage in image quality medium format will continue to be supported in one form or another.” As for not developing new lenses for MF, that makes sense since they have the largest lineup of MF lenses. It is everybody else that needs to play catch-up. Plus heavens knows how many legacy lenses.

Okay so would they likely introduce a new mount if they went mirrorless MF? IBIS and 100Mp+ sensor? What are the likely specs for such a beast?

[MMVIII]

Thank you for clearing up some questions regarding the GRIII.
To be honest, they had the development manager for GR there, therefore I wouldn't have thought that general questions to the (future) lineup would be answered in any more detail than they were. If they would have been there with any information they would have wanted to communicate they would have organised a press conference. And maybe after the outing of many other companies some options in development might be enforced or adapted. Would be just wise.

[taktoon]

They don’t say that current MF is ditched. They don’t say no new camera in its current form. They said, and I quote:
“Given the advantage in image quality medium format will continue to be supported in one form or another.” As for not developing new lenses for MF, that makes sense since they have the largest lineup of MF lenses. It is everybody else that needs to play catch-up. Plus heavens knows how many legacy lenses.

Where did they say the APSC flagship is in the clouds? They have the GR, KP and K-70, you forgot the K70. One third of the lenses being released this year are APSC. They currently have 15 FF lenses and 34 APSC lenses. So They currently have 49 lenses you can use on APSC body versus 15 for FF. They don’t need to develop many APSC lenses, they have a great lineup. They do need more FF lenses though.

It seems you should go back and read the interview and look at Pentax’s current product mix.

This huge lineup of lenses is in some point missleading. Many of them overlap, almost all DA lenses are older constructions, a lot of them is screw driven witch is a problem for silent shooting and or they are quite dark - how many of them are silent f/1.8 or brigther primes? 2.8 zooms need also younger generation brothers. And I do not find mounting ff lenses on APS-C bodies is proper solution.

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Last edited by taktoon; 09-29-2018 at 02:40 PM.

[totsmuyco]

Q: Are there any plans of renewing current screw drive lenses, e.g. by adding in-lens AF motors?
A: That's an interesting suggestion. There are, however, no such plans.

I was hoping for an upgrade in the older lenses for faster AF and better optics. Based on their reply, I think there's none. Well I hope there will be newer models or else this deserves a HARUMPH!!!

[bladerunner6]

Okay so would they likely introduce a new mount if they went mirrorless MF? IBIS and 100Mp+ sensor? What are the likely specs for such a beast?

I don’t know and Panasonic And Sigma did not tell people about going to the Leica mount in advance, so why would Pentax be any different?

[dafbp]

Okay so would they likely introduce a new mount if they went mirrorless MF? IBIS and 100Mp+ sensor? What are the likely specs for such a beast?

Wouldn't that be akin to ditching their 645 user base?
They'd then have to convince people to switch from brands that are investing heavily into MF, by investing heavily both in camera and lenses for the new mount.
They don't invest in refreshing their APS lenses, or even release a UWA FF prime, so I don't see them doing that, except as a camera with a new mount, an adapter for the old mount, and the promise of new lenses further down the line. Far stretch...

[surfar]

“Given the advantage in image quality medium format will continue to be supported in one form or another.”

Yes, its a standard line.They used it and similar one for Q series last year and the year before.

However,no news is good news?For mushrooms!

[superdave]

Show me new flagship solo, and without modern 3 DA* zooms it is "no go" for me. If Asahiman is right with the 90% FF than Pentax APS-C is no more valid option for me and I do not like this.

I fell exactly the same... things move too slowly and future is not clear at all. I can't go to Pentax FF as I am not interested in the lenses available or on the roadmap, and 11-18mm seems to be the last lens to be release in APS-C for a long time, or forever? So, I will wait to see what happen at CP+, I am interested in buying a new flagship and the 11-18mm, but if there is no other modern DA* available or in the roadmap, I will buy nothing and probably stop with Pentax.

[monochrome]

I fell exactly the same... things move too slowly and future is not clear at all. I can't go to Pentax FF as I am not interested in the lenses available or on the roadmap, and 11-18mm seems to be the last lens to be release in APS-C for a long time, or forever? So, I will wait to see what happen at CP+, I am interested in buying a new flagship and the 11-18mm, but if there is no other modern DA* available or in the roadmap, I will buy nothing and probably stop with Pentax.

In due time there will be a new APSc flagship platform. It’s reasonable to infer the *16~50 and *50~135 will be updated to the *11~18 standard to go with the new flagship, so there will be an APSc *Holy Trinity Zoom package. Remember, *lenses are in-house developed, not rebadged. They take time.

Pentax plays close to the vest. Be patient.

[normhead]

Not sure about shipping to Italy, but . . .

RICOH

Their shirts have Ricoh on the front and Pentax on the back. It's like the K-3 in reverse.

My touch football team had Ricoh hats years ago, long before Pentax. (One of our players was a Ricoh employee,) So, I've already owned some Ricoh sports apparel. But that Jersey would be sweet. You suppose they'll ever have an English web page selling those shorts?

Adam, there's a Photokina question, "How can we order one of those jerseys?"

[monochrome]

I’m in for the jersey.

.: