If Pentax decides to sell lenses in other mounts that would be OK. I just don't want to see Hoya/Pentax jump into M4/3 and leave behind the DSLR (APS-C & Possible FF) market.
I ran the article through Google Translate and here are some dates from the patent:
Patent publication number 2010-134416
* 公開日 Release date 06/17/2010
* 出願日 Filing Date 04/11/2008
It looks like Hoya/Pentax has been sitting on this lens design for awhile.
M4/3 has been popular in Japan. Perhaps Pentax will sell lenses in mounts they do not compete in. Pentax did sell the 43mm Limited in Leica M mount. Selling M4/3 lenses but not actively producing M4/3 bodies might be a smart move.
Selling Pentax lenses in Nikon or Canon mounts would sell lenses but might cannibalize Pentax camera sales. Pentax makes great camera bodies and I would hate to see that happen.
I'm not a fan of the M4/3 format. Olympus might make some slick commercials but the smaller sensor makes it too easy to blow out highlights. The fast scene transitions help to mask this. You can also search Flickr and see plenty of examples of blown or clipped highlights.
Another problem with M4/3 is that Panasonic lenses don't always jive with Olympus cameras and Olympus lenses don't always jive with Panasonic bodies. There was a good discussion about this on the DP review forum:
Flaw in the 4/3 Concept [Page 1]: Micro Four Thirds Talk Forum: Digital Photography Review
How possible Pentax lenses would be supported by Olympus and Panasonic remains to be seen. Panasonic was trying to get Leica to join M4/3 but Leica would have no part of it:
Olympus and Panasonic rumors Blog Archive Leica will not join MicroFourThirds (via Steve Huff)
from the article:
"
...M4/3 is NOT in the future for Leica as the quality is just not there."
I don't see any good reasons to shoot with sensors smaller than APS-C except in Point & Shoot cameras. I'll stick with APS-C and hopefully upgrade to a future Pentax K-Mount FullFrame DSLR. Hurry up already Hoya/Pentax and give us new D-FA lenses!
Originally posted by MrPetkus Curious why you'd care if Pentax sold M4/3? I'm sure the addition would augment rather than supplant their current offerings. Is it a purist issue; i.e., EVIL is evil? I, for one, could care less if Pentax sold disposable cameras as long as their semipro-pro DSLR segment remains fertile.