[shuie]

What if the folks at pentax do what they have previously said and not announce a FF camera. What would you do if instead they concentrated in the same direction they have been heading all along in APS-C. What would you do if they released a camera with the latest sensor technology, not the last great thing, but the current next best thing. what if it had class leading AF. what if it had a stronger, more robust, weathersealed body than currently available from the other guys. what if the DR and high ISO specs where at the top of the class, rather than yesterdays news? Would you buy it? Would you say" yes, its the best that there is, but its not FF"?
Who is Pentax marketing to? Not studio Pros (sorry Benjikan). People who go outside with their DSLR's and shoot in tough conditions. Nature, wildlife, landscape, potentially sports, thats where I see Pentax going. The advantage of using smaller bodies, and smaller lenses to emulate the same results on a much larger FF system seems clear to me, in certain applications.
I know I would cheer a true cutting edge platform with the features Pentax has given us in the past. I imagine it would get a serious look from any photographer who has made their living carrying all they needed in a pack for a week to shoot in some remote area. If it apperaed the company was not going to release a one hit wonder, but would continue advancing, and staying at the head of the pack, I think many field Pros would adopt, FF or APS-C regardless. So to my original question, what if, what would you do?

Shu

I realize this may, or may not be news or rumors, but with all the speculation on the upcoming K-5? I wasn't sure where else to put it.

[aragondina]

What if the folks at pentax do what they have previously said and not announce a FF camera. What would you do if instead they concentrated in the same direction they have been heading all along in APS-C.

I'll be selling my equipment and moving to Nikon

What would you do if they released a camera with the latest sensor technology, not the last great thing, but the current next best thing. what if it had class leading AF. what if it had a stronger, more robust, weathersealed body than currently available from the other guys. what if the DR and high ISO specs where at the top of the class, rather than yesterdays news? Would you buy it? Would you say" yes, its the best that there is, but its not FF"?

Still move to Nikon because Pentax won't ever be class leading. They would have to jump several generations to do so. I can't see them bringing out a body as robust as the Canon 1d or Nikon D3, or have faster autofocus than the 1d mkIV

Who is Pentax marketing to? Not studio Pros (sorry Benjikan). People who go outside with their DSLR's and shoot in tough conditions. Nature, wildlife, landscape, potentially sports, thats where I see Pentax going. The advantage of using smaller bodies, and smaller lenses to emulate the same results on a much larger FF system seems clear to me, in certain applications.

If smaller is an advantage, why do pretty much all the top wildlife and sport shooters use Canon, and the rest Nikon? When you make something smaller you have to give something up in return. Pros know this and are willing to sacrifice a pound or 2 to get the speed and IQ they need. Smaller is good for the weekender going backpacking, but if you make your living taking pictures speed and IQ wins every time.

I know I would cheer a true cutting edge platform with the features Pentax has given us in the past.

Pentax doesn't do cutting edge, more like weed whacker. They have never been cutting edge and they don't have the resources to do so. Plus many Pentaxians are too cheap to buy cutting edge, so there is no incentive to invest in the R&D required.

I imagine it would get a serious look from any photographer who has made their living carrying all they needed in a pack for a week to shoot in some remote area. If it apperaed the company was not going to release a one hit wonder, but would continue advancing, and staying at the head of the pack, I think many field Pros would adopt, FF or APS-C regardless. So to my original question, what if, what would you do?

No matter what Pentax puts out, most pros are too heavily invested in their systems to switch, especially given Pentax's history. They have no support system for pros and their lens lineup is way too small for a working pro to choose from. You might get a few starting their pro careers but they will most likely use the 2 brands that have proven themselves with other pros for many years. Neither of those are Pentax.

So to answer your question again, I will be moving to Nikon if Pentax doesn't make an announcement of a FF at Photokina.

[TaoMaas]

So to answer your question again, I will be moving to Nikon if Pentax doesn't make an announcement of a FF at Photokina.

You might want to list your gear in the marketplace now and avoid the rush. lol

[Ex Finn.]

