[bogwalker]

There can be more than one reason for a reply. Viltrox could have given a much less “informative” reply”, but I was just thinking that they might have ‘taken advantage’ of the situation. We are still talking about them, even though they don’t make any Pentax lenses as far as I know.

I found this part interesting "we will not release RF-related information on the official website"
Sounds like they may have firmware updates available, but for private customer requests only. You have to read between the lines.

[Rondec]

I found this part interesting "we will not release RF-related information on the official website"
Sounds like they may have firmware updates available, but for private customer requests only. You have to read between the lines.

Maybe they are saying that if you bought an RF lens already they will continue to support it, but that they won't be manufacturing them going forward?

[repaap]

Maybe they are saying that if you bought an RF lens already they will continue to support it, but that they won't be manufacturing them going forward?

Or then maybe not, if someone has been asking for FW update for their viltrox product and answer was that they will stop all to gether making them, because of...canon. New fire by wire lenses dos really depend on FW updates for new but also older cameras...

[UncleVanya]

A friend got caught by the Canon decision to not allow use of their old lenses, and another by Minolta doing the same thing. How much have you heard of Maxxum/Minolta these latter years? Short sighted money grabs..

Minolta camera is now Sony. It was the basis for their A mount.

[reh321]

A friend got caught by the Canon decision to not allow use of their old lenses, and another by Minolta doing the same thing. How much have you heard of Maxxum/Minolta these latter years? Short sighted money grabs..

Their cameras stopped working????
I inherited my Mother’s old “AE-1 Program”, and as far as I know it still works.
Whenever I have a desire to use film, I use my old Pentax “Super Program” of the same vintage.
Sure, they stopped making lenses for them, but as far as I know, they still work.
Unless someone wanted a lens they hadn’t made yet, the old stuff worked just fine.


added: sometimes I use the 50mm lens off that “AE-1 Program” with my Q-7;
I discovered it works better with the Q-7 than my eight-element Takumar 50mm F/1.4 does.

[reh321]

Minolta camera is now Sony. It was the basis for their A mount.

According to Wikipedia, Minolta merged with Konica to form Konica Minolta, which then sold their camera business to Sony.
When I searched the web for this company, I found press releases about HealthCare and Education.
I hope this company is successful, but I would think that changing mounts was the least of the problems of the person in question.

Apparently less successful {in photography} than Canon.

[UncleVanya]

According to Wikipedia, Minolta merged with Konica to form Konica Minolta, which then sold their camera business to Sony.
When I searched the web for this company, I found press releases about HealthCare and Education.
I hope this company is successful, but I would think that changing mounts was the least of the problems of the person in question.

Apparently less successful {in photography} than Canon.

Sorry my reply was too cryptic. I was trying to say Minolta users of that new mount continued to be able to use those lenses. The md Mount was truely abandoned. Sony A mount itself ultimately has dwindled into obscurity.

[martin42mm]

Their cameras stopped working????
I inherited my Mother’s old “AE-1 Program”, and as far as I know it still works.
Whenever I have a desire to use film, I use my old Pentax “Super Program” of the same vintage.
Sure, they stopped making lenses for them, but as far as I know, they still work.
Unless someone wanted a lens they hadn’t made yet, the old stuff worked just fine.


added: sometimes I use the 50mm lens off that “AE-1 Program” with my Q-7;
I discovered it works better with the Q-7 than my eight-element Takumar 50mm F/1.4 does.

They haven't really stopped making lenses suitable for the earlier K-mount cameras, you just have to be careful to ensure the lens is full-frame, and has an aperture ring. So long as there is a manual focus ring, you just ignore the AF. That is the beauty of the Pentax mount, you can still use old lenses on new cameras, and to a degree, new lenses on the old. It is a similar situation with Nikon. Tell that to Canon!

[reh321]

They haven't really stopped making lenses suitable for the earlier K-mount cameras, you just have to be careful to ensure the lens is full-frame, and has an aperture ring. So long as there is a manual focus ring, you just ignore the AF. That is the beauty of the Pentax mount, you can still use old lenses on new cameras, and to a degree, new lenses on the old. It is a similar situation with Nikon. Tell that to Canon!

I don’t understand your reply - my “AE-1 Program” is a Canon FD-mount camera.
My Q-mount cameras are Pentax Q-mount cameras that I use with a FD-mount to Q-mount adapter.