I might consider buying some of his shit, it is all garbage, should sell for peanuts.
Cheers, Mike.
Providing it is Pentax to start with, if canon then no deal.

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Last edited by Ex Finn.; 08-12-2010 at 06:15 PM.

[stanleyk]

You might want to list your gear in the marketplace now and avoid the rush. lol

+2 No offense to anyone intended but I sometimes wonder why some people bought Pentax. I guess I just don't understand why someone would buy a Pentax when it's clear they wanted what Nikon offered and Pentax didn't. Pentax didn't have an equivalent of the E-P2 so I bought an Olympus. No big deal.

[stanleyk]

TaoMass-

Great gallery. Nice work.

[redpigeons]

I believe that most people like me upgrade periodically when its time (I skipped the K-7) .
and I would probably buy the next pentax camera since all of my lenses that I collected over the years are K mount.

I have a lot of FA lenses and would love to use my 31 ltd as 31mm .
BUT to my need an amazing SMALL 20 mm lens and an amazing and SMALL camera with a REAL VF the is clear

since I using mostly wide bright lenses focus was not an issue for me ever.
but it would be nice to have one long lens that focus fast in hard conditions .

[jpzk]

I'll be selling my equipment and moving to Nikon




Still move to Nikon because Pentax won't ever be class leading. They would have to jump several generations to do so. I can't see them bringing out a body as robust as the Canon 1d or Nikon D3, or have faster autofocus than the 1d mkIV



If smaller is an advantage, why do pretty much all the top wildlife and sport shooters use Canon, and the rest Nikon? When you make something smaller you have to give something up in return. Pros know this and are willing to sacrifice a pound or 2 to get the speed and IQ they need. Smaller is good for the weekender going backpacking, but if you make your living taking pictures speed and IQ wins every time.



Pentax doesn't do cutting edge, more like weed whacker. They have never been cutting edge and they don't have the resources to do so. Plus many Pentaxians are too cheap to buy cutting edge, so there is no incentive to invest in the R&D required.



No matter what Pentax puts out, most pros are too heavily invested in their systems to switch, especially given Pentax's history. They have no support system for pros and their lens lineup is way too small for a working pro to choose from. You might get a few starting their pro careers but they will most likely use the 2 brands that have proven themselves with other pros for many years. Neither of those are Pentax.

So to answer your question again, I will be moving to Nikon if Pentax doesn't make an announcement of a FF at Photokina.

In that case, you might as well move on now to Nikon.

JP

[Votesh]

I won't buy any new Pentax DSLRs until they release a FF camera. If they don't go FF I'll just stick with film and a K-7. The K-7 meets all of my needs for an APS-C body. If I could get a FF with a similar feature set, in K-mount, I would have no need for an APS-C body.

I also won't be buying any new Pentax lenses, unless they do something completely shocking and release some FF compatible, weathersealed lenses with aperture rings(for use on my LXs).

So I probably won't be making any major purchases of new Pentax gear in the near future.

I won't leave Pentax, but in time, if they show no signs of going FF I will probably buy a secondhand FF body from another brand, along with a lens or two.

[aragondina]

I might consider buying some of his shit, it is all garbage, should sell for peanuts.
Cheers, Mike.

Knowing how cheap many of you are here in this forum I might as well sell it to the scrap yard for the magnesium, I'll get more for it by the pound than most seem willing to pay here

I answered the OP question truthfully. He asked about full frame and pro equipment. Sadly the truth hurts. There is nothing wrong with Pentax gear, but it has limitations. Some of you may like to be limited, some of us don't want to be. We want to support the brand that we've chosen for years, in my case 30 years, but the brand doesn't seem to want to support those of us wanting more cutting edge technology.

There is a tipping point in any market and if Pentax doesn't step up to the plate at Photokina they will probably lose a lot of their supporters. They won't care as long as they are selling the K-x (or subsequent model) by the boat load. That is the market Pentax is looking for, not the high end pros like the OP was talking about. I'm at that tipping point and am willing to switch. If I can get what I want without having to replace all of my lenses (which would cost >$10k) I will buy that. If they don't come through with at least an announcement there is no point sticking with the brand. I may or may not sell all my stuff right away, I would probably keep the K7 and 2 lenses and give away my GX10 and a couple of lenses and sell the rest. When I could afford a second Nikon body, then I would dispose of my K7 and lenses.