[martin42mm]

I don’t understand your reply - my “AE-1 Program” is a Canon FD-mount camera.
My Q-mount cameras are Pentax Q-mount cameras that I use with a FD-mount to Q-mount adapter.

Hi.
Sorry, I think I misread the intention of your message. You mentioned the Pentax Super Program after the reference to the AE-1 Program, and when you said 'sure , they have stopped making lenses for them', I assumed you were referring to both cameras.

[Wheatfield]

So the FD move was exactly what they had to do and they don't deserve to be called out on it

You are comparing chickens to goats on this one, and I'm on record as having called out Canon on multiple occasions for how they treated their FD customers.
This doesn't compare in any way, shape or form to how they are treating Viltrox's customers.

---------- Post added Sep 8th, 2022 at 08:27 AM ----------

I'm being sarcastic - dropping the FD mount was a move that made a lotn of financial sense but absolutely was anti-consumer... Just like now.

The differences are pretty major though. In the 1980s Canon screwed their FD user base. In this instance Canon isn't screwing their users, no matter how people want to spin it.

---------- Post added Sep 8th, 2022 at 08:31 AM ----------

A friend got caught by the Canon decision to not allow use of their old lenses, and another by Minolta doing the same thing. How much have you heard of Maxxum/Minolta these latter years? Short sighted money grabs..

The Maxxum mount morphed into the Sony A mount and was supported until just recently. We'll see what Sony does, but odds are they will kill it.
Minolta supported the MD mount right up until they were bought by Konica and then Konica killed it.

[surfar]

Tell that to Canon!

Canon introduced a new mount in 2018 and provided 3 different adapters so that their clients could use the new cameras seamlessly.

Their previous mount change was a change in technology and it seemed to work out ok.

[martin42mm]

Canon introduced a new mount in 2018 and provided 3 different adapters so that their clients could use the new cameras seamlessly.

Their previous mount change was a change in technology and it seemed to work out ok.

Not saying it didn't, but the dropping of the FD mount without any realistic ability to use those often excellent lenses on the new cameras certainly p----d off a lot of previously loyal Canon users. No other manufacturer up until then had ever done anything comparable. I can quite understand why they did it, but that is with the benefit of hindsight, and the Canon FD lens users were left fuming that if they wanted to move on to the the newer cameras they would have to build yet another ansenal of lenses.

I discussed the PK adapter introduced by Pentax when they brought out the K-mount cameras with one of their senior sales reps at the time, and he said that the take-up was fairly lukewarm since people just did not like using adapters. However things have changed, and photographers these days are far more willing to adapt just about any lens they can to whatever camera they like.

[Wheatfield]

They haven't really stopped making lenses suitable for the earlier K-mount cameras, you just have to be careful to ensure the lens is full-frame, and has an aperture ring. So long as there is a manual focus ring, you just ignore the AF. That is the beauty of the Pentax mount, you can still use old lenses on new cameras, and to a degree, new lenses on the old. It is a similar situation with Nikon. Tell that to Canon!

We will be losing forwards compatability fairly quickly as more K-AF4 lenses come on stream and aperture ring lenses get deleted. However, backwards compatability is where new body owners can use old lenses, that isn't likely to change.
People conflate the two issues. Backwards compatability has never been about using new lenses on old bodies.

[martin42mm]

We will be losing forwards compatability fairly quickly as more K-AF4 lenses come on stream and aperture ring lenses get deleted. However, backwards compatability is where new body owners can use old lenses, that isn't likely to change.
People conflate the two issues. Backwards compatability has never been about using new lenses on old bodies.

I've never tried to define the expression backward compatibility since I reckon if a lens fits and works 99%, that's fine, and so it is if one fits, but works in a limited way.
The desertion of previously loyal users with a complete change of mount however is a big no-no to me. But I DON'T expect the most modern lenses to be 100% compatible with earlier bodies, but at least give the opportunity to use the earlier lens in part. The aperture side is a minor issue since there are work-arounds I've found. But if an AF lens has no manual control ring, that IS an issue! If the AF lens is a scrapper, then it can be modified, but if the AF lens is fully-working, especially if it is a non-screw drive lens, then there is little chance of adapting it. This, of course, refers to Pentax lenses-any lens that relies 100% on electronics such as the Canon is a different story.

In reality you can't expect manufacturers to still cater for camera models some 40+ years old, and the fact that Pentax has done so , at least in part, for most of that time, is to their credit, as is the ability to use the older lenses on new bodies as you said, albeit with some limitations.