[41ants]

I would like to see them release something along the lines of the canon 7d. I had the chance to manhandle one of those this past weekend, and I am in serious lust of that camera.

[redpigeons]

I would like to see them release something along the lines of the canon 7d. I had the chance to manhandle one of those this past weekend, and I am in serious lust of that camera.

wow I have not been in the forum for a while but a pentax shooter that like Canon .
canon is the opposite of pentax, with big unergonomic bodies , that are over priced .

I sure dont want penatx to make anything that is canon like. that goes to the 5D .
pentax FF should be small rigid with a great small prime lenses

[opiet70]

Yeah, the speculations are hitting a all time high and everyone's all emotional about this, but I look at it this way:

1) I'm going to buy a camera in the next year to use as a second body
2) all my lenses I care about are FF compatible if I want to go that way (the only exception being my beloved 12-24)
3) I don't need the cutting edge technology - what I need is faster AF, more accurate AF, a camera that'll handle both speed photography and low light photography (I know...I'm asking a lot...), weather sealing, the bells and whistles of the K20D (minimum), decent ISO performance, and compatibility with my lenses.


I need a solid performer that meets these criteria. FF is a bonus and I'd purchase it. But, at the end of the day I'd much rather a camera in which everything works exactly as I want it. That's why I purchased the K10D. I don't want something rushed (and has crap turned out because of it). I don't want something that gouges me on price - although I'm perfectly happy paying for quality.

So...I'm waiting to see what they announce next month. I hope a K-7 upgrade is in the mix. I hope discussions of FF are in the mix. I hope some addt'l lenses are in the mix. We'll see what they do...

[Zebooka]

I'll be very sad, because I need FF for my wife for work (weddings).
But still I'll be happy f I get really new AF with cool AF-C and more points and wider and diffrerent points layout

[luke0622]

41ants, you really like Canon 7D? I handle that piece all the time, it's not all that great, well, Canon sure did some homework and learned from Pentax on dedicated Raw button on that camera, other than the better UI, not very impressive to me...

aragondina, I hear what you have to say, but seriously, Canon 1D MK IV isn't a FX body, how's compared to Nikon D3s? FX or not FX isn't really a huge deal, is it? Here is another thing, how many pro photographers out there compare to normal everyday consumers(entry-DSLR users)? Have you ever felt any Canon entry level DSLRs(fully cheap plastic), or any Nikon entry level ones(no build-in motors in the bodies)? I personally think Pentax could be doing a better job on marketing technique and focusing a little more on higher end users(Pro); if I were Pentax, I would still offer bigger FA* glasses(somehow start producing them again in a small setting). And let's talk about lens selections here, there are over 4 millions MF or AF lenses out there that you can mount on a Pentax DSLR, yes, Pentax has less APS-C sensor glasses, I think their ranges are pretty well covered other than on the longer end; there are plenty F, F*, FA, FA*, DFA lenses out there and they perform well(maybe Pentax need to start producing them again). When I looked into Nikon lineups, they still have a lot of lenses that are from film days, they are also slowly refresh those glasses(little by little), if you count their FX glasses, there aren't really that many selections anyway other than the long and bigger glasses(I understand that Pentax needs to have those as well). Last but not least, Pentax should really team up with Panasonic or Samsung, they do need a strong player behind its back for support and technology, therefore, the cutting edge will be coming and the Pro support would be there...

I personally are using 2 systems, I love the Nikon's 3D Matric tracking, very accurate AF, but I can't get rid of my first love(Pentax), and FA limited lenses and FA* 85/1.4... I did just find with my K-7 and all those lenses at a wedding(pretty dark church); I definitely think when Pentax comes out with better AF and higher ISO performance, I'd definitely do a lot better with my current Pentax lens setup. Meanwhile, Pentax and Nikon would be my choices of systems, there is no way I will go to Canon...